Hello again everyone.
I would like to hear some opinions of experienced (or novice) reefers about lighting hype. I'm in the process of planning my first tank, a 180 g, and every light manufacturer claims to be the best. "Precision German engineering", "state-of-the-art ballast technology", "superior bulb performance" are just a few of the claims. Personally, I think they are trying to sugar-coat their product to justify that huge price tag. Does anyone out there use non "reef-specific" lighting? Now I have no reefing experience so i can lay no claim to reef lighting knowledge. One thing i have done that i beleive relates to this is indoor gardening. When I started I bought the special grow lights with "ideal k rating" for various growth stages and the "high tech" ballasts to run them. I also paid the top shelf price for them. They worked great, did their job admirably. I wanted to expand my setup but could'nt afford the expensive lights, so I went to the local electrical supply and picked up a mogul socket, contractor series bulb, and 400w MH ballast rebuild kit. This was a fraction of my original setup cost.Ballast kit was 90, bulb 25, and socket 10. I set up my "cheap d.i.y." alongside the state-of-the-art system and, long story short, they are both equally effective. I can see no difference in growth whatsoever. I would like to know if this could hold true for corals as well. Please let me know what you think about non "reef-specific" lighting, good or bad.
Thanks.
I would like to hear some opinions of experienced (or novice) reefers about lighting hype. I'm in the process of planning my first tank, a 180 g, and every light manufacturer claims to be the best. "Precision German engineering", "state-of-the-art ballast technology", "superior bulb performance" are just a few of the claims. Personally, I think they are trying to sugar-coat their product to justify that huge price tag. Does anyone out there use non "reef-specific" lighting? Now I have no reefing experience so i can lay no claim to reef lighting knowledge. One thing i have done that i beleive relates to this is indoor gardening. When I started I bought the special grow lights with "ideal k rating" for various growth stages and the "high tech" ballasts to run them. I also paid the top shelf price for them. They worked great, did their job admirably. I wanted to expand my setup but could'nt afford the expensive lights, so I went to the local electrical supply and picked up a mogul socket, contractor series bulb, and 400w MH ballast rebuild kit. This was a fraction of my original setup cost.Ballast kit was 90, bulb 25, and socket 10. I set up my "cheap d.i.y." alongside the state-of-the-art system and, long story short, they are both equally effective. I can see no difference in growth whatsoever. I would like to know if this could hold true for corals as well. Please let me know what you think about non "reef-specific" lighting, good or bad.
Thanks.