Low power, high quality light or high power, low quality?

[alvintran]

As the title suggests, is it better to buy a high quality light but with low power, or a light with high power but low quality?
And how much does a light hood quality matters/affects corals vs light bulbs?
Also, how to choose a good light for corals? Especially LED?

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[Isoprene]

The response for this could be a million pages, whats your budget? What kind of tank? size? and corals are you looking to grow? The type of coral and tank rock structure is going to dictate what place is good for your corals. SPS need pretty high light (in general terms) LPS and Soft corals need less. LED's can work great but you need to make sure your penetration is good enough to grow what you want to grow. Also you need to make sure your getting good coverage across the tank. LED's dont need to be replaced like halide and T5 do but imo they dont do LPS the justice in color that T5's will. I have a combo of the two and plan to add more light.

Again need more info on what your looking for / at?

 

[alvintran]

I was asking for in general, but I'm going to be keeping corals too, so...
29 gallon tank, I'm thinking of keeping soft corals and LPS. Possibly move up to anemones later. I'm on a small budget, <$200 if possible for lights.

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[reefin101]

Short answer get high quality low power....then add to as needed.

 

[Isoprene]

29 tank get a 2 bulbt T5 current usa fixture for 50 bucks and a LED supplement strip or something similar, should be enough for lps and softies.

 

[alvintran]

29 tank get a 2 bulbt T5 current usa fixture for 50 bucks and a LED supplement strip or something similar, should be enough for lps and softies.

Can you send me a link to the fixture? I don't seem to be able to find one for $50.

 

[bigfish89]

I would do a led built .Why not you can save a tone of money never have to replace the leds and you save more money!!!

 

[alvintran]

I found a deal today of a coralife quad lunar aqualight: 4 bulbs fixture with new ATI bulbs for $200. Do you think its a steal and if it's a good fixture?

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[Isoprene]

I don't know anything about the fixture but I do know that the bulbs cost at least 20 bucks a piece and the ATI bulbs kick butt so thats 80 bucks worth of bulbs alone. And your paying about 120 for the fixture. Not a bad deal, I would find some reviews and see if it stands the test of time. One thing I have noticed, unless you DIY you pay for what you get usually. And the current USA fixtures you can craigslist those things like crazy, that's where I found the 2 of mine. They are used and sometimes abused but they are cheap and do the job.

O and @ bigfish idea....thats exactly what I did, saves you money, no replacing bulbs. Go DIY LED going to be your cheapest option, if you have the know how to do it, in the long run will save you a ton of money.

 

[alvintran]

I don't know anything about the fixture but I do know that the bulbs cost at least 20 bucks a piece and the ATI bulbs kick butt so thats 80 bucks worth of bulbs alone. And your paying about 120 for the fixture. Not a bad deal, I would find some reviews and see if it stands the test of time. One thing I have noticed, unless you DIY you pay for what you get usually. And the current USA fixtures you can craigslist those things like crazy, that's where I found the 2 of mine. They are used and sometimes abused but they are cheap and do the job.

O and @ bigfish idea....thats exactly what I did, saves you money, no replacing bulbs. Go DIY LED going to be your cheapest option, if you have the know how to do it, in the long run will save you a ton of money.

This is also a craigslist deal, so its not as much of a "what you pay is what you get" type of situation. It's $210 new without bulbs, and this guy is selling the combo both for $200 with some corals added. So should I buy it?

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[alvintran]

So do you think I should buy it?

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[Trentondrummer33]

I had the coralife fixture, kicked *** for about 6 months then I had problems with the fans and actinic switch, ended up breaking down the tank and starting over lol


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[alvintran]

I had the coralife fixture, kicked *** for about 6 months then I had problems with the fans and actinic switch, ended up breaking down the tank and starting over lol


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Do you know if its just your particular fixture, or if its a known issue since the one I found on craigslist is 6 months old

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[Trentondrummer33]

My buddy has one and says he has issues from time to time but his isn't as bad as mine


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[alvintran]

But besides that, would you recommend the fixture for soft, lps corals?

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[Trentondrummer33]

I had mine over a 20 long and it was Awesome like I said until the problems came up IME your better off getting something better than this


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[Dave A]

If the fixture is 6 months old, how old are the bulbs?

 

[alvintran]

The ATI bulbs are only 2 months old from what I was told.

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