Reef Lighting Confusion!!

[cashmoney6980]

Well I just wanted to do a quick update. I ended up going with the Nova Extreme Pro 12x39w 72" from Premium Aquatics, and picked it up locally so I got it same day and didn't have to worry bout any shipping costs or anything. (and plus they price matched F&S price which saved me $100). But this thing is awesome! For the size it's not all that heavy, but big and bulky and awkward to carry solo. I love the way its setup, very quality product from what I can tell. The stock Current bulbs give it a very white light, but I plan on getting new bulbs soon enough anyways, so that's no big deal.

But I just wanted to say thanks for the recommendations and the input on this setup! If it wasn't for you guys I would've ended up with an 8 bulb setup and paid the same price as this 12 bulb! This thing is a monster and I'm ecstatic about my purchase and appreciate your guys' help and input!

 

[carey]

Glad you got the light! It's a great fixture, I love mine.

You can just replace the whites for now if you like, maybe with some ATI aquablue pluses? Thats what i run over my tanks, gets rid of the yellow hue from the 10k bulbs.

 

[bavass]

Glad you got it! I love mine. If you have it sitting on the tank i would advise buying an extra set of legs they can be easy to break. Thats the only down side i have seen. But the legs are cheap enough. Less than $20 i think

 

[cashmoney6980]

Yea the legs seemed rather wobbly. When I was putting it together, I had my wife help my carry it to the tank, and first thing she said was "are these legs really supposed to support this beast of a light?" so I think getting a 2nd set is not a bad idea at all. They hold it will, but it seems like if I were to scoot it back a little bit on one side, it would snap them. That's the only downside I've found to these lights tho, and I'm rather picky when it comes to spending $600 lol.

Are the stock actinic lights any good? Or should I replace them quickly too? They all will definately be replaced before I start stocking the tank with any expensive corals, but that's a while down the road. I've been looking at getting some ATI Blue+, some ATI Aquablues, and a cpl Fiji Purples. I'm going for a bluer look, but not overpowering blue... Any suggestions on how many of each I should get? Or any others I should look a besides those? I plan on only getting 2 of the purples, one for each side, just to help out the reds and that in the corals. I figured I'd do 6 blues, 4 whites, 2 purples. Would that be too much white? By white I mean the Aquablues.

 

[bavass]

when I first bought the light I had some softies under the stock lights for a year and they were fine. I then went with ATI Blue Plus, ATI AquaBlue Special, a UVL Aquasun and a ATI Purple i liked it but now I have 2ATI Blue Plus, 2AquaBlue Special, 1 Coral Plus and 1 Actinic. I like it a lot better.

 

[carey]

For my 12 bulbs i have:
6 aquablue specials
4 blue pluses
2 purple pluses

I dont like the purple bulbs myself, planning on swapping them out hopefully soon. Here is a picture of the setup with the purples.