ive been looking at these for my 50 something tank 36" Aquarium Metal Halide MH lighting 442W Reef Lunar - eBay (item 300260379048 end time Sep-27-08 16:45:10 PDT) and i have had 2 sw tanks before but am going to give it a try with a nice reef tank. Been looking into lighting alot and have not found alot of feed back on these types of lights. Now...I need a straight answer PLEASE.. I dont want to know that they maybe OK or la te da...seriously! I dont have alot of time to do alot of research but so far i see alot of these on ebay and they look nice but r they? I now am runnin a amiracle sump with the dreaded bioballs i found are not good and see that having a secondary lite with some greenery in there is better. Another thing im lookin into is a decent skimmer. I currently have it up and running for about a month and its time to get it rite so i can stsrt gettin something living in there . I have alot of patience and that is not an issue i know its alot of work and im prepared for that but i dont want to be makin a big dollar mistake on lighting.....and is sand better that coral and what brand??? Please dont think that i am just not doin enough research believe every chance i get im surfin alot of sites and so far i like this one the best. Here are a couple pics so far...
maybe lookin to much into lighting
- Thread starter captbill
- Start date
it doesnt mention a brand name so i have no idea about the quality of that fixture but itll work and the price is definitly right! your 100% correct on the bioballs and quality skimmer! as far as sand the brand doesnt matter but you want an aragonite based sand and its doesnt have to be "live" ... one thing u didnt mention was liverock... sounds like u already have this tank setup kinda sorta?
I got my light off ebay, but instead of an off brand i got it from the currentUSA ebay store where they sell lightly damaged items and stuff. I beleive mine has a few nicks, but i almost bought a light like that. The onl thing i would be worried about is having a cheap ballast that burns out or somethin stupid. I went the cheap way with a retro fit, and now i realized that you get what your paying for. a 400 dollar light for 5-10 years, or a 100-200 dollar light for 2-3 years. do the math.
There's always Craigslist too. I picked up a Hamilton 2x175w MH with 2 few month old 10K bulbs and 2 110W VHOs. 4' fixture (not a retrofit it's the full fixture) with 4" fans in it WITH a 75 gallon custom tank with solid maple stand and hood with a few other things for $300. Just the light alone if I were to go buy it new would be about $800.
I ended up getting this Current USA 36" Outer Orbit 150w HQI, 2x96w PC,4 lunars - eBay (item 350101329334 end time Oct-23-08 06:52:51 PDT) and taking your advice.....just need a skimmer now any ideas on something that will work well on a working mans budget....had a line on one on craigslist where i live but no reply... and ont he stand my and bud made it out of half log siding next one will be a little nicer more thought everyone likes it....