Zetlights?

[PistachioSkyBird]

I am trying to set up a large reef tank at a high school and my local fish store has been recommending Zetlight UFOs over AI Primes. I am having a hard time finding any information on Zetlights. Are there people here who have used them? How do they compare to AI Primes?

 

[Slapp]

Is the lfs using them? If not, I don’t trust it. Maybe they’ve got 20 in the back that don’t sell, because they suck. But if they got them on tanks instead of other lights then yeah I’d trust it.

I haven’t used them, but if you’re going with the zetlights over the primes because of budget I wouldn’t get either. The box style leds are just flat out better in my opinion, and honestly tech has come far enough to make quality not an issue. I have 4 viparspectra black boxes on various tanks performing great. (Trying to spread the black box love here)

the lfs would be the best source of info. You can’t recommend something without a reason. Whether that reason is clearance or experience.

 

[legionofdoon]

I use one of their refugium lights. It's gtg, in fact apex bought the rights to it to label it as their refugium light. Weird thing is they chose the smaller one. Unfortunately because of that you can't get the bigger one in the US now. Also I've emailed their support a couple of times and they got back to me within a day or so.

 

[Slapp]

Additonally, I will say that every cheaper light regardless of style will be much much heavier on white to offset the broadness of their spectrum.
Basically rather than hiring an expensive marksman to take out a target (light your corals with coral light spectrums and avoid everything else.) you just bomb the place. (Pump random light and hope it hits the right place with the right stuff.)

so if you’d prefer a bluer tank just know that this light will be dimmer than with a higher quality one at the same acinticy.

 

[legionofdoon]

Meant Neptune not apex.

 

[PistachioSkyBird]

Is the lfs using them? If not, I don’t trust it. Maybe they’ve got 20 in the back that don’t sell, because they suck. But if they got them on tanks instead of other lights then yeah I’d trust it.

I haven’t used them, but if you’re going with the zetlights over the primes because of budget I wouldn’t get either. The box style leds are just flat out better in my opinion, and honestly tech has come far enough to make quality not an issue. I have 4 viparspectra black boxes on various tanks performing great. (Trying to spread the black box love here)

the lfs would be the best source of info. You can’t recommend something without a reason. Whether that reason is clearance or experience.

The local fish store only has freshwater tanks, and from what they have said they have one light in the store that is a plant light made by zetlight. Price wise they said that they would be about the same. The reason I was planning on going for the smaller lights is funding. We currently have enough to get primes to cover the length of the tank but not enough to grow coral well. My current plan is to run the tank with a really long fish cycle (9 months to a year) and then when we can fundraise again next year add more lights to fill in the gaps. The primes seemed like they would be the easiest to move around once we can add more lighting. I would really love to be able to add something like the Neptune sky's.

 

[PistachioSkyBird]

Additonally, I will say that every cheaper light regardless of style will be much much heavier on white to offset the broadness of their spectrum.
Basically rather than hiring an expensive marksman to take out a target (light your corals with coral light spectrums and avoid everything else.) you just bomb the place. (Pump random light and hope it hits the right place with the right stuff.)

so if you’d prefer a bluer tank just know that this light will be dimmer than with a higher quality one at the same acinticy.

Just making sure. Would the primes be considered a more expensive or a cheaper light?

 

[Fish Styx]

Have you considered NooPsyches instead? For roughly the same price as the UFOs, you get a better light, IMO that puts out better par #'s. @Zach B can answer any questions you have about them.

 

[PistachioSkyBird]

Have you considered NooPsyches instead? For roughly the same price as the UFOs, you get a better light, IMO that puts out better par #'s. @Zach B can answer any questions you have about them.

No, I had never heard of them. I will look in to them for sure!

 

[Fish Styx]

No, I had never heard of them. I will look in to them for sure!

Yeah, the 3rd gen K7 Pros are a phenomenal value when considering price to performance. @Zach B is the exclusive North American distributor for them and can not only walk you through them, but has an incredibly fast turn around on shipping.

 

[Soren]

I got 2 Zetlight UFO's with my 75g FOWLR when I bought it from a co-worker that was moving and did not want to keep the tank through the relocation. They were "worth it" for me since I got them along with the entire system and several fish for an overall cheap price.

They seem like pretty good lights, but I have not measured PAR and have not grown any significant corals under them yet to prove how good they are. I just recently added them on my 40B on my work desk.

In general, I feel like the Zetlights are a bit overpriced for what they are. The program for different lighting at different time of day is nice. They are not the brightest lights for the cost, but they are not the worst.

Both pictures are fairly true to eye-view.
40g Breeder tank with only UFO's, running day program near max blue, white, UV, and 50% reds:

Same as before, except also including a relatively-cheap Hygger light (primarily white light with a bit of blue/red/green) since I prefer more full-spectrum light than primarily blue:

 

[PistachioSkyBird]

I got 2 Zetlight UFO's with my 75g FOWLR when I bought it from a co-worker that was moving and did not want to keep the tank through the relocation. They were "worth it" for me since I got them along with the entire system and several fish for an overall cheap price.

They seem like pretty good lights, but I have not measured PAR and have not grown any significant corals under them yet to prove how good they are. I just recently added them on my 40B on my work desk.

In general, I feel like the Zetlights are a bit overpriced for what they are. The program for different lighting at different time of day is nice. They are not the brightest lights for the cost, but they are not the worst.

Both pictures are fairly true to eye-view.
40g Breeder tank with only UFO's, running day program near max blue, white, UV, and 50% reds:

Same as before, except also including a relatively-cheap Hygger light (primarily white light with a bit of blue/red/green) since I prefer more full-spectrum light than primarily blue:

Thank you! It is great to see them in action, and here from someone who has used them. It is really helpful!