Best reef ready tank deal of 2024 - whose looking for a new tank?

[VintageReefer]

I have one of them already. I was thinking about buying another one. Why do you advise against them?

It is a great light for a smaller cube tank.

The problem with these lights is they are “point source” design and that is asking for shading issues

They claim

And that’s true. For an empty tank. The reality of physics is light doesn’t bend and it doesn’t penetrate solid objects.

So once you put it in a real world application in a reef, as you aquascape with rock and as you place corals and as those corals grow, the shading issues become worse and worse

Light will hit these from the source point. And everything past the object is shadowed. People using these lights spend a ton on them and in 6 months they find the tank is inadequately lit, and they end up having to buy more kessils, or supplement with t5 or led bars.


I see these lights are $450 on Amazon. You would need a minimum of 2 to start with. So that’s $900. And it won’t give full coverage once you have rock. And corals will also block light. The problem just gets worse in time. Then you need to drop another 400-450 on led bars or another kessil. Then you have 3-4 lights over the tank, 3-4 outlets taken up, 3-4 sets of ugly wires to deal with.

Compared to a matrix layout light such as the Photon 48 which is a comparable $900 (I saw a used photon 48 for 500$ The other day) and is a single low profile fixture with leds end to end and can cover the tank evenly front to back, left to right, with no shading issues. There’s tons and tons of point sources for the light

With a matrix layout, all my light comes from top down, evenly. It makes coral grow upwards. With “point source” it’s almost always at some strong angle, causing things to grow in a tilted or leaning appearance, towards the light source

Even with shelves and large colonies I have little to no shading.

For equal or less you could get a single light that will do the job forever and won’t need supplements added on down the line

 

[JoJosReef]

In contrast, I have 3 Noop minis over my 3 ft tank and will be running 4 (I already have them) over this tank. This has worked well for minimizinf shading.

 

[VintageReefer]

In contrast, I have 3 Noop minis over my 3 ft tank and will be running 4 (I already have them) over this tank. This has worked well for minimizinf shading.

Yes sounds about right. 1 point source per 12” of tank

 

[JoJosReef]

I like the photon style panel, but that will have to be a future upgrade!

 

[VintageReefer]

In contrast, I have 3 Noop minis over my 3 ft tank and will be running 4 (I already have them) over this tank. This has worked well for minimizinf shading.

It is a good setup to eliminate shading in most of the tank. all the light is coming from 3 points and over lapping to provide more coverage.

But what lights corals from this direction on the ends

I can place corals anywhere and get even coverage from above

Example is the green birdnest and encrusting sps on the high shelf top left. They would get partial indirect light at best if I had a kessil or point style light.

But with leds kn a matrix, I have no issue giving them direct light besides there are leds covering the entire tank

With point lights, and a coral in this spot. the right side of the colony would get full light, the top would get some reduced but good light, and the left side would be shadowed and affect its growth and it wouldn’t have healthy color

You can see how healthy and colorful the left side is. Because I have light coming from that direction and from above

JoJos tank has very good coverage with 3 lights. A 4th would probably be ideal for “full coverage”. And now we are talking 4 point sources for a 36” tank.

And this new tank is 48”…

 

[Danthefishman]

Thank you for the detailed explanation! I'm new to this so still learning, but it makes sense. Maybe I'll sell this one kessil I have and put the money towards a better lighting setup for this tank.

 

[VintageReefer]

You can also see the birdsnest does not shade out the encrusters to the left of it. They are fully lit

 

[VintageReefer]

Thank you for the detailed explanation! I'm new to this so still learning, but it makes sense. Maybe I'll sell this one kessil I have and put the money towards a better lighting setup for this tank.

I would recommend it

The photon 48 is a great all in one light. I have been using them for years. They have full adjustable spectrum and excellent coverage.

I’m not a super fan boy who thinks it’s the only option.

Noopsyche k7 pros and radions are also good. They say they achieve this is each fixture has dual point sources within it. So by putting up two radion xr30’s or tow Noopsyche pros, you are getting 4 point sources.

Not as good coverage as a photon, but, better than kessil. And still very good coverage

Look at this guys tank (I night coral from him, he shared his setup). For his tank to have even coverage and no shadows he needed 6 hydra 32’s. SIX. They are spaced 10” apart. And those are dual point source lights…

For me, one light does the same job for significantly less

 

[JoJosReef]

It is a good setup to eliminate shading in most of the tank. all the light is coming from 3 points and over lapping to provide more coverage.

But what lights corals from this direction on the ends

I can place corals anywhere and get even coverage from above

Example is the green birdnest and encrusting sps on the high shelf top left. They would get partial indirect light at best if I had a kessil or point style light.

But with leds kn a matrix, I have no issue giving them direct light besides there are leds covering the entire tank

With point lights, and a coral in this spot. the right side of the colony would get full light, the top would get some reduced but good light, and the left side would be shadowed and affect its growth and it wouldn’t have healthy color

You can see how healthy and colorful the left side is. Because I have light coming from that direction and from above

JoJos tank has very good coverage with 3 lights. A 4th would probably be ideal for “full coverage”. And now we are talking 4 point sources for a 36” tank.

