Power Compacts vs Flourescent

[Jen]

Ok. I need ne lights. I was planning on going flourescent, but two guys at my lfs recomended this Coralife power compact. Its much more expensive (like 5 times as much as I can build the flourescent for - $70 opposed to $350) but I can get 2.8 wpg with that, and barely 2wpg with the flour.

Funds are not that important... I can spare the money for it now, if its going to pay off in the long run. I have no intentions now of upgrading to a bigger tank in the forseeable future - if I stay with this tank for the rest of my life, I'm happy.

Does anyone know the difference in energy use between flour. and p.c?


Knowing the price ranges, what would you go with?

 

[Undawada]

Power compact gives you far more options in the high light range.

If you have a tank over 20 US Gallons and have live plants, to get decent light ( 2 or more WPG) you almost have to get power compact.

There are other high-output lights (metal halides, etc) but they're expensive too.

It all depends on what's more important to you, watts-per-gallon or watts-per-dollar.

HTH

 

[chkltcow]

$350 for the Coralife is highway robbery. I've been looking at probably the same strip, but can't really afford it right now. It's a 4x65w Coralife power compact strip for anywhere between $200-220. The cheapest place I've seen it is Hellolights.com.

Is this the product you're talking about? http/www.hellolights.com/48cfpchoods.html

 

[Jen]

First off, remember that I live in Canada.. so that 350 turns into about 275 US. The one I am looking at is a retrofit system... more like this one. The one I'm looking at is not that wide.... the bulbs dont stagger like that. It comes with 2 10,000K white bulbs, and 2 6700K Atnick bulbs, that the guy will swap with 2 other 6700k bulbs... I think 1 thats more red, and one thats more blue? Does that sound right?

 

[abstract]

well the 2 lights in the 10,000 range will be great only for the algae growth...and the actinic lights are equally as useless in your setup...so hopefully he can replace all 4 with something that falls in the 5000-6700k range

 

[gaya]

I got a power compact light fixture on ebay for around $80 us dollars plus shipping. As of now i'm only using one of the bulbs that came with it and it's still a ton of light. Each light (which is really two lights in one) is 65 watts, which gives the total fixture 130 watts. The guy gave me options of what kind of bulbs i wanted (which were 6500k) and that was included in the price. legs and fans are extra (like 10-20 dollars) which i didn't get and wish i did because it gets really hot.

 

[chkltcow]

Coralife setups come ready for Saltwater with the 10,000k + Actinic lights.... or for freshwater with 6700k lights. I didn't realize the exchange rate is as bad as it is, but I guess $350 Canadian sounds about right for the Coralife. Believe me when I say that a 4bulb 260watt Coralife PC rig is capable of putting out MASSIVE light!

What size is your tank, anyway?

 

[Jen]

Its a 90 gallon, and i am hoping to go pretty heavy on the plants

 

[Jen]

I did end up going with the Power compacts, and I think I'll be happier in the long run. The bulbs are more expensive, but they last longer. I now get 2.8wpg, and I would have needed like 6 or 7 flourescent bulbs. The reflector takes up the same space as a 2 bulb flourescent fixture. And the best thing about it is it came with the bulbs on 2 circuits with 2 seperate plugs, so I can create a sunrise/sunset effect with timers so that I don't have 260 watts blasting on them in one shot.

 

[rdd1952]

I have the coralife 4x65 on my 75 gallon. I think it was about $220 plus shipping from Big Als. I think they are cheaper at the hellolights by about $24. I think you will be happy with them. Much better results than flourescent. My plants (Eco Complete substrate) are growing like crazy. I have already given my son a couple bunches of anacharis and I just pruned about 20 more plants on Sunday. I will probably move those to my 29 gallon.