Current USA Orbit Marine Aquarium LED Light, 24 to 36-Inch

I have a 20 long nano reef tank that I have been using 4 bulb 24" T5 lighting with for the past 3 years. I was shopping for replacement bulbs and the price would have been around $95 shipped. I had been looking at LED for the past few months and decided to go with this fixture instead of dropping $100 on T5 bulbs every year.I purchased the 24"-36" model an it fits my 20 long tank just fine. It has 23 watts so that satisfies the rule of thumb of 1 watt per gallon for corals. I have some softies, LPS and two RBTAs. I have the fixture sitting right on top of the tank frame and it is very small and sleek compared to the much larger T5 fixture. So far all of my corals and two anemones are growing well with this light. I have it set at 100% blues and 75% whites. This LED fixture uses alot less power and runs alot cooler than the T5 setup I had.This LED setup is plenty powerful enough for my shallow tank that is 12" deep. I would NOT advise using this fixture for anything deeper. This light would also be plenty to grow SPS in a shallow tank. The LED gives a nice shimmering effect that T5 washes out but it is still not as good as thwe shimmer you would get from single powerful LED light.4 stars for the good value and I would not bother spending money on anything else if you have a shallow tank. For deeper tanks these lights will not do the job so look elsewhere.UPDATE: I have been running this light fixture on my 20 long for 3 months now. My tank has RBTAs, SPS, LPS and softies. I initially had the light set at 100% blues and 75% whites. I now run it at 60% blue and 60% whites ( the same as the acclimation mode) for 8 hours per day. The thing to note with LEDs is they are not as bright to our eyes as T5 but they are very strong on your corals. I have found this one fixture at 60% sitting directly on top of a 20 long with clear water is as strong as you will ever need. I would still consider it a high light tank even on the bottom with this setup. Any type of SPS will grow like crazy anywhere in the tank. If you have a deeper tank (20 long is 12" deep) you will need to bump up the intensity. Also note to get good growth and amazing coloration lighting is only one piece of the puzzle. Couple this with frequent water changes with a good salt mix and RODI water, weekly tank feedings, carbon to combat chemical warfare and your tank will thrive. Do not use GFO, Purigen, reactors etc as it will strip the water of nutrients that your corals need to thrive. Corals will survive in a sterile tank but will not grow very quickly.

I bought this light to replace a 4 x 24" T5 fixture. I have a 36" long 40 breeder aquarium with a 4-5" deep sand bed, with the light mounted about 1" above the surface of the tank.I chose this light based on all the positive reviews, images, and videos, both here and on YouTube. In summary, this light is not very bright at all. I know it's cheap compared to the high end LED fixtures, so I wasn't expecting much in terms of PAR, which is fine as I only have low-light corals. However, I was hoping that it would appear "visually" bright. It doesn't. I have the blues and whites cranked up to maximum (I've tried it manually as well as both full-power programs), and it's still extremely dim compared to my T5 fixture. This is especially perplexing when you consider that others are lighting up larger tanks with this light and appear to be getting better results (i.e. replacing T5s and getting similar lighting levels). It just doesn't seem to penetrate the water very well - it's very bright to look at (too bright to look at directly, much brighter than my T5s), but very dim when viewed in the aquarium. So, it's possible that this one is defective, but I don't think so considering how bright it looks when viewed directly, and based on the fact that all the LEDs appear to light up.On the positive side, I like the dimming features, it's easy to program, and the colors are nice. In particular, I like the whites - I don't know if it's the "dual spectrum" or what, but the whites themselves look very natural. There's little to no disco effect, and the colors blend nicely. So, I'll give it two stars for color and features, but no more than two since it's not a complete lighting solution, and I'm left with having to find something else.This leaves me torn about what to do next - since the color, features, and price are good, but it's just not bright enough, do I get a second fixture hoping that the two of them together will be bright enough? Or do I give up on Current USA go in a totally different direction?I'm leaning towards getting a second Current Marine Orbit fixture, and seeing how it appears visually from there. Pictures & videos of this fixture over 20 gallon tanks look very good, so I'm hoping that 2 of them will look just as good over a 40 gallon tank. If so, I may revise my rating up by a star or two, with the caveat / general guideline that "one foot of light per 10 gallons" would be a good guideline for the Current USA Marine Orbit series.UPDATE: I've had two of these fixtures for about 7 months now, and the velcro mounting system for the timers has failed several times. The glue on the back of the velcro has failed, causing the timers to fall. Usually they just swing free and hang from the canopy, but one of them fell in my ATO and was severely damaged (the display is no longer readable). I have since replaced the velcro with Command Adhesive strips, which have been flawless.I have a warranty claim going with Current USA now, I'll update this review again with their response. However, if you are considering this fixture, do yourself a favor and throw out the velcro, use Command Adhesive strips instead.

