12 Best Lights For Reef Tank in 2024

Affordable and high-quality lights for reef tank.

Contemporary lighting systems are highly popular among reef tank owners. If you’d like to find the best light for reef tank setups yourself, then you have to look for such features as a timer, up/down ramping, spectrum settings, and several mounting options. Another important characteristic that many people are interested in is power efficiency. The post below will help you find the optimal light for your setup while ensuring it will add a sense of elegance and beauty to your room.

Picking the best light for reef tank owners can be quite a challenging task. While finding a lighting system for a fish-only aquarium doesn’t require much thought, cultivating rocks, sponges and corals demands a significantly more nuanced approach since reef tanks are the most lighting-sensitive items you can deal with in aquarium culture.

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Light Source Wattage: 30W | Voltage: 20V | Brightness: 920 lumens

The new NICREW 30W reef LED aquarium light is designed for saltwater tanks of up to 10 gallons. This aquarium light can be used with all standard or advanced tanks including saltwater, freshwater and reef tanks.

The reef aquarium light has a full color spectrum that illuminates the whole aquarium including the leaves and undergravel as well as the fish. The reef aquarium light has two mounting options - via suspension or via an assembly bracket, which supports it on flat panels.

Light Source Wattage: 72W | Voltage: 110V | Brightness: 1100 lumens

This HM Electronics reef aquarium light is not only unique due to its control from a phone, but it is also a great invention for a marine aquarium as well. The special HME Aqua Master App allows you to control a reef aquarium while you are outside.

Ideal for nighttime vision, great night illumination and tank display, the brilliant blue LEDs add a magical moonlight look to your colorful reef tank. In addition, the light from the aquarium light is adjustable, allowing it to be placed exactly where it is needed for optimum lighting results.

Light Source Wattage: 25W | Voltage: 10V | Brightness: 1650 lumens

The Nicrew ClassicLED aquarium light is perfect for reef aquariums. The bright, long lasting LEDs easily illuminates your tank with intense color intensity, making your tank an eye-catching centerpiece that everyone will love.

The dual LEDs in a blue/white light setting of up to two watts each provide you with sixty hours of light and the ability to change the modes. The versatility and performance of this light makes it the ideal light for any kind of aquarium, from saltwater to freshwater.

Light Source Wattage: 27W | Voltage: 12V | Brightness: 1400 lumens

The CURRENT USA Orbit Marine aquarium LED light has received great reviews from both industry professionals and amateurs. The ease of installation is said to be one of the main benefits of this aquarium LED light, which is easy to install into the you main aquarium.

The flexibility of the light is also praised, and this LED light can be easily replaced if and when it becomes damaged, unlike other lights. Furthermore, it is noted that the brightness of the light is exceptionally bright and offers great colour depth and coverage for the entire reef tank.

Light Source Wattage: 165W | Voltage: 110V | Brightness: 1200 lumens

Phlizon is a leading aquarium and aqua light company based in Southern California. The Phlizon 165W aquarium LED light is a completely new aquarium lighting system which incorporates the use of a low noise cooling fan and provides a high intensity, long-lasting light for reef tanks.

The use of low noise cooling fans helps to spread the light throughout the length of the light system, without the use of a separate fixture which can often be fragile and break easily. The fans can also be controlled on the highest level to provide a constant source of light for the reef tank.

Light Source Wattage: 300W | Voltage: 85V-265V | Brightness: 1200 lumens

If you are looking for a light that will not harm your fish but offer natural light for your reef tank, then the GYIELDS aquarium light is the perfect choice. The unique design and the five different light options all come in specially formulated LED lamps.

It comes with an easy to follow instructions that explain step by step how to install the light to your aquarium. The light itself is an amazing bright that is very effective for lighting up your coral reef tank. There is no more need to worry about wasting energy or having to constantly replace the LEDs in order to provide light for your tank.

Light Source Wattage: 48W | Voltage: 120V | Brightness: 900 lumens

If you're looking for a light fixture that has multiple functions, then the Lominie aquarium light is the perfect fixture for you. This light features a remote control that can be used to change or adjust the intensity of the light in real-time.

This aquarium light system comes with four disable channels that can be used individually or simultaneously to provide the light you need to brighten up your reef tank. This definitely makes this an aquarium light fixture you will be proud to own and use.

