Looking for reasons not to buy this light...

jorjef · #1 12-14-2011, 04:53 PM

It seems to be a decent light and for what I'm keeping should work fine. It's the Aquaticlife four bulb T5. I have 4' tank 22" deep and keep mostly LPS and Softies and with the LED lights out there most would need to be turned down so much that it's hardly practical to buy one and cost would be min. 30-35% more than the Aquaticlife.

Anyone have first hand experience or know of any reason it should be avoided?

Slick Fork · #2 12-14-2011, 05:18 PM

At only 4 bulbs you might run into a front to back coverage issue would be my only concern. Setting it up higher would fix this but might lead to a pretty dramatic reduction in PAR.

If a quality LED fixture is only 35% more though I would give some more consideration to it. 4 new bulbs a year might eat up that cost savings pretty quickly and if you only will be running at low power they would last forever.

BigAl07 · #3 12-14-2011, 05:23 PM

only 35% more? Make sure you're getting quality components and not just "any LED" components. Here is a video that gives a "humorous" look at what can go wrong with "inferior" LED components:

http://youtu.be/wU-XtZXz7AU

Quote:

Spectrum Matters, know what you are buying.

jorjef · #4 12-14-2011, 05:28 PM

Ya I had some bad math going on here.... 2x SOL plus controller is about $890.00 so it's more like 80% more....

BigAl07 · #5 12-14-2011, 05:35 PM

But. . . . with the SOL you can put anything you like in your tank. With T5's and a deeper tank you do have to take coral placement into consideration and even more so with a 4-bulb unit.

milano07 · #6 12-14-2011, 05:44 PM

Why don'y you get a Tek fixture instead of the Aquaticlife? I think the Tek has better reflectors than the Aquaticlife. Take a look at reefcentral's tank of the month. This tank is approximately 135 gallons, 36” x 36” x 24”. It's lit by a a 36" 6 bulb T5 Tek fixture and it's not even the Tek Elite. It's evident that T5's can grow SPS and just about any coral, you just have to get a decent fixture.

http://reefkeeping.com/joomla/index....k-of-the-month

jorjef · #7 12-14-2011, 05:52 PM

Tek doesn't appeal to me for the reasons that the Aquaticlife has the built in times and moon lights, missing the splash guard but that's an extra with the TEK anyways. Neither are that great to look at when on the tank .

milano07 · #8 12-14-2011, 06:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jorjef

Tek doesn't appeal to me for the reasons that the Aquaticlife has the built in times and moon lights, missing the splash guard but that's an extra with the TEK anyways. Neither are that great to look at when on the tank .

You get what you pay for that's for sure.

jorjef · #9 12-14-2011, 06:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by milano07

You get what you pay for that's for sure.

I'm a firm believer in that, that's why I was wondering about the Aquaticlife. Seems very reasonable for what you get, just not sure where the compromise is. Quality on components etc... This is why the title is what it is...

Slick Fork · #10 12-14-2011, 06:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jorjef

Ya I had some bad math going on here.... 2x SOL plus controller is about $890.00 so it's more like 80% more....

I think your math is still off - I'm looking at "thereefshoppe" and I see their 48" 4 bulb aquaticlife fixture for $450, add in 4 bulbs for $30 each = $120 for an initial price of $570. Against the SOL package you're looking at that's a difference of $320. That difference will disappear after 3 sets of bulb changes (2.5 -3 years) on the aquaticlife fixture and the aquaticlife fixture will severely limit you if you ever want to do anything other than softies and low-light lps.

How wide front to back is your tank? If it's 4 feet I'm going to guess at least 18" in which case you would need a 6 bulb t5 fixture. Also, if you're set on T5's buy the one with the better reflector... moonlights and timers can be added very inexpensively to any fixture.