Am I good for now or should I worry?

[Roccopaul]

So reading this forums has me thinking my light setup is bad. Orbit marine lights are considered basically holding a flag light up to the tank. Problem is my budget isn’t the best right now. I plan on buying mostly low light corals at the moment for starter coral. I already have gsp and have some coral already on the way to my house.

will this light just kill my corals or can I in a year buy another light and not worry about my tank just being crap?

also what is the cheapest light I can buy for a 55 gallon with low light corals. I can’t do 400-800 a light right now.

 

[fishguy242]

hi, how about a hydroponic t-5 fixture ,4 bulbs, use the orbit for blues.
should run just about 200 $$

 

[Roccopaul]

Any idea if these are good?
SMATFARM LED Aquarium Light -

 

[Zach B]

@noopsyche also makes some really good & affordable lights. I believe they are on sale as well. Best of luck

 

[Acros]

If you are strictly doing low light corals (GSP, mushrooms and other softies) I think you might be just fine with your orbit marine lights.

If you want to do a cheap upgrade, I would do something like @fishguy242 suggested. As for LEDs, I would save up and buy something nicer than going for cheap LEDs. Cheap LEDs can grow coral, but takes more work to get the lighting right.

 

[fishguy242]

Any idea if these are good?
SMATFARM LED Aquarium Light -

there is currently a thread going about these lights, just seen yesterday, use search is prob best way to find...

 

[Andreas' Reef]

Any idea if these are good?
SMATFARM LED Aquarium Light -

Why do all these amazon brands have the funniest names like smatfarm XD

 

[Karen00]

What you want to ensure is that whatever the light features for colour (blue, royal blue, etc) is that those lights are the proper spectrum. It's great to say the light has the required reef colours but if they're not the required spectrum then you wanted your money. Some corals might grow but then you're limited to that. I find the cheaper manufacturers (like the cheaper Chinese knockoffs) don't tell you the spectrum and contacting support to get this info in mostly useless. I bought a Lominie Pixie 30w and about the only thing that seems to be doing well is a new gsp frag I got. Even the xenia isn't doing so well. Then again another member said they were able to grow spa and lps under the same light so who knows. The cheaper lights will be hot and miss when you don't know the details. Another problem with the cheaper lights is that they often come with preprogrammed mixes which may or may not work for you. I'm ditching my light. I wasted $85. I think some people have had success with the SmatFarm light you asked about. Do a search on here to get more info.

 

[Roccopaul]

@noopsyche also makes some really good & affordable lights. I believe they are on sale as well. Best of luck

Those V3s look nice. Maybe if I can get the wife on board I can buy two of them. I would think I’d need two for a 55 gallon.

 

[Zach B]

Those V3s look nice. Maybe if I can get the wife on board I can buy two of them. I would think I’d need two for a 55 gallon.

Two would be perfect