Reef lights

Tburrus31 · Apr 11, 2013

I am interested in getting into the coral side of this hobby finally an I'm looking for some advice on lights. I have had a fowlr for a little over a year. My tank is 72x18. What is the best lighting to get but not kill my back pocket at the same time? Thanks

The current fish I have are:
Blue hippo tang, foxface, gold banded clown, blonde naso, flame angel, yellow tang, fairy wrasse, diamond gobby and a firefish

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navila06 · Apr 11, 2013

AquaticLife T5 HO 6-Lamp Light Fixture w/ Lunar LEDs

Jgut3 · Apr 11, 2013

^^ get some ATI bulbs if you go T5. Worth every penny. Reef Geek is the best price on bulbs btw

BHAMR6 · Apr 11, 2013

I'm a metal halide fan but I've seen some real nice t5 tanks.. If you want to there is about every kind of light set up on somebody's tank local come buy and see each one and decide from there

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Tburrus31 · Apr 12, 2013

Thanks for the input.. I think ill look around like you said to see what I like best and go from there.

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BHAMR6 · Apr 12, 2013

Yea man just let me know I gave a metal halide you an see and my buddy mark has one about 10 min away

Liquid360 · Apr 22, 2013

I've got a 250w MH pendant and ballast for $40.

Chameleon · Apr 22, 2013

metal halides are nice but can get pricey.
I hate to recommend it as others locally have had issues, but LEDs have worked for my current tank just fine. Granted I don't have any 8 inch plus acropora colonies, but if you are starting out with corals you probably won't either. If you are handy you can do an led setup yourself and save a lot of money.
Just an FYI while I dont have any large colonies of acropora, I have grown many from small frags to colonies under leds. My biggest currently are in the 6 inch range and are still happy and colorful.
As always if money is not an issue the best tanks I have seek are all metal halide tanks.

Chameleon · Apr 22, 2013

Oh and if you want to check out an LED tank feel free to hit me up. I am currently running a mix of cree and bridgelux over a 36'' tank. There are about 60-70 3w leds over my tank. (I cant remember, I've added some here and taken some away over time)