Lighting... no idea what I'm doing

hijinks said:
what do you have in your tank?
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Fish/inverts in my profile, but im guessing youre asking about corals. I just added my first frags of: kenya tree, fire and ice polyps, green mushroom, and a frogspawn. I want to ge these guys proper lighting asap.
 
So the problem with that light is the PAR ratings really suck after 12 inches.. I'd spend another $100-150 and buy a reefbreeder
 
The reefbreeder would be sweet IMO.

I reccommended the T5 because I dont know that you were focusing on LED. The reefbreeder LED would be a good choice for sure. Im a T5 or Halide person myself but there is nothing wrong wth LEDs.

There are so many fixtures out ther that its hard to decide sometimes.

What do you think about 2 Kessil A150s? I had one on my 20 it was nice.
 
for $300 you could have a set of very decent LED lights that would be enough light for any corals you plan to add in the future, including SPS.

there are many different cheaper LED vendors here on reef central, but my personal preference would be the Arctic line of fixtures from OceanRevive which is also a vendor here on reef central. i just like the look of the fixture and how well the spread pattern is on them. not to say that others arent just as good, but thats an option you can look in to as well.

as far as you wanting the blue/black light effect, you can deffilently get your corals to POP with the arctic fixtures from what i have seen.
 
Guygettnby said:
for $300 you could have a set of very decent LED lights that would be enough light for any corals you plan to add in the future, including SPS.

there are many different cheaper LED vendors here on reef central, but my personal preference would be the Arctic line of fixtures from OceanRevive which is also a vendor here on reef central. i just like the look of the fixture and how well the spread pattern is on them. not to say that others arent just as good, but thats an option you can look in to as well.

as far as you wanting the blue/black light effect, you can deffilently get your corals to POP with the arctic fixtures from what i have seen.
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So this? http://www.amazon.com/OceanRevive-S...ghting/dp/B00D75OERA/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

Would 1 be enough for a 55 gallon tank? Same number of LED's as the marineland, but I see they're 3W.

I don't really have a good place to hang them from... Does this come with a timer? I really don't understand this stuff at all.
 
PirateToast said:
So this? http://www.amazon.com/OceanRevive-S...ghting/dp/B00D75OERA/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

Would 1 be enough for a 55 gallon tank? Same number of LED's as the marineland, but I see they're 3W.

I don't really have a good place to hang them from... Does this come with a timer? I really don't understand this stuff at all.
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you will need 2 of those to cover a 55 gal.

for me, I am still not in the LED setups there is just way to many things to be worked out with IMO.

I would go with either a 4x54 watt T5HO unit or a dual 150 watt MH unit.
 
shifty51008 said:
you will need 2 of those to cover a 55 gal.

for me, I am still not in the LED setups there is just way to many things to be worked out with IMO.

I would go with either a 4x54 watt T5HO unit or a dual 150 watt MH unit.
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Any examples? Will those have both blue and white lights?
 
shifty51008 said:
something like these would work and yes they come with both blue and white bulbs or you can buy new ones to get the color you like.
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+3733+13822+21460&pcatid=21460

or 2 of these
http://www.aquacave.com/AquaMedic-Reeflex-175W-Metal-Halide-Retro-Kit-with-HQI-Ballast-P1138.aspx

retrofits are more cheaper than fixtures if you have a canopy.
Click to expand...

That first one seems very appealing. I like the plug and play aspect of it, with the built in timers, easy setup on the aquarium, etc. It's a bit expensive, but I might pull the trigger on that. Any +1's? Any other recommendations out there?
 
PirateToast said:
So this? http://www.amazon.com/OceanRevive-S...ghting/dp/B00D75OERA/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

Would 1 be enough for a 55 gallon tank? Same number of LED's as the marineland, but I see they're 3W.

I don't really have a good place to hang them from... Does this come with a timer? I really don't understand this stuff at all.
Click to expand...

No, you would need 2 of them. But I was talking about the Arctic S026 fixtures, which I think are better then the Evergrow fixtures (the one in your link) for a few different reasons. But if you take a look on their site it will give you more info about OR lights. If you have any questions go to oceanrevive's vendor section here on reef central. They can answer all the questions you could have more in depth.

They do have several different fixtures with internal digital timers and a new fixture getting ready to be released here soon with a more simple digital timer. There is a thread about it in there section with pictures and info.

But do yourself a favor and buy directly from them and not amazon. They are actually a bit cheaper and have free shipping. Plus they are a vendor here so if you have any issues go directly to their section of the forums and I'm sure they will help you out quickly.

Here is there web site in case you were interested.

http://www.oceanrevivellc.com
 
PirateToast said:
Went with the Aquatic Life T5 HO. Thanks all for your input, hopefully i get it in time to save my corals!
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you can never go wrong with T5 lights, im sure you will enjoy them. only thing that sucks is having to replace the bulbs. for future info though, i like buying bulb replacements from ReefGeek. they usually have good deals and they package everything with serious care!
 
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