TMC aqua ray led question

[adamt]

I have a friend whos interested in putting four of the 12 w stips over his tank (65) gallon. Hes convinced its enough light for his mixed reef. Im concerned that 48 watts even if theyre three watt cree emitters isnt enough light. According to the info on the website that sells them it says 4 strips is enough. I dont want to see him mess up his tank based on misinformation. Do yall think thats enough light?

the complete set up is around $800 For the same price he could get the maxspect g2 170w with 3w semi emmitters and for $300 more he could get the 170 with cree's.

I think that if he insists on getting leds and will only spend $800 hes better off getting the maxspect 170 (even with the semi's) over the 48w tmc set up, what do yall think?

 

[NYreefNoob]

48w of led is noit going to be enough for a reef

 

[Aqua Pro Builder]

48W of LED is not goign to be enough for a 65G reef.

 

[adamt]

I didnt think so, I found the wavepoint led which is 252 watts on sale for a 1k im gonna try and steer him towards that if i cant talk him into a retro fit

 

[NYreefNoob]

if he goes with the maxspec and gets lense will be more then enough for a 65g and a better fixture then the wavepoint

 

[adamt]

I was pushing the maxspect with the cree emmittiers its a few hundred more but if he spends the money on those strips hes gonna end up go back and having to spend that money again anyway when they dont do what hes looking for

 

[adamt]

Well my friend ordered two of these strips the 500 series, its got 5 3w cree emmitters per strip at 180 each and then a controller which was another $200. Hes still gonna keep his t5's so im not worried about his tank, but i do feel like the information about these lights is potentially misleading. I tried to read everything out there about these lights and I kept getting directed to a site called aquarium article digest and all of their "articles" appeared to be more like tmc aquaray sales pitches. They make the bold claim that one 12w unit is enough for 1 sqft of coverage down to 24" deep.

I tried to explain that these lights, however well made each unit might be, are not gonna cut it. I told him he would be way better off going with two of the 120w evoloution panels than using 4 of the 12w aquarays Im not wrong am I?

 

[Aqua Pro Builder]

Does your friend want to add actinic supplemental lighting more than really using them to grow coral?

 

[adamt]

As of right now he got the 50/50 actinic and white combo strips for now he is using them in addition to his wavepoint 4 bulb t5 so i think hes cool atm, but he wants to add two more of the uinits for a total of 48w and lose the wavepoint and light his whole 65 using these led strips

 

[Aqua Pro Builder]

As of right now he got the 50/50 actinic and white combo strips for now he is using them in addition to his wavepoint 4 bulb t5 so i think hes cool atm, but he wants to add two more of the uinits for a total of 48w and lose the wavepoint and light his whole 65 using these led strips

Hopefully, he will listern to you not to replace the T5 with just additional 24W of LED. There is no way, sufficient for 48W LED to lit a 65G reef tank.

 

[adamt]

Thanks guys, my buddy called the company he bought the strips from and the guy got pissed when he was asked about whether or not the lights would be sufficent, he pointed to a bunch of sites that on the surface look like articles but are really just sales pitches for the tmc fixtures. This guy completely stand by his statement that 48w or four of these fixtures is enough light for a 65 gal mixed reef, but cant point to a single aquarium where this has proven to be true, the tanks I have seen set up with these lights have like three of the thrity watt tilles and several of the strips (6 or more) so idk where hes getting his info from...