Hello I am new to the salt water aquarium work do I need all the help I can get I am thinking about buying OR-D120 LED light it made by ocean revive and I need to know if this is a good led light they are asking 179.00 for the lights. I need some suggestions on wich lights to buy but don't want to spend a hole lot of money around 200 to 300 dollars ??!!!
Rickey. I have been in the saltwater hobby for many years and I must say that the decision on what LED lights to buy is the hardest one for me to make. I have struggled with this for almost a year and seem to be no closer now than I was a year ago. I would suggest that first you decide what type of tank you want to set up and then fit the equipment to that end. There are members in the club that use all manner of lights and I would try to talk to as many as I could before making that decision. I'm sure you will hear from some of them on this thread, but go to their homes and see the lights in action and see how they have them set. Just be patient, don't get in a hurry and get something you won't be satisfied with.
Norman gave the best advice - look at someones tank that currently has LEDs and look at some of the reviews on Youtube such as the one below for an Evergrow D120 which looks the same as the OR-D120. Search other reef forums and find a tank with similar dimensions & see what they used. Depending upon the depth & size of your tank one may be adequate to do the job. The big problem with selecting LEDs is no standardized system of rating the output where you could determine the bang for the buck. I would love it if there was a simple reef LED light selector calculator where you enter the dimensions of your tank, desired coral type, and it gave multiple brands of fixtures and quantities to do the job. I'm going to just discuss white LEDs to show what the consumer is up against (colors such as royal blues & greens just muddy the issue) - Most lamps you would buy have a rated output (intensity) in lumens. A standard 60 watt light bulb puts out about 800 lumens and a 250 MH (metal halide) about 14,000 fresh from the box. The higher the lumen rating the brighter the lamp. The generic white LEDs used in most of these D120 fixtures is a Bridgelux Epistar which puts out 145 lumens at a driver current of 550 mA (milli-amps & 1000mA = 1 amp). The LEDs can take more current but the heat sink in the D120 is a simple sheet of aluminum instead of a more expensive type with cooling fins. Even if you were to upgrade the power supply and heat sink the individual LEDs can only produce 180 lumens at a maximum rated current of 750 mA. The bottom line is that these fixtures are a decent value at less than $200 but they have limitations such as lighting a deeper aquarium. Phillips & CREE are the two more dominant LED manufacturers. A single Phillips white Rebel-ES will put out 197 lumens at 550mA and can handle up to 1000mA to produce 320 lumens. The AI Vega (about $500) uses some freaky CREE XM-L white LEDs that can handle an astounding 3000mA and put out 1000 lumens. The four white LEDs in the AI Vega can produce 4000 lumens vs the 18 white LEDs in the D120 will only put out 2610. It sounds like the AI Vega is not much more expensive if you consider all the extra features, it puts out 1.5x the light for about 2.5 x the price, but nobody I have talked to has their LED fixture turned up all the way. An AI Vega at 50% and a D120 at 75% both put out the same intensity of white light. On the flip side if you need more light than a D120 can supply then you have to buy another fixture. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDpyHmfYjwM
