Lighting your reef... Best bang for your buck.

[oyf709]

I can't really tell cuz the 2nd pic is kinda out of focus lol.
Personally I think warm white and Royal blue is enough to bring out the color of the coral already, then the next would be UV/Violet etc

 

[Kirky88]

Hey guys sorry once more to be a hijack of the thread, but I live in Australia and taotronics don't seem to ship here but there seems to be others that I think are the same but I'm not sure, if anyone who knows these lights and can check out the Australian eBay site (www.ebay.com.au) and confirm/deny I would be most grateful

 

[mr_X]

Hey guys sorry once more to be a hijack of the thread, but I live in Australia and taotronics don't seem to ship here but there seems to be others that I think are the same but I'm not sure, if anyone who knows these lights and can check out the Australian eBay site (www.ebay.com.au) and confirm/deny I would be most grateful

Here's one that's not dimmable-
120W LED GROW Aquarium Coral Reef Tank BLUE WHITE Light LAMP AQUA LAMP | eBay
...and one that is-
Dimmable 165W AQUARIUM Led Grow Light Royal Blue 10000K White Marine Coral Reef | eBay

 

[audifusion]

Doug would you suggest going with a dimmable fixture? Or does it really matter?

 

[Animal-Chin]

It really matters if you already have coral. Even at 50% power the lights are too strong and coral newds to adjust. My hanner coral has frown onto the rock so i cant move it and for a couple of days i thought i might have killed it with too much light but its back out now and looking good. Ive decided to run one unit on50% over my lps and make the other side of mi tank sps with 100%. Its good to have the option. Also the white and blue dim seperatly so if you like a bluer light you can turn more blue on than white...

 

[sanchezkk]

I've also been looking for a lighting unit for my 55g Reef tank. I searched on eBay for a good deal and I was wondering what you guys thought of this one. Any help would be appreciated.

http://item.mobileweb.ebay.com/viewitem?itemId=300792731293&index=2&nav=WATCHING&nid=98888623202

 

[mr_X]

Sanchez, what makes T5 lighting so effective is the individual reflectors per bulb. That fixture you posted is greatly hindered by the fact that it's not individually reflected. It says they are individually contoured reflectors, but the picture doesn't look like it. If they are contoured, they aren't contoured much. I have heard a million horror stores about the Odyssea brand. I haven't had any first hand experience however.

 

[mr_X]

Doug would you suggest going with a dimmable fixture? Or does it really matter?

Might as well go dimmable in the event that you don't want the fixture at full power, but I found that I turned mine all the way up.

 

[Kirky88]

Here's one that's not dimmable-
120W LED GROW Aquarium Coral Reef Tank BLUE WHITE Light LAMP AQUA LAMP | eBay
...and one that is-
Dimmable 165W AQUARIUM Led Grow Light Royal Blue 10000K White Marine Coral Reef | eBay

Thank you for taking the time to do this doug really appreciate it

 

[mr_X]

You are quite welcome. BTW, of the two, I would take the dimmable one. The non Dimmable one has more whites than blues. I've seen this fixture before and it really appears as though it's about 10-12k. Not much blue at all when both are lit. You want a ratio of more blues than whites.

 

[sanchezkk]

Sanchez, what makes T5 lighting so effective is the individual reflectors per bulb. That fixture you posted is greatly hindered by the fact that it's not individually reflected. It says they are individually contoured reflectors, but the picture doesn't look like it. If they are contoured, they aren't contoured much. I have heard a million horror stores about the Odyssea brand. I haven't had any first hand experience however.

Mr. X,

I have heard good and the bad about it. Does anyone else have any input concerning this?

 

[CorallineAlgae]

Mr. X,

I have heard good and the bad about it. Does anyone else have any input concerning this?

It's the cheapest T5s you can get. It comes with lousy bulbs, a subpar ballast, the lights are too close together (lots of re-strike) and the reflector is basically a piece of plastic with mylar that's bent a little.

Now, they will grow corals but not much better than an average T5NO fixture. I do own one (in my closet). They are perfectly usable for soft corals and many LPSs, or on a shallow tank but I'd look elsewhere for something to keep demanding corals. The horror stories are usually old and mostly about their first gen MH ballasts.

 

[sanchezkk]

Interesting, is there anymore feedback from anyone else?

 

[Sniperhank]

I'd skip the them and get a unit with better reflectors.

 

[sanchezkk]

I'd skip the them and get a unit with better reflectors.

Any suggestions?

 

[mr_X]

I tend to lean towards hydroponics websites for T5 fixtures. Not as stylish, but quite effective. I have a Hydrofarm 8 x 54 watt HO fixture right now that puts out 40,000 lumens. very nice reflectors on these. Just be aware of the overall dimensions, because they tend to have larger reflectors than aquatic units.

 

[sanchezkk]

I just wanted something for my 55g Reef tank.

 

[mr_X]

What did you want to keep in your tank?

 

[mr_X]

What do you think of this?
48'' Aquarium Light 6X 54 324 Watt T5 HO Light Built in Timer Lunar Moon New | eBay

 

[sanchezkk]

Looks inticing but for the last couple of days I've been considering complete LED hoods. Any thoughts? I think I'd like one because of the long life one gets out of them.