T5ho vs marineland led

[Race2d]

So I have a old coral life dual light t5ho dual bulb on my 46 gallon bow front and I really like how it lights the tank I just got a 55 gallon that I am setting up and I was looking at the new marineland led light I like how it does not get no where near as hot but what are the pros and cons of the led and does it light the tank the way t5ho would

[Gti_Leo]

what are you using the light for just for lighting up fish or is it a coral/planted tank?

if its just for fish then my opinion is save your money the look will be better with the T5HOs over the LEDs

[Race2d]

Its just going over a African cichlid tank no plants just want the color of the fish to pop Dr foster and smith have the coral life t5ho dual light and marineland led light for almost same price so which would look better

[Gti_Leo]

if you already have the fixture then, just keep it and use it.

[Convict2161]

Originally Posted by Race2d

Its just going over a African cichlid tank no plants just want the color of the fish to pop Dr foster and smith have the coral life t5ho dual light and marineland led light for almost same price so which would look better

If this helps, I had a MarineLand DB LED fixture on my 75 gallon African Cichlid tank and was happy at first but the colors and tank just starting looking stale. I took it off and went with a 4 bulb T5 HO fixture with moonlight settings. And I LOVE it!! I'll never go back to the ML. IMO they can keep there shimmer, I want the color

I went waaaay overboard though. I have the Solarmax Xtreme on my tank, but I don't have the lights all the time. There set to turn on when I get home from work and stay on for a few hours then go to blue for an hour then moonlight for the night. A very dim nice moonlight effect.

[Race2d]

Well that's some of what I wanted to hear just didn't know if this product could give the same colors the t5 could

[Convict2161]

Originally Posted by Race2d

Well that's some of what I wanted to hear just didn't know if this product could give the same colors the t5 could

IMHO I would no, that's a FIRM no from my own experience. It's a nice light don't get me wrong. But if you want your African Cichlid colors to pop, I'd stay with the the T5's. I use 2 daylight 10k and 2 Actinic. The LEDs stay on but do have an off switch. I also found that with the black background the colors really stood out as well.

[Race2d]

Well I think I am going to just stick with the t5 setup thanks everyone for the input

[Race2d]

First I will start with I currently have a 46 gallon bow front take that has African cichlids in it. I have a coralife t5ho dual light fixture on it that's is using a 6700k and actinic light in it. It makes the fish colors seem to stand out pretty well. So to get to my questions I will start by saying I am in the process of cycling my 55 gallon tank so I can move the cichlids to that tank and turn the 46 into somewhat of a community tank thinking mostly of tiger barbs etc. So here are my questions

1- what light fixture would people recommend for the 55 tank I was thinking about sticking with the coralife t5ho dual fixture but also looking at the marineland dual bright fixture???

2- If I stay with the corallife t5ho fixture what bulbs would u guys recommend? Stay with the 6700k and actinic? Or go to a 10000k or I have even seen those glo bulbs by hagen I was looking at the 18000k one?

3- what bulbs would you use on the 46 gallon if I put tiger barbs in? Stick with the 6700 and actinic or maybe switch to a colormax?


Any help or comment would be greatly appreciated!!

[OBEYtheFISH]

What is the purpose for the lights?
Because I'm not even sure if certain fish need specific lights?
Unless you're going to go planted but won't recommend plants with african cichlids