LIGHTS: T5 HO v LED

Howie

Members
So what are your experiences and recommendations?

Recommendations for LEDs that are decent quality and not super expensive? Jason is running Beamworks LEDs on his sweet 135 setup and swears by them.
 

jmessineo1

Members
i also have some marineland on my 75 and those are nice, but for the price the beamworks hi lumen are the best bang for your buck
 

Becca

Members
I have a beamswork on our 150 gallon. I hate the color and have found, that after about a year or two in-service, the adapter went (not too expensive to replace) and a few of the LEDs have burned out.

The color on Beamswork is VERY yellow and doesn't really compliment fish colors nicely. It looks better over a dark substrate than it did over PFS, but it's still yellow.

I far prefer my Current Satellite+, but they don't come in anything longer than 48". The best thing about the Satellite is that you can adjust the colors to fit your personal preferences and compliment the fish and decor you have.

The Satellite Pro has also just been released and my understanding is that it has higher lumen output and PAR rating than the Satellite+. I think the Pro will probably give you the best bang for your buck in terms of color flexibility and depth at which you can grow plants. The plain Current Satellite will give you some of the color options without enough output to sustain plant growth. It will still make your fish look decent so long as your tank isn't super deep.

I've had a good experience, so far, with my Current products. The only drawback is you need the remote to operate them. If you lose it, your SOL... if you have a 2 year old, not losing it might be a challenge!

I've never used T5HO, just normal output. Even for normal output, replacing 2 bulbs in a 48" light is about $20/year, plus it's more expensive to run. HO is probably closer to $40/year. I have found color combinations of T5 lights that don't bother me, but I haven't found any I REALLY like.
 

jmessineo1

Members
The Hi Lumen's are 10k bulbs and bright white, some others are the yellow 12k bulbs as becca has said be careful with the ones you purchase. learned the hard way. haha had to send some back
 

Becca

Members
The Hi Lumen's are 10k bulbs and bright white, some others are the yellow 12k bulbs as becca has said be careful with the ones you purchase. learned the hard way. haha had to send some back

Yeah, I wish they'd made the Hi Lumen ones when we bought ours!
 

Tangcollector

Active Member
Staff member
I have used all beamworks Hi Lum or Hi Led with great success. some of them are a year old and no diminishing of performance. And for the money you can't beat them. Bright white lights both with dark or white sand. Just my .02
 

Andrewtfw

Global Moderators
I have the satellite + fixture. Other than it not having a higher par level, I can't complain. I have the satellite +pro model, but have not used it yet. I also have the 8k true lumen. It runs warmer than I'd like and somewhat washes out blues.

Sent from my VS985 4G using MonsterAquariaNetwork App
 

Becca

Members
I definitely like the Satellite+ for plant growth. Pure 10K light isn't the best for that.
 

Leffler817

CCA Members
I LOVE my Aqueon modular LED. It came with one strand of lights. I added a 'plant' strand to keep the plants happy and I just added a 'blue' strand to bring out the blue tones in my Africans. It's a 48" light and I have less than $90 into it from Ken's.


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1badmarine

Guest
Well, I just picked up two of the new Fluval Aquasky LED lights. They are awesome. I love the remote that simulates changing weather conditions....


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Jt731

Members
The current satellite+ have a 120 degree spread so they're not going to have a lot of "depth" or par

I have 5 or 6 finnex including their planned plus. The feet are awful but they all still work despite 1-2 being dropped into a tank a week. Honestly for most shallower tanks you'll want to raise them up a bit or hello algae. If you want more than off/on then don't go with one.

If I were to do it again I'd probably get a custom led from build my led. They also can do multiple angles so you can tailor it to your depth. More expensive though
 

Howie

Members
I have used all beamworks Hi Lum or Hi Led with great success. some of them are a year old and no diminishing of performance. And for the money you can't beat them. Bright white lights both with dark or white sand. Just my .02

I'm leaning towards the 60" Beamworks -- 9600 lumens and 50W should hopefully get the job done.
 

HoleyRockofTex

CCA Members
I own both the beamworks and the satellite and I would say that the beamworks buts off a much yellower light. I think the satellite looks much more clean and crisp.
 

frkyltn

Members
I have 2 36" beamworks on my 150..I agree with Becca that the color is very yellow..the blue night lights are awesome though
 

Howie

Members
After considerable research, I ordered the Beamworks 60" LED. $129.95 and free shipping off of eBay. I'll post a review and pics after I take delivery and set up.

FYI, the Aquatic Life T5 HO Marquis Dual Lamp fixture is junk. Flimsy construction and poor quality, and most importantly lackluster performance at premium prices ($110.for each 30" unit) Customer service is equally dysfunctional and they totally punted to
Amazon. Kudos to Amazon for free return shipping and a full refund.
 

Becca

Members
Just borrowed a 36" Current Pro to see how well light spreads over a tank that us larger/ longer than the light.

Above unfilled, under construction, 60" tank

Above filled 55

Sendt from my SCH-I435 using MonsterAquariaNetwork App

uploadfromtaptalk1426887871932.jpg

uploadfromtaptalk1426887914212.jpg
 
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1badmarine

Guest
I just picked up a couple of the new Fluval AquaSky LED's. They are awesome. Can go from 6500k to 12000k. Comes with a wireless remote that has all the features of the Current USA models, but way cheaper. 36" is $109 and 48" is $139


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Howie

Members
Just borrowed a 36" Current Pro to see how well light spreads over a tank that us larger/ longer than the light.

Above unfilled, under construction, 60" tank

Above filled 55

Sendt from my SCH-I435 using MonsterAquariaNetwork App

Looks good, Becca!
 
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