Hi guys hopfully you can help. I'm new to the site and new to saltwater (I've had a few freshwater tanks growing up) so here's my setup I have a 27 gallon hexagon tank (18"x18"x24") that I want to start as a FOWLR and one will hopefully one get some corals one day. The only thing that's holding me back at this point is the lighting. I'm on a budget so I wanted to see if I could rig something up that would fit into the canopy I'm going to be making for this tank. I've read that LED Is the way to go these days. And Since I only have the 18" to work with it limits me to what I can put over it, I could line up a few 14" t5 bulbs But I don't want the expense of changing them. And the guy at the LFS said metal halide are a thing of the past. I figure I could get away with around a 100w of light and I was looking online and had an idea to using Home Depots Phillip LED bulbs. There cheap, range in wattage you can get some that have a 6500k output( I know 10k-14k is what you want) That mixed with a moonlight might give me the look I want. It's that or start looking for cheap fixtures on eBay because 500$ for the fixture they want at the LFS is a little much. so I've been doing as much research online as I can but figured it's better to just ask people who know what there doing or have done something similar. Hopfully you guys have some feed back.
Help with DIY lighting on a budget
- Thread starter Adasfish
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wayne d
New Member
check out "current USA led lighting. I have the 48" to 60" inch light and its nice. I have it over a 90 gallon reef. I only have a couple of mushrooms and a torch but they are doing great.
Feltman
Active Member
If your handy and have time the options with rapidleds Are endless and can always be expanded later on. Otherwise evergrow leds are a cheap alternative that I've seen grow some nice sps tanks.
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