PAR meter is best. LUX meter in a larger zip-lock bag is better than nothing... you have to do some math and correct for light types, but it is better than guessing.
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Look at hobbyist tanks, and not vendors... a hobbyist has the same goals as you and a vendor does things differently and people oft do damage by taking parts and pieces from a vendor technique and not all of it. Don't believe much that a manufacturer tells you - they usually do not lie, but they do mislead A LOT. What you want to keep will matter a lot. The size of your tank will matter a lot. Watch this video which can help you see through some of the claims and claims that people make that are untrue.
Yes I watched it. Thanks for posting that. It was very informative and helpful.Did you watch the Del Aquilla video that I posted? There is no efficiency between lighting types, so you need a 150w LED panel to replace a 150w Halide, or whatever. Heat can be an issue, but it is easy to solve if you want to with just simple fans. I run many halides and do not need a chiller even in August when the temps get to 100.
There are many different reasons for choosing a light, but take heat and electrical costs out of it since these end up being red herrings. Bulb replacements are real. $800 fixtures for some LEDs are real. Factor in a 4-5 year usage for just about any LED - while there are some people who use them longer (and I am sure that they will chime in), they are the outliers. You can get good deals on quality used lights, but these mostly end up being T5 or MH since people don't really want to spend too much to run a LED out of warranty.
What this comes down to for most folks is "coolness" and "performance." If you want cool, then get some LED that you can control with an app on your phone - your corals won't care and can be harmed by constant tinkering, but they are cool. If you want just plain out performance, then you sometimes have to sacrifice features like couch apps and thunderstorms. You can have both, depending on what you keep.
If you knew a tank size, this would help. There are huge differences between a 150w Halide, for example, and needing 3x 400w halides... or a single Hydra 26 and needing 4x Hydra 52s... or a 4 bulb T5 vs a 10-12 bulb T5. What you want to keep would help too... for easy stuff, you can have the best performance with nearly any light out there (even a PetCo light), but for some more advanced stuff, you need higher intensity and wider spectrum lighting.
ThanksWelcome to R2R
What does this mean exactly? The initial purchase cost or the initial purchase price plus long-term running costs?The discount for used LEDs isn’t really good you might just buy new, the only real discount is that you often get free mounting hardware which is expensive. The are often small enough to get accidentally dunked in tanks without obvious evidence of that happening.
If buying used on the cheap buy MH or T5s you can get the same amount of light for 1/4 or 1/8 the cost.
Whatever is appropriate for a beginner to start out with. Nothing impossible to keep alive.I think the OP needs to tell us what he is planning to keep before the discussion goes further.
If the OP says he just wants to keep softies for example --- we are all really just wasting time arguing and throwing up technical videos when he can get a cheapo Fluval Sea 3.0 Marine and be fine vs. him telling us he wants to only keep designer acros .
@Punchy - Have you determined what budget you are working with? Brand new quality setup for a SW tank will be around $35-$45 a gallon. Keep that in mind with budget and try not to let your eyes get too big for your wallet
Whatever is appropriate for a beginner to start out with. Nothing impossible to keep alive.