Light Source Wattage: 300W | Voltage: 120V | Brightness: 1100 lumens

The Relassy aquarium LED light is one of the best available reef tank lights. This light has several features that make it worth buying even for those who are not experienced reef tank keepers. For example the LED light bulbs use a two stage lighting system.

Besides the two-stage technology, the Relassy aquarium LED light has an intelligent cooling system that enables the light to only be used when needed for optimal reef tank lighting. This cooling system also works well in conjunction with the pump that operates only when the light is needed for proper lighting.

Light Source Wattage: 20W | Voltage: 12V | Brightness: 900 lumens

The NICREW saltwater 30-36 inch aquarium light is designed specifically to provide the light that is needed for the marine life in your aquarium. There are two primary functions of this type of light. One is to provide lighting for the fish and corals in your reef tank, and the other is to extend the life span of the plants that you include in your tank set up.

The dual-channel timer allows the light to switch on a few minutes before dawn, and then turn off for an extended period of time. This dual-channel lighting system will enable you to control the amount of light provided to your corals and fish.

Light Source Wattage: 300W | Voltage: 120V | Brightness: 1300 lumens

The Relassy Updated aquarium light is a marine aquarium light that has several light modes, including a timer for controlling the light intensity, which means that you will not have to constantly adjust the light to see the fish. The timer also helps you to set a day and time so that the light will be available throughout the day.

It is a low-voltage light that will provide the proper amount of light for the coral to thrive. Its efficiency in lighting the aquarium means that you do not have to compensate for the amount of light that it consumes, and you will have enough light for your saltwater aquarium throughout the day.

Light Source Wattage: 30W | Voltage: 12V | Brightness: 1500 lumens

The PopBloom S16 LED aquarium light is an eco-friendly light fixture that fits right on top of your saltwater or fresh water aquarium and provides 1500 lumens of brightness. It is a translucent acrylic light and the design allows you to easily and quickly adjust the intensity.

This means that you are not fumbling around trying to adjust the brightness as it should be, as with traditional lighting systems. The fact that you can instantly see the marine ecosystem through the clear acrylic lens makes this system ideal for reef tanks.

Light Source Wattage: 168W | Voltage: 120V | Brightness: 1000 lumens

Bozily coral reef light is a great product that can be used in combination of different types of lights to give the best marine life you can have in your saltwater aquarium. It is powerful light that are specially designed for reef tanks.

It gives out more light than other LED full spectrum lighting and at the same time has a cooling system that does not let any heat loss during low lighting periods. If you are looking for a good quality marine light for your reef tanks, then you can rely on this model.

Color temperature is indicative of the tone produced by the light source and is measured in Kelvin units. When it comes to reef tanks, the deeper the natural habitats of a specific species, the bluer light they adapt to, meaning they require a bigger Kelvin value.

Corals can reach their peak beauty if cultivated in specific light colors, with the tone depending on the species. Moreover, the lighting color doesn’t always have to reflect that of their habitat. Results show that corals can show terrific growth in white lighting conditions (6500K) but their colors won’t be that attractive (typically yellowish). A lower color temperature can reinforce growth but leads to less coloration.

Usually, it’s advised to go for a color temperature of 10,000K if you want both rapid growth and rich coloration, and you can increase that number even further if you want to get the most out of the colors. Tank reefers that share that goal typically use lights in the 10,000-20,000K range, as it offers enough blue lighting to facilitate photosynthesis and fluorescence, fewer whites for microalgae, and provides a breathtaking view of the reef itself.

The best light for reef tank setups should ideally let you adjust the strength of separate diodes or diode groups. As a result, you’ll be able to achieve the specific lighting conditions you want in different areas of the tank. You can ramp up the full spectrum diodes to the max to highlight the fish and then utilize the blue diodes to cultivate the corals.

Even though you might feel inclined to save costs on lighting equipment, your reef tank will not benefit from such a decision. Despite many manufacturers going on about the high quality of their diodes, if the built-in elements of the lighting system won’t be up to par, the produced light will simply not be strong enough.

Other factors you have to consider are the quality level of the casing, cords, and channels. If you opt for a budget option, the lights themselves may be operable for 8-12 years, but that won’t matter if other parts of the system will demand repair or replacement in just a year or two after purchase.