# LED lighting for 60G African Cichlids tank



## rfo.76 (Apr 25, 2012)

Hi im looking to replace my lighting with LED lighting, I was looking at Beamworks & Marineland (although Marineland is Super expensive), also what is better freshwater or reef lights, I'm not looking for plant or algae growth, just for fish color enhancement.

tank size is 48" long, 12" deep, and 24" high with glass top

thanks


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## 13razorbackfan (Sep 28, 2011)

I am going with the reef bright lights from beamswork...although it will be months before I can do it. I just like the brightness. I currently have a quad t5HO so I don't want to reduce the brightness.


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## masonv (Mar 27, 2011)

Beamsworks are very nice. I just bought 4 36" freshwater versions for my 180g, I could have gotten away with 2 fixtures, but 4 makes it nice and bright. If you bought 1 freshwater version you would have a nice fixture for $70 shipped. If it's not bright enough you could always order another one for $70 dollars shipped.
Here's the link to my thread where I have pictures of how bright it makes the tank: http://www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/view ... highlight=


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## rfo.76 (Apr 25, 2012)

looks good, but instead of adding multiple freshwater lights, would 1 reef light be just as bright or even brighter without going into multiple light fixtures. I'm new to this LED lighting for aquariums


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## JimA (Nov 7, 2009)

Here is mine with 2 36" reefbright beamworks. If I had to do it over again I would go with the freshwater ones, I think they would work just fine.










This picture below was taken before I took the little plastic lenses off that come with the reefbright lights. It acheived a couple of the things. 1st: The spread and coverage are much better while kind of hard to tell in the pic much more noticable in person. 2nd: The beaming effect has been eliminated completley which you can see in this photo. So far I am still very happy with the quality of the beamworks lights.










This is current of the pic above just a different angle.


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## rfo.76 (Apr 25, 2012)

JimA said:


> Here is mine with 2 36" reefbright beamworks. If I had to do it over again I would go with the freshwater ones, I think they would work just fine.
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Actually, I kind of like the look of the beaming, Im probably leaning towards the Beamworks 48"-60" Reef LED lights. Thanks


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## vann59 (Jun 20, 2011)

JimA said:


> Here is mine with 2 36" reefbright beamworks.


Jim,

Are all your rocks real? The look like it. Very nice.


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## Guest (Apr 27, 2012)

What's the difference between the freshwater and reef lights? Is it just bigger LED bulbs?


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## JimA (Nov 7, 2009)

vann59 said:


> JimA said:
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> > Here is mine with 2 36" reefbright beamworks.
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 Thanks, and yes all the rocks are real.


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## JimA (Nov 7, 2009)

phister said:


> What's the difference between the freshwater and reef lights? Is it just bigger LED bulbs?


 from what I have read I think it's the watts 1watt vs 3 watts that make much of the difference. The amount of lumens the led diode gives off is quite a bit higher than the freshwater light. Hopefully someone else will chime in??


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## JAyliffe (Feb 29, 2012)

JimA said:


> phister said:
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> > What's the difference between the freshwater and reef lights? Is it just bigger LED bulbs?
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I'm not sure about BeamWorks but the difference for Marineland is the freshwater use 6k 1W white and 60mW blue LEDs (double bright) and the reef capable use 10k 1W white and 1W blue LEDs. They also have single bright that uses 6k 60mW white and blue LEDs. If you look at their spec sheets you will also notice that the reef ready one has three times the white LED count versus the double bright freshwater one.


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## Guest (Apr 27, 2012)

cause at the moment, Beamswork 48'' seems to be getting my attention, i might just order it for my tank this weekend :thumb:


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## JimA (Nov 7, 2009)

JAyliffe said:


> JimA said:
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 This! I was wrong..  I had to go back and look at my notes.

Some argue this but the Beamwoks lights are identical to the Marineland lights in everyway. Probably made by the same company in China? I think you would be happy with the freshwater but thats just my opinion.


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## rfo.76 (Apr 25, 2012)

phister said:


> cause at the moment, Beamswork 48'' seems to be getting my attention, i might just order it for my tank this weekend :thumb:


Are you getting the Beamworks freshwater or marine/reef?


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## Guest (Apr 29, 2012)

rfo.76 said:


> phister said:
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> > cause at the moment, Beamswork 48'' seems to be getting my attention, i might just order it for my tank this weekend :thumb:
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Well, this is the dilemma I'm in... This is the info for the freshwater and reef lights. You guys chime in and let me know what I'm better off with...
I'm not a huge light guru, so I'm not good with all the lighting terms. But is bigger lights always better?

Freshwater
Fixture Size: 48.00" x 5.00" x 1.00" (Add 0.65" in height with bracket installed)
LED Count: 174
900 Lumens
Super energy efficient .06 watt LEDs
162x 10,000K LEDs
12x Actinic 460nm LEDs
Use 11 watts

Reef
Fixture Size: 48.00" x 5.00" x 1.00" (Add 0.65" in height with bracket installed)
LEDs Count: 54
3340 Lumens
Super energy efficientÃ‚Â 1 watt HQ LEDs
46x 10,000K LEDs
8x Actinic 460nm LEDs
UseÃ‚Â 54 watts


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## rfo.76 (Apr 25, 2012)

phister said:


> rfo.76 said:
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I think it's all a matter of preference, I would like a bright tank to show the colors of the fish, I currently just have the power glo fluorescent light, I think the Beamworks reef light would be awesome, some people don't like the beaming it causes, but I think it looks good with the beaming, it's no different than the suns rays beaming into the water of the lakes where the fish naturally live.


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## papasmurf (May 21, 2003)

the beamworks brand is now releasing 3W LED fixtures. The freshwater bright fixtures have the most LED's for a given length but they have very low wattage and lumens output. The color is a bit more of a yellow color too as they are 6500k I think. The reefbright fixtures were originally 1W LED's with fewer LED's for a given length. The LED's were 10k. The newer 3W fixtures are going to have even fewer LED's for a given length but even higher wattage and lumens output. I think they are still 10k LED's though. I have also seen a "rebranded" fixture that looks to be the same as the others that was 6500k with 3W LED's that was for planted tanks.


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## GTZ (Apr 21, 2010)

I've read that removal of the optics or 'lenses' from the reefbright light eliminates much of the 'spotlight' effect of the leds.


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## 13razorbackfan (Sep 28, 2011)

GTZ said:


> I've read that removal of the optics or 'lenses' from the reefbright light eliminates much of the 'spotlight' effect of the leds.


Yeah...that is what I plan to do as well.


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## Guest (Apr 30, 2012)

So I'm guessing going with the reef bright is a better way to go long term?


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## 13razorbackfan (Sep 28, 2011)

phister said:


> So I'm guessing going with the reef bright is a better way to go long term?


Well....I want the brightness as I currently have a quad t5HO. I want the brightness to remain close to the same.


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