Inexpensive Reef Lighting

[Bjohn]

Hello everyone,
I've been running a 37 gallon tank for about a month now, have 3 different species of mushroom coral, a plate coral, a hammer coral frag, and a bit of green star polyp, as well as 2 clownfish, a blue tang, and a banggai cardinal. I am wanting to upgrade my lights, as I am using some led strips that came with the tank (originally for freshwater), but I don't want to drop a bunch of money. Does anyone have any suggestions?

 

[GrampaDon]

None at all. Because first you need to define your goals........
If what you have now is working ,then why fix what isn't broke.
But I assume you want more challenging [light luvin] corals.? And without knowing more details it is darn near impossible to recommend anything.

 

[rjcranor]

Not sure about lights, you can do a aquatic life t5 for a reasonable, I'm sure you will also hear that your tank is way to small for a tang. The smallest tank is supposed to be 120 gallon!

 

[Bjohn]

I'm aware about the size issue, the LFS told me that once it outgrows the tank I can sell it back to them!

 

[rjcranor]

The aquatic light I have was around 200. It has 4 bulbs 2 blue and 2 white and 4 sets of moon lights each has there own timer

 

[Bjohn]

where would you recommend getting the t5's from?

 

[rjcranor]

I got mine from one of my lfs, Kees aquarium. I'm sure you can find them on line

 

[Bjohn]

ok thanks a lot!

 

[ReeferBob]

This Amazon seller has amazing prices. I just bought a 72" Current Nova Extreme from them for hundreds less then anyone else.

Amazon.com At a Glance: Petsolutions

 

[Perched Urchin]

"Innexpensive" and "Reef" rarely go together. It's an oxymoron, like "Jumbo Shrimp".:wink:

There are a lot of options, some less expensive than others, both from an initial investment and cost of operation standpoint.

Unless you are completely against it, I would suggest getting a nice used fixture and get a better unit than what you would get for similar money new. There are a lot of reefers out there who take really good care of their equipment and you can find really nice items for much less than what you would pay new.

For instance, you can find used 24" 4 bulb ATI Sunpower fixtures for around $200 typically, which will knock the socks off of other T5 fixtures, IMO. I actually just sold one for this price after I changed to LEDs on my frag tank.

You don't have to always spend a ton of money to get good equipment, but making good "investments" can make what you do spend work better and longer for you.

 

[Davesgt]

I know alot of people will shoot me down for this but aquatraders had some light real cheap that will look real good with any setup. There's some bad review on their old products but I've never had a problem with them. I use them on my 4 frag tanks to cut cost and they are still going great 5 years later. Sorta up to you on what style to go with.