Lighting questions/ initial post

[Will S]

First things first Hello everyone and thanks in advance for any help you may directly or indirectly give me over the next weeks and months while I try to set up my 90 Gallon reef system.
The next step in my process is getting a light, I'm looking to have soft corals and smaller to medium size fish. I've been told: metal halieds, T5, and LED's I really don't know which way to go. What is there a difference between the internal and external ballast and which is the better direction to go? I'd prefer to have a light thats all inclusive, meaning a light that has the whites, attinic, and moon lights all in one if its a prudent purchase.
Again any help with this will be greatly appreciated
Will

 

[yote]

Welcome aboard Will.Glad to have ya join us.

The difference between internal and external ballast is the ballast is inside the fixture on the internal.External you need a place for the ballast to sit,usually on a shelf off to the side or above the tank.Personal choice as to which one you like there.either way works fine.

And with the 3 main choices of lighting,you can get whites,actinics,and moon lights all in the same fixture.

Here are my order of choices when I set up another tank.
#1 LED Lighting Systems :: Lighting :: Champion Lighting & Supply

#2 BlueLine Spacelight EX :: Metal Halide Fixtures :: Metal Halide :: Lighting :: Champion Lighting & Supply

#3 Fixtures :: T5 Fluorescent :: Lighting :: Champion Lighting & Supply

 

[little_fish]

Hello and Welcome!

Yote has you covered!

 

[Will S]

Thanks, Yote this will give me a starting point without the pressure of a salesmen telling me they have the best and trashing the rest.

 

[marcah]

howdy and welcome to the site..:D

 

[Will S]

If I were to go with the LED lights would I need to have more than on set to insure proper lighting for the entire tank? Thanks for the welcomes, for futrue refference do people sell and trade things thru this site?

 

[marcah]

for the 90 two would do it..

 

[yote]

If I were to go with the LED lights would I need to have more than on set to insure proper lighting for the entire tank? Thanks for the welcomes, for futrue refference do people sell and trade things thru this site?

At times there's selling and trading goin on.Just keep an on the classifieds.
And yeah,If you went the Blueline LEDS,You'd need 2 banks for a 90 gallon tank.

 

[Smitty]

Hello and welcome to the site...glad to have you aboard...Yote has you covered.

 

[Jr.Ramirez]

With the LED light I tend to see them lose there power or brightness after 6 months. If you try LED just keep an eye on your coral.

 

[JustinsReefTank]

Hello and Welcome aboard. I think they have you covered

 

[Northstar24]

With the LED light I tend to see them lose there power or brightness after 6 months. If you try LED just keep an eye on your coral.

This may be true for the low quality Chinese knock offs that have flooded the market, but I have yet to see anything concrete about this regarding the more well known LED fixtures. Several of the established LED's used in fixtures such as the AI's and the EcoTech Marine fixtures have been stress tested for output long before use in the aquarium applications

 

[bk6662]

I *really* like the looks and specs of the BlueLine 120w LED fixture (Thanks Yote!!) Can anybody tell me if this would be a good choice for my 60g cube? I can see it's a bit pricey, but I don't mind paying a little more for quality.

Also somebody mentioned that LEDs wear out over time (don't we all?) Can these be individually replaced as needed? Any idea what that would run?

Thanks!
Brian

 

[Northstar24]

I *really* like the looks and specs of the BlueLine 120w LED fixture (Thanks Yote!!) Can anybody tell me if this would be a good choice for my 60g cube? I can see it's a bit pricey, but I don't mind paying a little more for quality.

Also somebody mentioned that LEDs wear out over time (don't we all?) Can these be individually replaced as needed? Any idea what that would run?

Thanks!
Brian

The replacement of individual LED's depends on the fixture. the AI's and I beleive the EcoTech Marines have replaceable LED pucks, I'm not sure about the Blueline fixtures. That being said, assuming you get a quality unit, I don't think replacing the LED's will be an issue, they're got a pretty long service life

 

[BL1]

This may be true for the low quality Chinese knock offs that have flooded the market, but I have yet to see anything concrete about this regarding the more well known LED fixtures. Several of the established LED's used in fixtures such as the AI's and the EcoTech Marine fixtures have been stress tested for output long before use in the aquarium applications

Have there been any actual tests done to test the units PAR output and if there's any spectrum shift after like 2-5 years? That's the only thing I worry about is that I haven't seen any long term tests done, and I haven't seen any tanks (that people take care of enough to be used as a baseline) that have used LEDs for more then a year, and effects on their corals (as opposed to MH).

 

[Will S]

I went with a Coralife with with MH, Attinic and moon light I got lucky and found a store going out of business picked it up new in the box for $180

 

[AquaOverflow]

:bounce: Welcome to the forum!!! :bounce: