Lighting for my first reef tank

[Pscott9109]

I recently purchased a 125 gallon reef ready tank. The dimensions are roughly 72x18x19. I have ordered everything except lighting so far and I feel like i have a pretty good understanding of everything except lighting. I've looked several places and I've noticed there really isn't a cookie cutter answer for lighting and I'm curious about what to put over my 6 foot tank. I've recently been looking at the AI hydra 32/64 route, but a friend of mine is trying to push me to the Chinese black box lights. Obviously the price for CBB lights is appealing. However, I am skeptical that they won't last or are just poorly made. Am I crazy to want to go the Hydra route? And exactly how much light do I need over my new tank? Any and all advice is appreciated

 

[Rogued_Reefer]

First of all no you’re not crazy for wanting to go the hydra route.

with that being said... I have done par testing on hydras and my black boxes and to be honest other than the fancy control options and sleek design there isn’t much else to justify the price. I have a 75g with 2 second hand viparspectras. They’ve been on my tank for over a year with blues at 100% and whites at 5-10% they’re solid, very well built (I opened them) so you can buy those with peace of mind.

The thing that worries me is most people don’t answer this question before hand. What’s your plan for the tank? Is it going to be a softies only tank? Sps? Mixed? This will determine the amount of lights you will need to reach the ultimate goal and therefore set a cost. It’s not the same to need 2 lights than to need 4. Get me?

 

[Pscott9109]

First of all no you’re not crazy for wanting to go the hydra route.

with that being said... I have done par testing on hydras and my black boxes and to be honest other than the fancy control options and sleek design there isn’t much else to justify the price. I have a 75g with 2 second hand viparspectras. They’ve been on my tank for over a year with blues at 100% and whites at 5-10% they’re solid, very well built (I opened them) so you can buy those with peace of mind.

The thing that worries me is most people don’t answer this question before hand. What’s your plan for the tank? Is it going to be a softies only tank? Sps? Mixed? This will determine the amount of lights you will need to reach the ultimate goal and therefore set a cost. It’s not the same to need 2 lights than to need 4. Get me?

I probably should've added that info in my initial post. I'm not entirely sure what will be in this tank yet. I would like to do a little bit of everything if possible. So maybe it would be best for me to go the route that doesn't restrict my coral options down the road? I would definitely like to keep my lighting budget under $1000 if at all possible, but with what i have spent on this set up so far, I don't think a couple hundred dollars should hold me back