Frustrated with plant lights

[Vaping Giant]

I run a smart home, but I keep it fairly simple and easy to deal with. When working with things I like them simple, durable and reasonably priced. I

 

i currently have most of my aquarium lights on timers and that’s awesome. Breeding and grow out tanks get low light plants so I don’t really need 3.0 or the like for them. 
 

where I run into trouble are my high light tanks. Sure I can get a 3.0 and set it to manual and on a timer. But that’s a ton of money for things I’m not going to use. Personally I don’t need sunrise, sunset and moonlight Bluetooth etc etc. 
 

stingray kind of works, but doesn’t seem to work well on my deep tanks. All the rest I’ve found require -programming and need reprogrammed when they lose power

i don’t want t5 because I’ll forget to change bulbs.
 

so where can I find led plant lights that don’t have all the unnecessary gewgaws that can blast light down 30” that will turn on and off with power flow?   Help?

[Mmiller2001]

Twinstar. UNS Titan 1. Chihiros Vivid 2 or wRGB2 and Chihiros has a new light and improved light  out now.

[Vaping Giant]

On 3/8/2022 at 5:32 PM, Mmiller2001 said:

Twinstar. UNS Titan 1. Chihiros Vivid 2 or wRGB2 and Chihiros has a new light and improved light  out now.

Ty. I’ll start researching these

[Jack.of.all.aquariums]

I currently run beamswork fspecs on my high tech tanks. They aren't super strong so I double up on high tech tanks but they are relatively cheap.

[StevesFishTanks]

Finnex 24/7 ALC or HLC. Set on 24/7 and forget the timers. Half the price of the Fluval 3.0 and does not need bluetooth or an app to sync after a power outage.

If you want an ultimate budget friendly no feature light you can get the aquaneat led. I bought a 25 pack of the 10k fowlr version direct from their site. They sell "full spectrum" versions on amazon for more money. They are so cheap you can just keep adding them if you need more light.

I have all 5 of these lights currently in use.

 

Edited March 9, 2022 by StevesFishTanks

[Patrick_G]

I bought a Chihiros WRGB 2 after seeing @Mmiller2001’s. It seems to be the giant killer of the high end lights.  It does cost a lot more than a Fluval 3.0 and so do most of the aquascaping lights - ADA, Twinstar UNS etc. Another option would be a Kessil. They’re pricey but have supernova brightness, it’ll get light to the bottom of those deep tanks!

[Tommy Vercetti]

I also run a chihiros wrgb 2 and mine remembers all  settings and can be turned on and off with a smart plug. I originally intended to use it in manual mode with a smart plug timer. I ran it this way for 2 week then decides to try the ramp features and it appears that my cherry barbs like the sunset so I now run the light with a 1 hour ramp up and 1 hr ramp down. 

[Vaping Giant]

Thank you all for the input. I’m working on getting something over the next few months for my big bowfront. Love this community!