How can anyone be happy with the lighting options out there?

[Anchor]

Some softies and LPS. Eventually SPS, but that is at least 1 year away.

Those are fairly low par level corals. I would not worry about high end lights unless you only want to buy once. If you truly intend to do SPS in your 29, I might suggest upgrading to a 40B and looking for either A160 or AI HD Primes used. A pair of either would suit you well on that tank (and the 29). Additionally, you could do SPS in a tank like that and appreciate the depth. I have to add the caveat of preferring depth to height myself. If I were to recommend a starting tank for someone who wants to reef it would be the 40b,,, or if you can find one. a 50b.. which is 2 inches taller. 18 x 18 end plates.... x 36 long.. It is a relatively standard length compared to the 29 gallon..

I think everyone is telling you, you have many more choices than you have listed. Or is available at BRS.

 

[HB AL]

You have an amazing tank! Well done, I'm super jealous, but your logic comes off as "I bought a Corvette, and I'm happy. Check out my burnouts." ...It's not so helpful when I'm looking for the Honda Accord of reef lighting.

Ya reading a post on the internet from someone you dont know and actually aren't talking face to face it's easy to misinterpret what is being said and people naturally interpret things said via keyboard differently. Whichever post it was that gave you that idea that thought never crossed my mind. I was just offering my own 1st hand led light opinion because I've only owned the Kessils as far as leds go. I'm sure someone with alot of knowledge on leds can steer you to the Accord version that works just as good. I definitely wouldn't compare a Kessil 160 or 360 to a Corvette, more like a mustang with a 6 cylinder engine.

 

[Anchor]

OH by the way 91yjeeper. Welcome to R2R.. !

 

[Anchor]

OH by the way 91yjeeper. Welcome to R2R.. ! Nothing like a server error to double up a post.. So you are welcomed to R2R twice as much..

 

[lpsouth1978]

I don't know many people that will argue the value of a MH/T5 combo for growth, color, and ease of use. If heat was not an issue (I live in Phoenix, it will bee 100 degrees this weekend) and I had your tank, I would use this fixture. It is reasonably priced, will have even coverage with a natural shimmer, and will allow you to grow ANYTHING in your tank.

We can go round and round forever discussing the virtues and downfalls of each light, so it really just comes down to what is most important to you. Once you decide that you can find the light that best fits your wants and needs.

 

[Viking_Reefing]

Noopsyche has disco ball. Reefbreeder looks interesting.. is it the Photon v2+?

I’ve never seen any disco effect with my noopsyches, what are you basing this on?
Puck-style leds are generally not that bad when it comes to color separation.

 

[Viking_Reefing]

double post

 

[91yjeeper]

Those are fairly low par level corals. I would not worry about high end lights unless you only want to buy once. If you truly intend to do SPS in your 29, I might suggest upgrading to a 40B and looking for either A160 or AI HD Primes used. A pair of either would suit you well on that tank (and the 29). Additionally, you could do SPS in a tank like that and appreciate the depth. I have to add the caveat of preferring depth to height myself. If I were to recommend a starting tank for someone who wants to reef it would be the 40b,,, or if you can find one. a 50b.. which is 2 inches taller. 18 x 18 end plates.... x 36 long.. It is a relatively standard length compared to the 29 gallon..

I think everyone is telling you, you have many more choices than you have listed. Or is available at BRS.

Thanks for the welcome! I think you hit the nail on the head. I do want to buy once. I'm trying to build in the ability to potentially upgrade to a different size tank and SPS later. (Like a 40B, 50B or 60 Cube).

 

[sarcophytonIndy]

If you are truly looking for the Honda of lighting, I would check out the Chinese black boxes. They would probably do the job just fine for under $200

 

[EMeyer]

Which ones do you recommend? They're cheap, but I'm scared of lighting my house on fire.

I've owned about 18 black boxes of various no name brands. None has ever caught fire. Over 6 years I've lost two dimmer switches.

Honestly I ignore brand. Look for the colors you want, look for two cords instead of one, and lowest price within those limits. That's literally all I do.

Just picked up another no name one for about 90 recently, because I dropped one in the water and had to replace it. But I consider that my fault rather than the light

I am pretty sure the fire thing is a complete myth.

