How much should a beginning hobbyist plan to spend on lighting?

[Fotocha]

LEDs are great, but having used both go, T5! Enough said...

 

[Jon Fishman]

I bought a “starter” light that would support LPS and SPS and now that I am getting a new tank, my light wasn’t gonna cut it for the bigger tank.

I am in love with the pendant style of the Kessils so I looked into getting 4 or maybe 5 of those. Price is always an issue but I don’t mind paying for good quality, or buying lightly used to save money etc...... but at the end of the day I realized my single light, which is a bit undersized for my current tank has been nothing but a positive experience so I bought 2 more of them..... they are cheap, but they flat-out get the job done, and they are 32” long black boxes, 300w. I wasn’t willing to spend the coin on 5 kessils for $2k or so when I can use three 32” black-boxes and get great coverage, not worry about shadows etc. and all for $500 or so total.

 

[Hermie]

I spent... about $100 including refugium light but that's because I found lights that no one wants and on sale. If you buy the popular stuff you will be paying closer to MSRP.

 

[furcifer208]

After some reading on the forum and elsewhere and talking to my LFS, I decided to go with the SBReeflight SBOX 16'' basic. It was a bit of overkill for my 20 gallon but I have no regrets.
https://sbreeflights.com/sbox-reef-lights/1-sbox-basic.html

 

[Rabidwolf]

I started with stock light that came with tank, upgraded these to Chinese 165w black boxes.

Will be upgrading tank and going for Kessils this time.

Probably best to start with something functional that does the job until you gain experience and know exactly what you want from the lighting.

 

[wrasse man]

BUY ONCE, CRY ONCE, or PAY TWICE.

Buy now what your need will be in the future not what your current need is.

 

[Jonathan Troutt]

I think someone should buy what they sre comfortable buying. I dont think cheap low end fixture is good. But something like a noopsyche, or a viparspectra will do wonderfully and wont cost a rediculous amount of money and work just as good as the overprice big name stuff.

 

[ReefChef19]

Buy the best you can get at every stage of the process, or pay for it later -- literally and figuratively.

This is not a cheap hobby. A beginner needs to know they will throw thousands into this hobby before the tank even has life in it. Doesn't matter if it's a 10g IM cube, you need an RODI, a quality light (300+ minimum), quality test kits, quality pumps (even for a small tank, quality pumps are worth it), etc etc etc etc.

The list (and costs) never end. You must spend a premium on everything to start right, or you'll spend twice as much on junk + upgrades. And often people have a failing tank.

This is the mindset I have used for my build, which is a reefer 750xxl. I have a quite of few nice gadgets to go with it, it's not quite top tier but far from bottom tier!!!

Depending on your lights, they can be just as much if not more then the actual tank. I started buying pieces in February to spread out some of the expenses. I eventually plan to have 5 or 6 radion xr15 along with t5 hybrid. I'm going to starr slow, since I'll only have fish first and continue to buy them as I go.

 

[Aardvark1134]

The main thing to keep in mind is the cost difference between good florescent tube lighting and really good LED lighting is the LED will have an extra 0 in the cost.

 

[whysomanyshoes]

So yesterday, I started this thread on how big a tank a new hobbyist should start with. You can join that discussion here: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/g...he-best-sized-aquarium-for-a-beginner.598213/. Today, let's talk about lighting...

How do you approach lighting for someone just getting started? How much should a new reefer plan to spend? Should they jump in with both feet, start with some lower end lights and upgrade later? How do you recommend they do it?

Feel free to also talk about whether they should jump straight into LED's or should go with T5 or metal halide.

Less than $50