How bad are power compacts?

[apexkeeper]

I picked up a used light fixture for my 65 gallon build, its a 36" coralife pro that works perfect and I put brand new bulbs in it. It has a single 150watt metal halide 20,000K and 2 65 watt power compact actinics.

I know its an outdated unit since everyone uses T-5's now but is it sufficient until I upgrade to LEDs in the future? I only plan to keep soft corals in this tank. Just trying to figure out if I need to bite the bullet and buy another light now before I start the tank up.

 

[sirreal63]

That light will work perfectly fine for your needs.

 

[Mark Bianco]

I ran the 48" version for three years and never an issue. When I went to LEDs and a bigger tank the LFS bought it and runs it above a mixed reef display tank. It does a good job just not cost effective...

 

[Timber77]

If you like the fixture its not that hard to retro t5 into it and get rid of the pc. the T5 will give you more light and better colors from bulb selection at a cheaper price

 

[grigsy]

1. PC bulbs are not bad at all. Don't let people on forums who haven't used them tell you otherwise. 10 years ago, I had a Custom Sealife 4 x 96 watt PC fixture. I could keep basically anything I wanted (except SPS). It was a great light! You are fine!

2. You can keep the light you have, change out the bulbs, and keep anything you want in a 65 gallon tank - even SPS with the right lamps.

3. You wont get much of an upgrade with the current light you have now to switch out the PC bulbs for T5. Just change out the lamps for new, good ones and you are fine. There are as many PC color choices are there are for T5.

 

[rocsec1]

I used pc's until I could LEDs and they worked fine for me.
I had the same kind of corals as you are planning

 

[apexkeeper]

Thanks guys! One less things to worry about for now! When you read all the posts on here they make it sound like power compacts are the devil lol.

I'm working with a couple of friends to build a custom LED unit for our tanks but thats gonna take a while so I'm glad I didn't completely screw up buying this light for the time being.

 

[leewish]

Will the power compact work ok on its own for starter corals? Or is MH required with it? I'm going to try coral and anenome for the first time and only have a power compact. I planned on upgrading to LED but found this thread and thought maybe I could start with what I have.

 

[maddmaxx]

Will the power compact work ok on its own for starter corals? Or is MH required with it? I'm going to try coral and anenome for the first time and only have a power compact. I planned on upgrading to LED but found this thread and thought maybe I could start with what I have.

not if the fixture is using only actinics. couple full spectrum bulbs with actinics could work. just need the right about of PCs for the individual tank....however for an anemone the least i would go with is T5s. they need the par, MH is best for nems. but just be careful acclimating an anemone to LEDs. can burn them very easily...

 

[alton]

PC's grow corals, they just don't last very long and are expensive to replace as compared to T5HO

 

[Mark426]

Several years back they grew a mess of softies from tiny frags. My newbie tank was smaller than yours but........

 

[mixedreefjunky]

I grew ric, mush, zoa, paly, and even candy cane super fast under that same fixture. Until the cheap internal wiring melted together while fans were still working. Granted the fixture was at least ten years old.