I was always happy with the lighting on my tank - an 8 bulb, 54W T5 Tek light. Most hobbyists who saw my tank thought the colors were great. I was itching to try to enhance the colors, though, So, I brought home one of the new Reefbrite XHO LED strips = all blue actinic. Hook it up to the 8 bulb Tek T5 and........BAM! I was wrong. My colors were just OK. I cannot believe the difference this LED strip made to my tank.
That being said, "she who must be obeyed" simply stated, the last thing we needed was more light (and the more cost). So, I brought her downstairs and showed her. To qualify this, my wife, Dani, misses NOTHING! She notices every polyp that's closed, any and all growth, problems, changes, etc. It's quite annoying- But very helpful as well.
So, she looks and say it's "nice", but not sure if it warrants the prcie tag. Then I turned off the white/purple and 2 blues so there is just 4 blue T5's on with the Reefbrite XHO LED. She notices a bigger difference in the colors, etc.
THEN............I turned off all the T5's and....wait for it.........BAM! The tank looks like a painting!! I could not believe my eyes when i saw the corals fluoresce and the pinks, reds, greens and yellow pop out like it was a cartoon.
So, since I know you are going to ask for pics....I took some. Now, I adjusted them to look as close to what I see in person, only, to be honest, it's MUCh nicer than in the pics. I have pics with out the LED, then pics with the LED and adjusted them both the same. It's like batteries for the corals. Once Dani saw the tank with just the 1 Reefbrite XHO LED, she said. " OK, now THAT"S nice. You HAVE to get it." In fact, she thinks the tank almost looks ugly with the T5's on, in comparison to just the one LED!!
Here is my normal T5 lighting :
Here is my normal T5 with 1 Reefbrite XHO :
Here is just 4 blue/superblue T5's :
here is the blue T5's with 1 Reefbrite XHO :
And the best part...here is just 1 Reefbrite XHO :
Here is a shot of the lights and how the strip is mounted on the light:
Unfortunately, the LED only pics just don't do it justice, but, suffice it to say the real thing is much more magical.
If someone is interested in getting these at a great price in the GTA I know a place you can get them on special for a short time. (not going to post it as I am not sure if they are a sponsor and don't want to offend anyone)
Cheers!