I was asked by the owner of The Coral Reef to take his LED light, Sealife LED's (previously, The Patriot LED’s), that he designed himself, home to my tank to put above my tank and then review them. He wanted to do this because he felt I was well known on the forums. 

Anyone who knows me well knows that I am highly against LEDs. Anyone that I have seen put these things above their tank, I have pretty much watched their coral die off and then I watch them switch back to T5’s or halide’s shortly afterwards. 

However, I agreed to give it a whirl and put the light above my frag tank in my basement. 

I was immediately frustrated when I brought it home and it came without a wire. When I talked to him about this he told me to use a computer wire. For starters, when I first ventured into this project I was told I was going to be given this light fixture. Then I was told it was only on borrowed time. So, the fact that I had to go out and buy a cord? No! I actually threw a fit and told my fiancé to bring the thing back to him. I wasn't rearranging my entire basement for a borrowed light and then buying a cord. However, she had to travel down to the store to discuss some club business with them about a week or two later so she asked him for a cord and he took it from another fixture for her. 

I was relatively easy to install once I had the cord however, I didn't like the fact that the controller box couldn't be mounted onto anything. Also, the little remote is something I see a lot of people losing very easily. 

So, there it was, hung over a 40 gallon frag tank in my basement. These have a retail price of 16" for $425, 24" for $560, 36" for $695 and 48" for $835. The 16” given to me didn't cover the entire tank. Worth it at the moment? In my personal opinion, no. But, let’s see over the course of time what kind of growth I get. The color was certainly nice. 

Within a few short days I was receiving text messages asking me about the growth. You have got to be kidding me, really? It was just installed. I told him that. A few days later, same question. This continued every couple of days.

Approximately five weeks later I was asked to take the light down so that it could be given to someone else because there were no more 16” lights in the store. I told him that I would personally give the light to the person and he told me no, to bring it back to the store, he was actually giving them a 36” one not the 16” one I had. However, a review was still wanted. 

Honestly, I couldn't be happier to be rid of the thing. I feel for the person getting the light and honestly, because he’s an old friend and CTARS member, he will be getting forewarned of the impending hounding. 

Can I give an honest review of this light? Sure. In the five weeks it was above my tank it did not give my corals the astounding growth that the owner and designer claim that it gives to his coral in his store. I had zero growth actually; probably due to the short nature of the acclimation of the light to my tank. I did however have a ¼” growth in my other tank with my DIY Rapid LED fixture that was adjacent to this tank. Nothing is different in these tanks, they run on the same system (same water, same parameters, same everything) the only thing that was different was the lighting. Again, my one good review of this light was the ease of installation when hanging it above my tank. I believe out of all the lights I have bought throughout the years, this was the easiest to install. I do not think that for the money, these fixtures are worth breaking the bank. 

Also, anyone willing to test this light, it would be best if you turned off your phone completely to the entire world or just change your telephone number until you're ready to return the light with your review. 

If anyone would like to see pictures of growth (or lack thereof) I do have them and would be happy to post. I didn’t however think they were needed.