Lighting ?
- Thread starter Spudsy69
- Start date
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What's your budget? Cheap ones that will grow coral, Marsaqua blackbox.. I guess its called Wills on amazon now. A bit better would be a Viparspectra. Cost a bit more but comes with a remote controller, better spectrum and spread. $60 more and you could get a AI prime 16.
Overall higher the price usually is better built in control-ability, spectrum, and spread. However, the cheap black boxes I talked bout earlier do just fine. I have 3 of the Marsaquas. I'll probably replace them for the Viparspectras in another year or so.
Overall higher the price usually is better built in control-ability, spectrum, and spread. However, the cheap black boxes I talked bout earlier do just fine. I have 3 of the Marsaquas. I'll probably replace them for the Viparspectras in another year or so.
AnotherReefHobbyist
Well-Known Member
Hehe I have fallen down this rabbit hole and have yet to come back up, so I don’t really have to many opinions, but I do have the facts!
a 29 gallon seems like a delight to light! For most small fixtures you would need two, but there are many that could light your tank with just a single fixture.
I need to know....... how much of a budget, for now though I will assume you are only wanting to spend a couple hundred.
my top pick would be a noopshye k7 pro 2, light+controller from noopshye USA would be around $200, and could most likely keep up as far as spread goes, and most definitely as far as intensity goes. They are really incredible lights, the problem comes in with the controller, it is such a pain to use, and you have to pay extra for it, if this doesn’t bother you, and you are okay with a wee bit of shadowing in the corners, then go with that.
however I feel obligated to give you some more to go off of, so here is my second pick........ Nicrew Hypereef, I won’t name a specific fixture, as you have a few options, but they are even cheaper than noopshye, and can still offer some good light. For your tank I would recommend 2 50 watt fixtures, or 1 150 watt fixture. The 50 watts would allow for fine intensity and amazing spread, while a 150 watt would provide plenty plenty of intensity with fine spread, your other option would be a 100 watt, but that again may have some shadowing, and for a few more bucks you could get a lot more bang.
Also as far as nicrew as go, they have a ramp timer for sunrise/sunset that can be bought for only a few extra dollars. The ramp timer will
Not work with the 50-150 watts, however late frbuary
They should be realeasing a 0-10v ramp timer that can handle the lights you would be looking at.
As the above poster mentioned, black boxes are viable, I just find they have tons of discoballing, are super ugly, and generally sub par, with almost no heat export ( lack of heat sink ) they burn out fasssst.
If you do go BB avoid Mars aqua, the lense they put on gets rid of any spread they would ever have, and increases disco balling, how do I know??’ Looks at BRS battle of the black boxes.
Also 1 AI prime 16 could nowhere near light this tank, the most they can handle is around 20 gallons and even then you get some shadowing.
a 29 gallon seems like a delight to light! For most small fixtures you would need two, but there are many that could light your tank with just a single fixture.
I need to know....... how much of a budget, for now though I will assume you are only wanting to spend a couple hundred.
my top pick would be a noopshye k7 pro 2, light+controller from noopshye USA would be around $200, and could most likely keep up as far as spread goes, and most definitely as far as intensity goes. They are really incredible lights, the problem comes in with the controller, it is such a pain to use, and you have to pay extra for it, if this doesn’t bother you, and you are okay with a wee bit of shadowing in the corners, then go with that.
however I feel obligated to give you some more to go off of, so here is my second pick........ Nicrew Hypereef, I won’t name a specific fixture, as you have a few options, but they are even cheaper than noopshye, and can still offer some good light. For your tank I would recommend 2 50 watt fixtures, or 1 150 watt fixture. The 50 watts would allow for fine intensity and amazing spread, while a 150 watt would provide plenty plenty of intensity with fine spread, your other option would be a 100 watt, but that again may have some shadowing, and for a few more bucks you could get a lot more bang.
Also as far as nicrew as go, they have a ramp timer for sunrise/sunset that can be bought for only a few extra dollars. The ramp timer will
Not work with the 50-150 watts, however late frbuary
They should be realeasing a 0-10v ramp timer that can handle the lights you would be looking at.
As the above poster mentioned, black boxes are viable, I just find they have tons of discoballing, are super ugly, and generally sub par, with almost no heat export ( lack of heat sink ) they burn out fasssst.
If you do go BB avoid Mars aqua, the lense they put on gets rid of any spread they would ever have, and increases disco balling, how do I know??’ Looks at BRS battle of the black boxes.
Also 1 AI prime 16 could nowhere near light this tank, the most they can handle is around 20 gallons and even then you get some shadowing.
