Getting ready to set up a 6 foot tank in my living room (first saltwater setup) and am trying to decide between getting a Marineland 125g reef ready tank with stand and the wood canopy top for it, or getting a Red Sea Reefer 750. The marineland will run me around $1800 for the tank, stand and canopy, while the Reefer will run around $4300 - though I know there’s additional things included with it.
I guess the primary concern I would have in getting the Marineland is that with the wood canopy it comes with, I’d have to use strip lights, which I don’t have a problem with, but are some of the higher end strip lights bright enough for corals? I’d like to eventually get an anemone and potentially a clam, I’m not 100% sure on corals but I wouldn’t want to be limited in the future due to the light I have. I’m fine with doing multiple strip lights, if that would raise it, but this is a very tall tank so it would need a lot to get high PAR levels. I was looking at the Reef Brite and the Current USA strip lights. Would you say two strip lights of either of these would be sufficient lighting?
I like the look of the Marineland with the wooden canopy top and obviously the price is quite a bit better. However having a sump and auto top off, as well as being completely plumbed, is nice. What do you think the better approach is between the two?
I guess the primary concern I would have in getting the Marineland is that with the wood canopy it comes with, I’d have to use strip lights, which I don’t have a problem with, but are some of the higher end strip lights bright enough for corals? I’d like to eventually get an anemone and potentially a clam, I’m not 100% sure on corals but I wouldn’t want to be limited in the future due to the light I have. I’m fine with doing multiple strip lights, if that would raise it, but this is a very tall tank so it would need a lot to get high PAR levels. I was looking at the Reef Brite and the Current USA strip lights. Would you say two strip lights of either of these would be sufficient lighting?
I like the look of the Marineland with the wooden canopy top and obviously the price is quite a bit better. However having a sump and auto top off, as well as being completely plumbed, is nice. What do you think the better approach is between the two?