Which of these two fixtures would be better?

[Atomsk]

I've been doing a lot of reading recently about reef lighting and I'm getting mixed results. I really want to keep some mushroom corals, leather corals, zoanthids and maybe an easy anemone in a 55 gallon aquarium. I've been looking at the Coralife Lunar Aqualight HO T5 Aquarium Light Fixture and Marineland Reef Capable LED Lighting System. My question is are any of these two light fixtures able to sustain the listed above coral types and anemone?

 

[ryanr]

The corals you have listed are all fairly easy to keep, and do well with most lighting suitable for a reef.

Can you post some links to the two fixtures you are interested in?

LED would be my preference, they run lower temperatures, lower power consumption, and the bulbs (diodes) never need replacing.

I use an LED on my reef, and I have the following doing really well:
Elegance Coral
Blasto Coral
Zoanthids
Mushrooms
Duncan
Leather
Green Star Polyps
Cup Coral
Scoly
Acan colony
Bubble Tip Anemone
I also an acro that I'm hoping will do well, my concern isn't lighting though.


For the record, there is no such thing as an "Easy" anemone. BUT - the Bubble Tip Anemone is the easiest to keep, and can tolerate less than ideal parameters.

 

[Atomsk]

Here's the link for the Coralife Lunar Aqualight



Here's the link for the Marineland Reef Capable LED



What's your opinion on these two fixtures ryanr?

 

[ryanr]

At that price, go the LED !!!!

My only 'issue' would be the diodes are only 1W, but given the depth of a standard 55 is 20", you should get pretty good light penetration to the substrate.

My tank is a bit deeper, so I went with 3W LEDs.

 

[Atomsk]

I really trust Marineland products but I've heard Coralife is a good saltwater brand. I really like the idea of LEDs because their cheaper to run and you don't have to replace them as often as you would T5 bulbs from what I've read. I'm going to do some more research.

 

[Oryo]

What about this one? It's a few dollars more than the Marineland you posted but this one has timers:

Marineland Reef Capable LED Lighting System w/Timer

 

[JessiNoel21]

Coralife is great but they can over heat the tank ( and I had mine 2 feet above the tank and still raised the temp 4 degrees)that is why I switched to a DIY CREED LED system for my 55 reef.

 

[Oryo]

What about this one? It's a few dollars more than the Marineland you posted but this one has timers:

Marineland Reef Capable LED Lighting System w/Timer

I found them about $30 cheaper here with no sales tax and free shipping for the same Marineland LED lights.



I've been looking for lighting myself and the Marineland Reef Capable LED Lighting System w/Timer is getting great reviews from both of these websites.

 

[Atomsk]

Thanks for all the posts but I've decided to buy a metal halide.

 

[ryanr]

Thanks for all the posts but I've decided to buy a metal halide.

Cool, I love the shimmer effect of MH. Just be sure to leave plenty of space between the light and the tank, MH can heat a tank in next to no time.

 

[Atomsk]

I thought they're fully submersible, just kidding lol.