Marineland Reef LED 2015

HoneyMoonFarm · 12/02/2015, 06:43 PM

Ok so I am rather new to salt and I need some help understanding the bad reviews this light seems to have. I decided to purchase this light after falling in love with their plant LED on my high light high input tanks. However this light seems to have terrible reviews here for growing coral. Marineland put out a reef capable light a couple years back that failed. So I'm wondering did that light leave a bad taste in everyone's mouth or is their new light just as bad. I'm only doing a FOWLR and when I have more experience adding corals so I can change lights by then. I'm a big energy conservationist so if these are as bad as they seem what do you recommend?

Thanks! >.<

Ron Reefman · 12/03/2015, 09:58 AM

The Marineland and Current led fixtures are just fine for 12" deep and maybe... maybe, 18" deep tanks if you do zoas and softies. At 24" deep they don't have enough power to get light to the bottom of the tank. They use leds at power levels of 0.5 and 0.75 watts/led and get almost no PAR down to 24". Not even much at 12". The cheapest Chinese fixtures use 3 watt leds and power them at 1.85 and 2.2 watts/led. That gets PAR levels of 100 to 200 down to 24".

HoneyMoonFarm · 12/03/2015, 10:23 PM

Thank you for explaining this to me! I am very appreciative.

Ron Reefman · 12/04/2015, 05:47 AM

You are quite welcome. These are OK lights if used on shallow tanks or FOWLR tanks. But the manufacturers try to make them look like they can work over a 24" deep tank, and that is REALLY pushing the envelope.

12/02/2015, 06:43 PM	#1
HoneyMoonFarm Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2015 Posts: 10	Marineland Reef LED 2015 Ok so I am rather new to salt and I need some help understanding the bad reviews this light seems to have. I decided to purchase this light after falling in love with their plant LED on my high light high input tanks. However this light seems to have terrible reviews here for growing coral. Marineland put out a reef capable light a couple years back that failed. So I'm wondering did that light leave a bad taste in everyone's mouth or is their new light just as bad. I'm only doing a FOWLR and when I have more experience adding corals so I can change lights by then. I'm a big energy conservationist so if these are as bad as they seem what do you recommend? Thanks! >.<

12/03/2015, 09:58 AM	#2
Ron Reefman Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Cape Coral, FL Posts: 10,431	The Marineland and Current led fixtures are just fine for 12" deep and maybe... maybe, 18" deep tanks if you do zoas and softies. At 24" deep they don't have enough power to get light to the bottom of the tank. They use leds at power levels of 0.5 and 0.75 watts/led and get almost no PAR down to 24". Not even much at 12". The cheapest Chinese fixtures use 3 watt leds and power them at 1.85 and 2.2 watts/led. That gets PAR levels of 100 to 200 down to 24". __________________ The good thing about science is that it's true whether or not you believe in it. (Neil deGrasse Tyson) Visit my build thread http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2593017

12/04/2015, 05:47 AM	#4
Ron Reefman Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Cape Coral, FL Posts: 10,431	You are quite welcome. These are OK lights if used on shallow tanks or FOWLR tanks. But the manufacturers try to make them look like they can work over a 24" deep tank, and that is REALLY pushing the envelope. __________________ The good thing about science is that it's true whether or not you believe in it. (Neil deGrasse Tyson) Visit my build thread http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2593017

12/03/2015, 10:23 PM	#3
HoneyMoonFarm Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2015 Posts: 10	Thank you for explaining this to me! I am very appreciative.