Orbit vrs Coralife lights??

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ducati1212

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Jan 28, 2005
Messages
34
Location
Boston MA
Any opinions on weather Orbit or Coralife lighting is better. I am about to buy one or the other. Compact florescent for a 29 gal tank. To me it looks like the Orbit lights have a better docking system with built in legs where the Coralife seems to need you to buy a separate set of legs.

thoughts.?
 
I have a Coralife 150HQI with 2 x 65 PCs. I knew it wasnt exactly top notch right out of the box when the Coralife sticker was coming off. As time passed I started experiencing flickering in the pc lights. When it happened I could hear soemthing shorting and every now and then I could smell plastic burning. Not bad, but I knew something was up. I took the unit apart and discovered that the ground wire for the PC ballast (mounted in the fixture) had been stripped (probably during initial assembly) and was grounding out on the aluminum frame. It was made worse when the fixture was on due to heat. Anyway I repaired the wire and its been great ever since.
Overall, after having replaced bulbs in it and repairing it, I was surprised that its actually constructed well. Solid aluminum with everything mounted securely. The only gripe I had was the 'rubber' bands used to hold the PC lights in place failed due to the heat. That is, when I removed the bands and went to replace them and they snapped. Thats my experience...Would I buy it again? Maybe if the price was a good bit cheaper. Again overall the quality inside was pretty darn good and I "assume" my experience was an isolated incident.

Peace.
 
I have had coralife fixtures in the past and they have worked great. The LED moons are a cool feature. I have had no experince with orbit, but from what I hear they make a nice fixture as well.
 
I have a coralife unit, the one that was mentioned above, I haven't had any problems, although I may mod it to add another 175W MH to it for my corals :)
 
I just ordered the orbit 30" 2x65......I ordered it because it has 2 moonlights built in for just a little bit more.

I have a 96 watt CF retro fit kit for my 10 gal nano, and I love Coralife products, but in this case I like the Current USA Orbit.

If you want to save about 20$...You can get the satellite instead of the orbit, it has only 1 moon light though, and it doesnt look as cool.
 
I went with the Orbit I heard good things about both just came down to which I liked the looks of
 
How are the orbit lights working out for you? I have a 29 gallon and I'm having the same dilema you had. I was deciding betweem the Coralife or the Orbit and it looks like I'm leaning toward the orbit (it's cheaper, has lunar lights and legs). But I would like to know if it worked out for you and what are you keeping in your aquarium?
 
Yeah, does the coralife have 1 or 2 lunar lights? I know the Orbit has 2 and it's on sale for $133 at webaquatics. Do you have the coralife light? Texas in the house!!! I'm from Fort Worth!!!
 
Man! That IS a nice light!!! But I have 30 gal and they dont have 30in in those MH, like you have. Thanks for the info!!
 
WOW I just orded the orbit on marinedepot for $163 or something and web aquatics has it for $133 well at least I did not get it at my LFS which was well over $200

you win some you loose some
 
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