FOWLR LED HELP

[Lostatsea]

Hi,
Sorry if this has been answered lots but I have a 6ft fowlr tank that has been running for about 18 months and I would like to upgrade the lights. Currently I am using my freshwater 4ft Chihiros WRGB pro led along with a couple of Hepo marine strip lights. The Chihiros really brings out the colours of the fish, especially the reds (I guess being RGB light) but I miss the ripple effect and punch/clarity that a lot of the proper marine lights bring. I looked at the Red Sea reef led 50s but not sure they highlight the red colours so well as they always look really blue in the shops. I love the shimmer they give but as the Angels would undoubtedly eat any corals I don’t need the ultra blue look, only interested in highlighting the fish colours. The local shops say go Ecotech Radion for best colours but these seem overkill for a fowlr. Are there any cheaper alternatives that will give a nice shimmer and bright colours (not Kessil as these are just as expensive as the radions!). I was wondering about some of the cheaper ones like popbloom dysun or rl90 and the Nicrew hyperreef? Also it would be great if they were quiet, I have a AI prime in my fuge that seems quite noisy when the fan comes on full. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Also has anyone compared the popbloom dysun with the Nicrew hyperreef. I think my ideal would be a RGB version of Red Sea reef led at half the cost!

 

[JC1977]

Hi,
Sorry if this has been answered lots but I have a 6ft fowlr tank that has been running for about 18 months and I would like to upgrade the lights. Currently I am using my freshwater 4ft Chihiros WRGB pro led along with a couple of Hepo marine strip lights. The Chihiros really brings out the colours of the fish, especially the reds (I guess being RGB light) but I miss the ripple effect and punch/clarity that a lot of the proper marine lights bring. I looked at the Red Sea reef led 50s but not sure they highlight the red colours so well as they always look really blue in the shops. I love the shimmer they give but as the Angels would undoubtedly eat any corals I don’t need the ultra blue look, only interested in highlighting the fish colours. The local shops say go Ecotech Radion for best colours but these seem overkill for a fowlr. Are there any cheaper alternatives that will give a nice shimmer and bright colours (not Kessil as these are just as expensive as the radions!). I was wondering about some of the cheaper ones like popbloom dysun or rl90 and the Nicrew hyperreef? Also it would be great if they were quiet, I have a AI prime in my fuge that seems quite noisy when the fan comes on full. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Also has anyone compared the popbloom dysun with the Nicrew hyperreef. I think my ideal would be a RGB version of Red Sea reef led at half the cost!

Maybe check out the reef brite led strips? They come in different configurations and are cheaper than the options you’ve mentioned

 

[Lostatsea]

Maybe check out the reef brite led strips? They come in different configurations and are cheaper than the options you’ve mentioned

Hi
Thanks for the suggestion but I think the reefbrite’s only have blue and white leds and am wondering if they will wash out the reds and orange fish colours. A lot of tanks running the AB+ spectrum seem to highlight the coral colours but the fish do not show there proper colours.

 

[Lostatsea]

Hi,
Could anyone let me know if the popbloom RL90’s show up the reds and oranges in the fish?

 

[DaJMasta]

White light is a combination of colors, including red, so while I think looking for less blue looking outputs does indicate better color rendering outside of fluorescence, I don't think you need red or green LEDs in any quantity to inherently do better with color rendering then good quality white LEDs (though maybe including some warm whites instead of just cools helps with this.)

The red sea lights do skew blue in my experience, they do have a decent shimmer. For shimmer, you should look for fewer LEDs or LEDs with a closer clustering, more spread out or diffusers will lessen the effect. While you mention kessils specifically, looking at maybe two of the lower output whiter spectrum options may be worth it as they are narrow sources. Something like a pair of AI prime HD 16s actually has a reasonable spread, but would be two tighter clusters over a large space and should give reasonable shimmer and color rendering too.

I'd stay away from strip lights if the shimmer is important, but if you only want a little, maybe a strip and a spot in tandem could be an option too.

 

[litsoh]

I was thinking of adding some Hygger Lights to mine, I saw a couple videos on youtube saying that it was great to grow macros, specifically the HG 978

 

[oreo54]

Hi,
Could anyone let me know if the popbloom RL90’s show up the reds and oranges in the fish?

Without even seeing the lights I'd assume them to be not "the best" choice to show off reflective red/orange colors.
The whites most lights use have poor color rendering to begin with.
I'd be surprised if it was anywhere near 80CRI.

Add a bunch of blue to wash out the colors even more.. well vid kind of says it all.

You would be better served with like a Viparspectra.
Or maybe the Turing line of popbloom lights.

Even some bluer fw lights.


Depends on what you are going for.