Anyone use this light?

[Knucker]

That looks fine but remember that is probably with all channels at max and you may personally not run everything that high.

Probably not, maybe if I was to get an SPS but I'm sticking to easy coral this time around. Once I buy my own house I have a 69g red sea I'm thinking about getting. I am setting up an auto water change on this one using 2 5g buckets and a dual doser pump.

 

[Spare time]

Probably not, maybe if I was to get an SPS but I'm sticking to easy coral this time around. Once I buy my own house I have a 69g red sea I'm thinking about getting. I am setting up an auto water change on this one using 2 5g buckets and a dual doser pump.

You could try it or stick with more well known options like noopsyche. Up to you.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Personally the price seems just too good to be true, if reefing was that cheap everyone would do it. There's a reason that 96% of people will spend $200-$300 for a light on that size tank.

 

[Knucker]

Well I'm the King of budget. As this will be my 3rd budget build since I started. I did the math. About $500 not including rock and livestock for this build.

I spent $300 on two $150 lights for my 40g breeder. Which worked great for the time I had it running. Once I moved I had to give my 2 tanks away. I had a 40g breeder custom built and a Fluval 13.5 which I modded the heck out of.

I took engineering in college, and even though I'm disabled with a very limited budget I have proven time and time again that this hobby can be for anyone. Sorry I hate that myth.

 

[Fish Fan]

Well I'm the King of budget. As this will be my 3rd budget build since I started. I did the math. About $500 not including rock and livestock for this build.

I spent $300 on two $150 lights for my 40g breeder. Which worked great for the time I had it running. Once I moved I had to give my 2 tanks away. I had a 40g breeder custom built and a Fluval 13.5 which I modded the heck out of.

I took engineering in college, and even though I'm disabled with a very limited budget I have proven time and time again that this hobby can be for anyone. Sorry I hate that myth.

With great respect, you are talking to the undisputed King of budget reefing right here lol!

And I do agree that the hobby can be done *relatively* inexpensively, but I can't call this an inexpensive hobby, if that makes sense.

One thing I want to mention about the light you're considering is that I know from having bought very similar, inexpensive lights for some freshwater tanks in the past, when it says 18"-24", the light itself is only 18" long. The little legs on the ends extended outward so that the light can sit on a tank as long as 24", but you will have a few inches on either end of this light that won't really be fully lit, and may look weird.

I'm also just kind of skeptical of the price and generic brand name, as others have said.

I thought about buying your IM 20 when I started my IM 15, and one thing is that with the 24" length your tank would be best lit by two small pendant-style lights, or a true 24" fixture, in my opinion. I think this is best to avoid dead spots and shadowing, even if you only want to keep lower light corals.

I have never used them, but I have heard a lot of reefers here talking about Noopsyche lights, if I'm spelling that right. I also believe that the Hyger brand name has a following here, and is available on Amazon.

You could also consider some old-school solutions. For example, I think a couple PAR-styled LED bulbs would work on your tank, you'd just need some cheap fixtures (Goodwill, Dollar Store, your local Mega-Lo-Mart, etc.), something like these:


Or, for simplicity you could look into a 24" T5 unit.

I hope that helps, good luck with your tank!

 

[Tamberav]

I definitely was budget tanks for a long time...

What I did though was find a used light at a good price, something proven and popular enough...

Then you can generally also resell it when you upgrade which technically means it's even a better budget since you get a chunk of money back.

 

[Fish Fan]

I definitely was budget tanks for a long time...

What I did though was find a used light at a good price, something proven and popular enough...

Then you can generally also resell it when you upgrade which technically means it's even a better budget since you get a chunk of money back.

+1 I have found a lot of my gear used, including lights, and all my purchases have worked out well for me. I would just make sure someone didn't run the light for like 6 years at full blast. Try to find something that's basically brand new with little use.

https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/selling-forum-dry-goods.60/

 

[Tamberav]

Here is a 6 month old Noop K7 Pro 3 for $125 - when your done you can flip it back for $75 or $100 or whatever or keep it forever because its a nice light.

Arizona - Dry Goods - SOLD - Noopsyche K7 Pro 3 $125 shipped

Noopsyche K7 pro 3 Comes with mount. Used for 6 months at 35% on a frag tank. $125 shipped U.S.

www.reef2reef.com

if you don't buy it.. I might lol

 

[Aquadude1]

With great respect, you are talking to the undisputed King of budget reefing right here lol!

And I do agree that the hobby can be done *relatively* inexpensively, but I can't call this an inexpensive hobby, if that makes sense.

One thing I want to mention about the light you're considering is that I know from having bought very similar, inexpensive lights for some freshwater tanks in the past, when it says 18"-24", the light itself is only 18" long. The little legs on the ends extended outward so that the light can sit on a tank as long as 24", but you will have a few inches on either end of this light that won't really be fully lit, and may look weird.

I'm also just kind of skeptical of the price and generic brand name, as others have said.

I thought about buying your IM 20 when I started my IM 15, and one thing is that with the 24" length your tank would be best lit by two small pendant-style lights, or a true 24" fixture, in my opinion. I think this is best to avoid dead spots and shadowing, even if you only want to keep lower light corals.

I have never used them, but I have heard a lot of reefers here talking about Noopsyche lights, if I'm spelling that right. I also believe that the Hyger brand name has a following here, and is available on Amazon.

You could also consider some old-school solutions. For example, I think a couple PAR-styled LED bulbs would work on your tank, you'd just need some cheap fixtures (Goodwill, Dollar Store, your local Mega-Lo-Mart, etc.), something like these:


Or, for simplicity you could look into a 24" T5 unit.

I hope that helps, good luck with your tank!

+1 on the 24 in t5 light

I really like these

https://www.htgsupply.com/products/growbright-2-foot-4-lamp-high-output-t5/