LIGHTS!! LIGHTS!! Undecided!!

The AquaticLife fixtures are nice. They are super cool people with an awesome customer service department, and are based here in Calif. I have one of their lights on my 24 in the kitchen.
 
Think of lighting as the MOST expensive investment in equipment you will make. I am familiar with the cheaper LED fixtures and those are junk. Most likely it's an individual importing them from China in batches to resell locally and/or on the internet....
I bought mine from a guy in our club who was doing the same thing and they look very familiar to those. I liked them at first....till one of the switches went out....ok easy fix.....
A month later one of the drivers went out. I swapped that out with one that he gave me from a parts light....

A few months after that the ballast on the other one went out....UGGGGH!!!

Bottom line is they are made with cheap parts and cheap soldering and cheap everything...don't get me wrong...nothing wrong if it's made in China....It just has to be done correctly....

I am convinced the issues with the lights from him were due to the fact that all the components were assembled into a light designed to be over a saltwater aquarium with components that were NOT designed to be over any kind of aquarium....

I upgraded to some nice LEDs from Orphek and haven't looked back since.

Spend your money wisely, if you go through three sets of lighting over the next 2 years, you will spend at least as much as you would have in the first place. Save and buy the best that you can possibly afford.
 
The first LEDs you linked were not bad looking. But you would need 2 to cover the entirety of your tank. Or you could just buy one and keep corals on half your tank until your ready to buy the other and expand to both sides of your tank.

I like the look of the LED tanks I have seen, by far the best color enhancement.

As for T5 lights... check out fishneedit.com :)
 
time2reef said:
I upgraded to some nice LEDs from Orphek and haven't looked back since.

Spend your money wisely, if you go through three sets of lighting over the next 2 years, you will spend at least as much as you would have in the first place. Save and buy the best that you can possibly afford.
Click to expand...

This is slightly off topic, but make sure to do a write up on your impressions of the Orpheks. Before I bought my AI Sol units I tried looking into the Orpheks, and the only reviews / information that I could find on them were obvious shillings by the maker of the product, and a review in a blog that was sponsored by Orphek - hardly unbiased opinions.
 
Northstar24 said:
This is slightly off topic, but make sure to do a write up on your impressions of the Orpheks. Before I bought my AI Sol units I tried looking into the Orpheks, and the only reviews / information that I could find on them were obvious shillings by the maker of the product, and a review in a blog that was sponsored by Orphek - hardly unbiased opinions.
Click to expand...


You have a good point Northstar. I am going to hold off and do a little more research....I was going to upgrade to their PR156 fixture. orphek aquarium led lighting but I want to find some others who already have one and see what they have to say.....

Thanks.
 
Just wanted to drop a post because I never see this website listed, but it is the cheapest I have found for lighting. I use 48" fluorescents right now that cost me about $100-$125 in the petstore. (I am in Canada) but when I buy from the following website it is around $25 each and if you subscribe to newsletter always there is free shipping and other discounts. They sell all types of lighting and lighting kits. Check it out, there might be cheaper but I haven't found it.

www.hamiltontechnology.com
 
rbl1979 said:
Just wanted to drop a post because I never see this website listed, but it is the cheapest I have found for lighting. I use 48" fluorescents right now that cost me about $100-$125 in the petstore. (I am in Canada) but when I buy from the following website it is around $25 each and if you subscribe to newsletter always there is free shipping and other discounts. They sell all types of lighting and lighting kits. Check it out, there might be cheaper but I haven't found it.

www.hamiltontechnology.com
Click to expand...

That website is very nice, I compared prices with marine depot and it is a lot cheaper. Hope they Ship to PR.

Thanks a lot for the help.

:bowdown::sfish:
 
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