Best lighting recommendations

Impala67

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I have a 20 gallon long aquarium, want to know what you guys think the best light would be to grow coral on. Hopefully something a little cheaper than expensive. I want to grow all types of coral and anemones. Hope you guys have some great suggestions!!!
 

Reefing102

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Lighting depends as to what you want to keep. Most here will reccomend LED. I personally prefer Halides, but on a 20 Gallon you could get decent coverage with a Chinese blackboard LED like the viparspectra. Or you could do T5 like the ATI sun power. It just depends what you want to keep and what look you’re going for (LED tends to lean bluer spectrum)

All of the above, you can keep anything under in a 20 long for the most part
 
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Impala67

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Lighting depends as to what you want to keep. Most here will reccomend LED. I personally prefer Halides, but on a 20 Gallon you could get decent coverage with a Chinese blackboard LED like the viparspectra. Or you could do T5 like the ATI sun power. It just depends what you want to keep and what look you’re going for (LED tends to lean bluer spectrum)

All of the above, you can keep anything under in a 20 long for the most part
Can I put those on a Bluetooth system to hookup to my phone.
 

Jekyl

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What type of coral do you want to grow?
 

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Maybe a kessil a160we. I have one on my 29 cube and it's not the most powerful but I've been able to grow things like toadstools, hammers, montis, duncans, and I have two bubble tip anemones, one's thriving, and the others not doing great.
 
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If you want cheap....

Duct tape a flashlight to a long paint stirring stick.... and duct tape that to the back of your 20g


.
I didn’t say dirt cheap I meant not over $200 it’s actually possible to have a nice light being in the cheaper side
 
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Impala67

Impala67

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I don’t know exactly what type of corals some easy beginner ones would be fine. How do I keep anemones with coral I k ow they move around and i don’t want it to kill my coral. I saw a light on Amazon what do you think. Amazon product
 

Jekyl

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I don’t know exactly what type of corals some easy beginner ones would be fine. How do I keep anemones with coral I k ow they move around and i don’t want it to kill my coral. I saw a light on Amazon what do you think. Amazon product

I think one coral will be worth more than your light. Sure, there are some really cheap options out there that may get the job done. However saving and getting something good instead of cheap just makes sense. Even cheap beginner corals are going to be $30 each or more. Lighting is the lifeline of your coral. If worried about spending money on the light then you're going to be really upset when you spend a few hundred or thousand on coral that just kind of survive.
 

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I’d do the viparspectra $120 on amazon. Lots of people use these to grow corals.
 

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I don’t know exactly what type of corals some easy beginner ones would be fine. How do I keep anemones with coral I k ow they move around and i don’t want it to kill my coral. I saw a light on Amazon what do you think. Amazon product



Two of those might be ok. I think the anemone may prefer something brighter. Renting a par meter is the only way to know for sure.
 
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Impala67

Impala67

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I think one coral will be worth more than your light. Sure, there are some really cheap options out there that may get the job done. However saving and getting something good instead of cheap just makes sense. Even cheap beginner corals are going to be $30 each or more. Lighting is the lifeline of your coral. If worried about spending money on the light then you're going to be really upset when you spend a few hundred or thousand on coral that just kind of survive.
Like I said I don’t necessarily care about the price but then again I’m not made out of gold I do have my budgets and I’m trying to find the best light for my price range. The reason I chose that one was because I thought corals need the blue in there light also I like the way it looks. I don’t know much about lights but I do know that it is important for the corals. Trust me when I say the last thing I was planning was to spend a thousand dollars on coral lol.
 
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Impala67

Impala67

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I’d do the viparspectra $120 on amazon. Lots of people use these to grow corals.
If you look at a lot of the reviews it says it was such a harsh light. People’s coral bleached and others shrank up I was really liking this until I read the reviews a lot of good ones but if you look at the not so good a lot of people agree on the same thing.
 

Jekyl

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Like I said I don’t necessarily care about the price but then again I’m not made out of gold I do have my budgets and I’m trying to find the best light for my price range. The reason I chose that one was because I thought corals need the blue in there light also I like the way it looks. I don’t know much about lights but I do know that it is important for the corals. Trust me when I say the last thing I was planning was to spend a thousand dollars on coral lol.
You would be amazed how easy it is to spend money on coral
 

Jekyl

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Like was mentioned before, a marsaqua, viparspectra, or philzon 165w will be the cheapest light that will grow any coral. No bells and whistles but seriously powerful
 

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