And this new tank is 48”…

That area is purposely shaded. I set it up as "rock-only" space and a place I could throw very sensitive corals temporary. But mostly I wanted it as a clear corridor for flow to go through, and I actually have a bunch of sponges and feather dusters living there. The big pectinia is there simply because that's the only place I can put him where he won't kill everything, and it gets plenty of light--100+ PAR easily.

 

[VintageReefer]

That area is purposely shaded. I set it up as "rock-only" space and a place I could throw very sensitive corals temporary. But mostly I wanted it as a clear corridor for flow to go through, and I actually have a bunch of sponges and feather dusters living there. The big pectinia is there simply because that's the only place I can put him where he won't kill everything, and it gets plenty of light--100+ PAR easily.

And it’s a good scape and design and good spot for the pectinia. Your rock work is allowing the light to hit that spot. If you had rocks farther forward it would block more light. If the pectinia was higher, it would get less light as it would be outside the cone of light the fixture puts out

In my highly accurate rendering you can see the yellow light from point source hits the spot but it’s all from one angle. This would be an issue for sps. And if the red crayon rock with coral was here, it would block the light from this spot.

But with matrix array the blue light sources blanket the tank evenly with light directly from above, reducing or eliminating shading issues

This is an extreme example but it’s just for illustrative purposes and the concept is true.

Bottom line. 2 point source kessil lights won’t cover a 48” tank well. You need 3 on a 36. I would say 4 minimum would be needed on a 48” tank. Unless you intentionally wanted hot spot areas and shaded spot areas

 

[VintageReefer]

Regarding kessil and issues of “point source lighting”

Matt has 4 kessil a360 on a 48” 75g tank and STILL needed supplemental light as his coral grew in

And here is an experience with point source light describing the same thing I was explaining above. The light doesn’t come from above in all sections of the tank. Here is a user with a coral on the right of the tank, and the light comes from the left

 

[Danthefishman]

I see, well it's definitely not cost effective to go with these kessil lights. What do you think of the cheaper Chinese lights like pop bloom, nicrew, etc.? Or even the current usa lights?

 

[VintageReefer]

I see, well it's definitely not cost effective to go with these kessil lights. What do you think of the cheaper Chinese lights like pop bloom, nicrew, etc.? Or even the current usa lights?

I would choose none out of all of those

An inexpensive light thy is highly rated by members would be Noopsyche k7 III.

2 would be minimum and could get you started. 3 would be ideal. You can get three with brackets for roughly the cost of 1 kessil

NooPsyche K7 PRO III kit with arm bracket

NP K7 PRO III v3 Aquarium LED Coral Light. Better spectrum out / Excellent Growth / Feed Almost all the of the SPS/LPS coral in one reef tank isn't a dream especially red coral / Natural perfect mixing and Shimmer / Superior Color Mixing / The best mixing spectrum technology / Affordable price...

noopsychereeflight.com

This is one of my top choices personally to get for this tank. I’ve seen videos of it and am highly impressed.

 

[VintageReefer]

This looks like our size tank or at least very close. They are using 2. If you notice though all coral is grouped in the middle 80%

You could get by with 2 lights this way. If you want a “end to end” reef I would suggest 3

 

[frydaddy]

I wouldn’t assume the coral grouping is that way because of lighting limitation. Some people like space between the glass and coral or rock work to make maintenance easier or to provide swimming space for fish.

 

[VintageReefer]

I wouldn’t assume the coral grouping is that way because of lighting limitation. Some people like space between the glass and coral or rock work to make maintenance easier or to provide swimming space for fish.

I think it’s completely planned…that tank is not an accident. They wanted space for the fish to swim around on the ends. The made a rock scape according to their vision. And two lights is what was needed to light it.

 

[VintageReefer]

This isn’t exact but it supports the point. The lights are centers above the scape and corals. In this layout and this scape all the corals are lit from above

If you had coral mid - high on the outside it would get residual light from a strong angle, and only from one side

If you had 3 you can get those areas covered better

 

[VintageReefer]

Make the rock scape how you like in the tank. Buy two lights see how it does. Worst case is down the line you add a third. You’re still in the same cost as one kessil and saving a ton over other routes.

Or buy 3 and just use 3 from the start. If your scape or coral placement doesn’t need it you can always sell the extra light.

Or mount the lights horizontally. And see if that lets you get by with 2

At the most expensive option with noopsyche your getting 3 lights for 534$ and excellent full coverage. Or 2 lights for $356 with most of the tank covered

 

[Danthefishman]

Nice, that light looks awesome! I'm definitely gonna look into it. Pretty affordable too. I'm going to sell my kessil.

To be honest the biggest thing I'm stuck on is what kind of rock to get. When I had my first tank many years ago I used live rock, and I feel like getting it cycled was a breeze, and I had no pests either. I know live rock is hard to come by now, so a lot of people are using dry rock, which takes more effort. I'm leaning towards the Tampa Bay live rock. A lot of people seem to have had luck with that rock. What's your preferred rock? I appreciate all your help!

 

[TangerineSpeedo]

Just throwing this out there...
One can use a kessel in the center for the intention of the shimmer it is well known for and actually light your tank with AI blades ( T-5 alt)...