Light Advice

[claidheamdanns]

This week, my lights went out for good. I'm wanting to upgrade to LED (previous were tube).

On a limited budget, but still want to make sure I do what's best for the fish/coral.

Any advice?

Space for the lights on the display is 24x10.5. The lights over the DS refugium are fine, so I'll leave them be.

 

[Sniperhank]

The most popular LED panels are the chinese knockoff panels that you can find on amazon and ebay. They used to be sold by taotronics, but there are many others out there now. They cover 2 ft of tank each and will support anything you could want photo-synthetically.

 

[Dallascowboys16]

I really like my AI prime. The app enabled feature is really cool and allows nice control over the spectrum and intensity. It has supported anything I have put in my tank so far and the light it puts out is really nice and high quality. On your tank it would light the middle really well and it would get progressively darker towards the corners.

 

[claidheamdanns]

Sounds cool. Is the app iPhone compatible?

 

[claidheamdanns]

Yikes! Just took a look and that's way outside of my price range!

 

[dcutl002]

What is your budget?

 

[claidheamdanns]

Well, I wasn't wanting to spend more than a $100, but seems like that's probably a pipe dream. I ended up spending $100 on a Fluval, that wasn't actually what I wanted, but didn't want the fish to suffer while I made up my mind, and saved up $$.

 

[claidheamdanns]

iPhone app would be nice, but not critical. What I would really like it to do is mimic natural light cycles, not a binary on/off — so, looking at a fade in/fade out.

 

[54seaweed]

these are the ones I have and have no complaints can't even tell fans are on super quiet

2PCS MarsAqua Dimmable 165W LED Aquarium Light Full Spectrum Reef Coral Marine |

my buddy has a set of those I phone compatible types and has nothing but problems with them every time his phone rings the lights go out

these are like the first set but a little more noisy with fans running
I sent these back the day after I got them sounded like a swarm of bee's
something everyone should be aware of nice light though just not for me

/Galaxyhydro-55x3w-Dimmable-Spectrum-Aquarium/

 

[tackett91]

Current USA has some pretty good prices. And everything is digital and remote control you can set it up for cloudy days storms and so on. Check it out. They are really nice.

 

[claidheamdanns]

Thanks everyone for the advice. @54seaweed, is it automatic, or do you have to manually do it?

Currently, have a day/night power strip. Pumps are of course on permanently on. Lights in the display come on during the day, and lights in the DS refugium at night.