Light suggestion

[Partsman41953]

I am looking for a new light for my 28 gallon bow front aquarium. The tank is 24" wide x 12" front to back x 17" deep. I have live rock, sand substrate, orange mushrooms, pulsing Xenia, and a couple of clown fish in there at the moment. I would like to add some other colorful coral in there down the road. The lighting I am using now is a Coralife power compact for my white light and a separate Coralife 2 bulb T5 fixture, one bulb actinic and 1 bulb white. I talked to the guys at Rapid LED and they suggest a light kit made up of 14 LEDs with 80 degree lenses hung between 5 and 12" off the tank. I do not want to shock my coral with too much light and was wondering if you would recommend I go this route or purchase a 2 or 4 bulb T5 fixture and if so which one would you recommend.

My budget is around $150 to $160 so I am sort of limited in which light to get at the moment.

Thanks,

 

[reefnoob]

How about this?
Current USA Nova Extreme T5HO Aquarium T-5 HO Light Fixtures
I have the 48" version.

 

[FishyReef]

The guys at Rapid LED are pretty knowledgeable, and they do have controllers that are dimmable. I'd recommend going with what they are suggesting, but get the dimmeable controller with it so that you can slowly acclimate your corals. If you do go with the RapidLED kit, make sure to add some UV into the mix in addition to white, blue, and deep blue. The UV spectrum is what has been missing on most of the fixtures to date that have caused coral colors to shift under LED. Hope this helps!

 

[cvcdrk]

[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Aquarium-lights-Dimmable-Tronics-dimmable/dp/B0085Y6ZKW/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1344912620&sr=8-3&keywords=taotronics+dimmable]Amazon.com: Aquarium LED lights 120W Black Dimmable same as Tao Tronics just dimmable: Home Improvement[/ame]

These are dimmable.

 

[jesse]

i wouldnt get stuff on ebay or amazon.......they might not be suitable for corals

 

[cvcdrk]

i wouldnt get stuff on ebay or amazon.......they might not be suitable for corals

Ordinarily, I would agree but the light I linked to is specifically designed for coral aquaria usage....it's a cheap chinese version of another chinese product (taotronics) which is made for reef tank lighting.

No, it isn't an AI Sol or a Radion, but on a budget it's a fantastic LED light....and there's at least one person here using it on their 29g with good results.

 

[jesse]

Well then if its got good results then by all means go for it