 

[fishnugget1]

I love my LED/T5 hybrid. I like that I get the best of both worlds. T5 has proven results growing and coloring anything. LED provides shimmer, color pop, and additional PAR. Aesthetically, the fixture is not such an eyesore, IMO. Here is a picture of my system with the light hung above it. This picture is a couple months old.

20200211_194413 by Lyle Southard, on Flickr

I don’t see the wires coming down for the leds. That is my only issue. Wires for t5 and wires for leds.

 

[fishnugget1]

I love my LED/T5 hybrid. I like that I get the best of both worlds. T5 has proven results growing and coloring anything. LED provides shimmer, color pop, and additional PAR. Aesthetically, the fixture is not such an eyesore, IMO. Here is a picture of my system with the light hung above it. This picture is a couple months old.

20200211_194413 by Lyle Southard, on Flickr

I don’t see the wires coming down for the leds. That is my only issue. Wires for t5 and wires for leds.

 

[Bpb]

Honest question, what do you like about this MH over other options?

Edit....answering as if you meant what do you like about MH over other options. I now see you may have meant what do you like about that particular unit shown....in which case disregard everything below.

I can’t answer for THEM but I can answer for myself. There are several things to love.

If you shop used the cost of entry can be very very very low. This was the deal breaker for me. 3 coralvue lumen bright pendants, reflector portions about 90% mint condition which is more than good enough, and 5 ballasts (2 m58, 3 dimmable digital ballasts) for a grand total of $200.

At that price I couldn’t afford NOT to make the switch. And watt per $ bulb changes are cheaper than with t5’s if changed yearly. Now if i were ordering everything brand new from a retailer that would change the story. I would likely consider an led approach at that point. Likely a pair of reef breeders photon v2’s since cost would be about a wash at startup and energy use and upkeep would likely be much lower with the photons.

Aesthetically? I don’t mind the look of halide pendants. Even if you can see them over the top of my canopy. Doesn’t bother me. Doesn’t bother the wife.

Inside the tank: the shimmer and overall brightness are outstanding. The growth is desirable and the color acceptable. I had a bit more vivid colors under pure t5 though if I’m being completely honest. The growth from metal halides for me personally has outshined what I was achieving previously though. It’s a compromise I will presently accept.

 

[sarcophytonIndy]

If you are truly looking for the Honda of lighting, I would check out the Chinese black boxes. They would probably do the job just fine for under $200

I've owned about 18 black boxes of various no name brands. None has ever caught fire. Over 6 years I've lost two dimmer switches.

Honestly I ignore brand. Look for the colors you want, look for two cords instead of one, and lowest price within those limits. That's literally all I do.

Just picked up another no name one for about 90 recently, because I dropped one in the water and had to replace it. But I consider that my fault rather than the light

I am pretty sure the fire thing is a complete myth.

I have used this one to light my fuge for the past two years, since there was no way I was going to fork over the bucks for the Kessil 380 just to light a fuge. Obviously this is the wrong spectrum for your display tank, but I have been happy with the brand, and i know they also make reef lights.

 

[Metcho]

I use this light on my 40gal full sps tank for over 2 years. Very affordable light and growing all my sps without a problem. Couldn’t be happier and saved a lot of money not buying the expensive brand.

 

[BurgerFish]

I'd like to have a big tank with T5, LED and MH at the same time.

 

[sawdonkey]

I use this light on my 40gal full sps tank for over 2 years. Very affordable light and growing all my sps without a problem. Couldn’t be happier and saved a lot of money not buying the expensive brand.

I used four of these to light me 220 for over three years. They did burn out some diodes and the fans kept burning out due to the exposed wire corroding. I had good success with them, but I did have to repair them from time to time. Here’s my old tank grown completely under those lights.

 

[ajhudson15]

t5's do have dimming capabilities. I have an ati 6 buld fixture that dims plus 2 reefbrite xho led strips. all inside a canopy. You could also do a floating canopy to hide the device if you think its not aesthetically appealing.

 

[Bruce Burnett]

Does the Disco Ball go away with 3 of them? Disco really bothers me.

Not sure what you are calling disco ball effect. Disco effect is where you can see the individual colors. Shimmer is different and you can get to much of that. If you don't want shimmer then you need to go T-5 or worse have very little surface movement. You can go T5 supplemented with LED or LED supplemented with T5. You will not have disco and only a small amount of shimmer when both are on.

 

[WVNed]

I am running 2 black boxes, a 48 inch photon V2 and 8 feet of MH T-5. Happy with it all.