Black box lighting good or bad?

[Twocoralsonetank]

What it comes down to is quality. Just like a car, you can buy a cheap one, it will do the job, but more than likely needs more maintenance and will break down faster. You get a newer car, it's going to last (at least it should) and should be easy to maintain with fewer break downs. Higher end lights have better quality and have track records of lasting longer than black boxes. For a budget reef, those black boxes will work 100% but the quality of lighting will not look better than say, Radion or Hydra. If you got 300 bucks, that's all you got. I would really watch local reef clubs and even the market place here. You can find some amazing deals! You wouldn't believe the prices of some of the equipment in local reef clubs lol.