Was wondering if anyone could point me in the right direction on lighting for this build. I'm debating on swapping over to the fluval marine 3.0, but not sure it's worth the money even if I stick with GSP, from what I read it may not do the greatest. Don't want to break the bank too badly but at the same time I don't want to go cheap and end up with a light I can't grow anything wit. Only coral I am interested in is Green Star Polyps but I have been deliberating on spending a bit extra on lighting to get a rbta. The way my rock work ended up might make things more complicated as well, it's all crammed into a 2' wide space, so I could potentially focus the lighting on the rocks but not sure how that would look, sandbed is about 4" deep so only lighting 12" water depth give or take.
To be honest with all the lighting options I am completely lost. Swapping to the fluval marine would be the simple option but not sure how effective it would be, budget wise I could settle and just do gsp but it's not worth it if the budget light can't even make gsp thrive. Everyone suggests AI Prime but I'm just not sure if they would be worthwhile for this build, either try get by with one over the rockwork or buy a better light before buying 2 of them. The Reefbreeders Photon 24 V2 keeps catching my eye, compared to pricing of comparable lighting and the actual bulbs included I almost wonder if this would be the best for the money considering what is on the market. At that point I might as well go with an rbta, think that like would be overkill for soft corals, the fluval might even be enough for that potentially.
Anyone have any other lighting options to suggest? Seen a lot of suggestion for current usa pro model but they honestly don't look like they are worth the money they charge, slightly better par rating than fluval but not by a big margin.
Edit: Think my favorite selling point on the Photon 24 is I don't have to buy a separate mount for it, not sure how adjustable the included mount is to center the light over the rockwork.
To be honest with all the lighting options I am completely lost. Swapping to the fluval marine would be the simple option but not sure how effective it would be, budget wise I could settle and just do gsp but it's not worth it if the budget light can't even make gsp thrive. Everyone suggests AI Prime but I'm just not sure if they would be worthwhile for this build, either try get by with one over the rockwork or buy a better light before buying 2 of them. The Reefbreeders Photon 24 V2 keeps catching my eye, compared to pricing of comparable lighting and the actual bulbs included I almost wonder if this would be the best for the money considering what is on the market. At that point I might as well go with an rbta, think that like would be overkill for soft corals, the fluval might even be enough for that potentially.
Anyone have any other lighting options to suggest? Seen a lot of suggestion for current usa pro model but they honestly don't look like they are worth the money they charge, slightly better par rating than fluval but not by a big margin.
Edit: Think my favorite selling point on the Photon 24 is I don't have to buy a separate mount for it, not sure how adjustable the included mount is to center the light over the rockwork.