I have a 36 bow front aquarium set up and I started to dislike how my growth was poor and how dull my tank looks. There are so many brands out there it was practically impossible to decide on which brand to get. However, there was one things that sold me to Current USA rather than the other brands, the price. If you look at the features of Current USA and the price they want, it's so good compared to their competitors. There are other brands with these feature but want anywhere from 200-400 for them. This product is amazing as it states it comes with a 24 hour on/off time, minimum/maximum intensity, and a moonlight. Do your research yourself and see if I'm lying about the competitors prices.When I received this product I opened up the box and you see all of the instructions needed to install the light. It's very basic and not difficult to install at all. The only thing that needed thinking would be the placement of the Ramp Timer Pro, as you can see from my pictures I just nailed down the housing the wall and placed the timer inside. The only downside that I can say about the timer is that it needs to see the remote IR in front of it, not underneath, left, or right. It has to be pointed straight at the timer. But I won't take off a star for that because I used Timer M3 and the light takes care of it self.Overall:- Ever since I installed this light and left the timer on M3, coraline algae as grown everywhere! I love it!- The time function is amazing as I don't have to worry about putting it on or off.- I seen people complain about the timer not working properly. Make sure you set the correct time as they are in 24-hour format. If that is still not the issue Current USA customer support is amazing and they will replace/repair it for you.- I love the fact that the light intensity changes over the course of the day and mixes the blue/white lights.- Having a remote makes it convenient to play with the light. Also, I have seen people complain about how difficult it is to manually adjust the timers with the remote. For a new person in the saltwater hobby, just use one of the four pre-installed timer as they are good at what they do. However, if you want to manually change settings, it's not suppose to be easy on a small remote. It took me around 2 weeks before I fully knew how to change everything I wanted. However, I ended up just sticking with timer M3.For the price and features that this product has, you can not go wrong with this. I would highly recommend this product.

I rarely write reviews, but this product needs it (there is a gotcha if you want to use more than one light).First, the pros. The LEDs put out a fair amount of light for their size. They will light your tank well, but if you have corals, or a deep tank, I don't believe they are enough. I LOVE the controller, its easy to program, allows 4 custom programs, and the remote control is a nice touch. My family likes the thunderstorm feature (not so sure the fish like it though. They run for cover).Con - I have a 72" 175G show tank (deep). Because of this, I expected I'd need additional lights and wanted to put one on each half of my tank. Current USA sells "TrueLumen Pro" lights in several lengths and colors, which I planned to hook up. After purchasing this set-up, I found that this Orbit Marine is 12volt (though the controller is 12 or 24). Every other light that Current sells is 24 volt, and they don't sell just the 12-volt light that comes with this kit (I wrote the manufacturer to ask). So, if this 12v setup is going to throw enough light for you, its a good purchase. If not or you're uncertain, you'll probably want to buy the reefTimer Pro separately, get a 24volt transformer, and buy the Truelumen Pros, since this product is not expandable (well, to be fair, there may be other manufacturer's 12v lights that have the same plugs. I don't know).I ended up using the reef timer pro from this kit, bought a separate 24v transformer, two power splitters and 4 TrueLumen Pros. That's working great. This left an extra 12v transformer and the light from this kit. I've plugged them into a simple AC timer and use them for a few hours of supplemental light during midday (which is not controllable from the remote and is simple on/off). I will probably put them up on ebay for sell or something though.Bottom line, nothing wrong with the 12 v light itself, it just cannot be expanded, contrary to all of the other Current USA products. That's why it lost a star for me but the product seems nice.

UPDATED: Giving these lights 4 stars instead of 3, because of the color of the lighting. These lights are not suit as a main light for a reef tank, but as a secondary light it’s great! I have this paired up with some T5 lights, getting great coral growth the past few months and beautiful color. Would recommend this light for any Fish only tank. (Wish I can get some PAR readings of the pair of lights when both are on)These lights are great for the price but they are not for corals or anemones despite what people say. The max PAR on this light is 150 PAR at the top of the tank and anemones need at least 220 par.The second downside is the lighting schedule And is what made me get a new light. The night mode last for 6 hours and you can not adjust the time. So you will get 1.5 hours of daylight half hour of sunrise and 6 hours of night; which equals to the recommended 8 hours of light. It’s way too much nightlight that can not be adjustable.Pros:1. Very cost effective2. Enough lighting for fishes3. Great color of lighting4. Can add power heads that can be controlled by the same remote, but isn’t cheap.Cons:1. Not enough PAR for corals or anemones2. Night mode time is not adjustable always 6 hours of night light.3. Any add ons will be expensive.