Lighting for a 5 gallon (12Lx12Wx8H)

[jesseatam]

I’ve been out of saltwater for a bit and forgot how overwhelming it is picking out a light. Coral wise I’m thinking about keeping things like euphyllia, ricordea florida, photosynthetic gorgonians, goniopora, and possibly some sps like pocillopora, stylophora, and encrusting montipora. I don’t plan on keeping all of these, these are just the species I am most interested in.

Some lights I am considering are the:

• Kessil A80 - People seemed to have mixed opinions on this light, many say it’s too weak but I like the fact that it has no fan for me to worry about keeping clean.
• Kessil A160 WE - Seems like a nice step up from the A80 if that is too weak.
• AI prime HD - Seems to be one of the most popular lights but for some reason the idea of using this light just doesn’t really excite me. I feel like this light might also be overkill. Seems like it would be easy to find a used one though.
• Maxspect MJ-L165(JUMP LED) - This light is the one that seems the most exciting to me but there doesn’t seem to be a lot of information out there on it. Seems to have a lot of nice features and I like how maxspect supports their products long term. However, if the prime is overkill then this light definitely is too. Seems like it’s a better deal when buying new compared to the prime. 

I know there’s almost certainly other options out there as well but these are the fixtures I have been looking at the most. The Maxspect is probably the most I’d be willing to spend on a light, but preferably I would like to spend under $200.  If you guys have any other light suggestions please let me know.

[A.m.P]

I do love maxspect, but it's worth looking at the NICrew Hyperreef 30W as a budget option, also worth considering just hanging an ABI 12W tuna blue PAR bulb high and in a pendant over that small a tank.

[blasterman]

AI prime.\ FTW.

 

No, I'm not a fanboy of these lights and find them under powered compared to Radion. But, they have the most flexibility in terms of dialing in a color you prefer and have decent mounting options. It's the most bullet proof and 'please everybody' of the popular nanolights.

 

Get a kessil 160 only if you like shimmer, and you can probably find 160s used for a good price.  The biggest drawback I find with kessils is their lack of color flexibility. You can dial in more white but by and large if you've seen one kessil you've seen them all. I love their shimmer.....but I don't care for kessil color. Most people aren't as fussy as me,

 

The generic lights like noopsyche and nicrew have plenty of PAR, but again they have terrible color control.

[jesseatam]

Went to a reef store nearby campus today and saw some A80s lighting some displays, wasn’t very impressed at all.

38 minutes ago, blasterman said:

AI prime.\ FTW.

 

No, I'm not a fanboy of these lights and find them under powered compared to Radion. But, they have the most flexibility in terms of dialing in a color you prefer and have decent mounting options. It's the most bullet proof and 'please everybody' of the popular nanolights.

 

Get a kessil 160 only if you like shimmer, and you can probably find 160s used for a good price.  The biggest drawback I find with kessils is their lack of color flexibility. You can dial in more white but by and large if you've seen one kessil you've seen them all. I love their shimmer.....but I don't care for kessil color. Most people aren't as fussy as me,

 

The generic lights like noopsyche and nicrew have plenty of PAR, but again they have terrible color control.

You make a good point on controlling the color, and AI primes seem very easy to find used which is also a plus if I decided to go that route. After seeing some kessils in person today I don’t think I am the biggest fan, could also be due to the color/intensity settings the store was running though. Do you have any opinion on the maxspect light?

[A.m.P]

Kessils do have "a look", but most stores run them at 100% blues, so hard to say what you were looking at. If you get a prime 16 keep an eye on the V and UV channel, they cheaped out on the lenses and basically expect everyone to replace melted pieces once a year.

You have a small tank, at that depth you could grab the small current-usa pro lights since you don't need any light penetration.

[jesseatam]

51 minutes ago, A.m.P said:

Kessils do have "a look", but most stores run them at 100% blues, so hard to say what you were looking at. If you get a prime 16 keep an eye on the V and UV channel, they cheaped out on the lenses and basically expect everyone to replace melted pieces once a year.

You have a small tank, at that depth you could grab the small current-usa pro lights since you don't need any light penetration.

The kessils at the store were run heavy on the blue side to be fair, would probably like them a lot better with more white running. I will actually look into currents lights, I ran an orbit light on my old 30 gallon and enjoyed it a lot.

[jesseatam]

Anyone have experience with the Reef Breeders Reef Nano LED? Says it's supposed to be able to grow SPS in a 12" cube, here's the spectrum.