The Official "hey Lovelies" Thread

[Man of fish]

Seems like people either live or hate that solarmax unit. Not really any in betweenness. I'm trying to decide whether or not to play it safe and just go with a coralife, or I found a current USA for $70. But would I need to get a glass lid for these? Or can they go on my plastic one? And do they need to be mounted?

 

[Ruskull]

The Corelife & CurrentUSA fixtures are most effective when they're mounted above the tank on legs. Without actually seeing what hood you're working with it's impossible to say if that would work with your's or not. With the low light plants you have you might want to consider that single Solarmax unit since it's only $25 or so. Check the fixture measurements against the unit you have & you should be able to tell if it's works with your hood.

I'm very happy with my Coralife & Current fixtures but only one of them worked well with my existing hood (on the 36 gal)

 

[MBOU]

Really hacked off doesnt cover how annoyed I am

I ordered Easy Life Easy Carbo via Amazon and they have taken forever to send it and my tanks really grotty with algae again (CO2 should help!) and it finally arrived and I opened it and saw the black lid and I wont repeat what I screamed out.

Only went and sent me Easy Life ProFito. Useless gits!! I sent them an email saying I need the Easy Carbo in a hurry and it was urgent and for work and im absolutely devastated lol. Im hoping the £12 wont bother them and they will send me the Easy Carbo FOC

*fumes*

 

[LucyB]

Cali the goldfish has fully recovered guys! Yaaaay!

 

[Ruskull]

Really hacked off doesnt cover how annoyed I am

I ordered Easy Life Easy Carbo via Amazon and they have taken forever to send it and my tanks really grotty with algae again (CO2 should help!) and it finally arrived and I opened it and saw the black lid and I wont repeat what I screamed out.

Only went and sent me Easy Life ProFito. Useless gits!! I sent them an email saying I need the Easy Carbo in a hurry and it was urgent and for work and im absolutely devastated lol. Im hoping the £12 wont bother them and they will send me the Easy Carbo FOC

*fumes*

Take a deep breath MBOU.................

Cali the goldfish has fully recovered guys! Yaaaay!

Great news!!

 

[Man of fish]

Which one was that ruskull? My hood is just one of those regular plastic ones with the punch outs at the back. It's an aqueon.

 

[HAMBONE]

Really hacked off doesnt cover how annoyed I am

I ordered Easy Life Easy Carbo via Amazon and they have taken forever to send it and my tanks really grotty with algae again (CO2 should help!) and it finally arrived and I opened it and saw the black lid and I wont repeat what I screamed out.

Only went and sent me Easy Life ProFito. Useless gits!! I sent them an email saying I need the Easy Carbo in a hurry and it was urgent and for work and im absolutely devastated lol. Im hoping the £12 wont bother them and they will send me the Easy Carbo FOC

*fumes*

huh?? you lost me at "hacked off" and it went down hill from there..

 

[Ruskull]

Which one was that ruskull? My hood is just one of those regular plastic ones with the punch outs at the back. It's an aqueon.

I use my 30 inch Coralife fixture on it's legs above my stock Aqueon hood and it works fine. I was going to buy a glass top for the tank but it's not necessary. If it works don't fix it.

Of course it's not exactly the same as your lid but it's probably similar. That's why a low cost, low light option would be the Solarmax single bulb unit. It's only like $25 dude, if you don't like it you can still keep it as a spare. A new bulb for your existing fixture is probably around $15 anyway.

Here's your options:

1. Replace your existing T8 bulb for $15 (Probably around 15 watts)

2. Get a Solarmax single T5 bulb fixture that will probably work with your hood for $25 (24 watts I believe)

3. Get a Solarmax dual T5 bulb fixture which includes LED nightlights and will probably work with your hood for $55 (48 watts I believe)

4. Get a CurrentUSA dual T5 fixture but no LEDs for about $65 (really uses (2) 24 inch 24 watt bulbs, so it's 48 watts)

5. Get a Coralife dual T5 fixture for around $90-100 (uses (2) 30 inch 31 watt bulbs for a total of 62 watts)

Measure the size of your exiting light, check the size of the Solarmax single unit to make sure it will fit, & be done with it. It's $25 for heaven's sake............unless you want more light than 24 watts.

Just for the record I don't work for Solarmax, I've never owned one, and no animals were hurt in the making of this post!

 

[Man of fish]

Yes I want more than 24 watts, but it's the quality of the solarmax that people are talking about that troubles me.

 

[Crossfire]

I have a SolarMax...

 

[Man of fish]

How would you consider the materials it's made with?

 

[Crossfire]

Didn't actually take a good look, but it's a good light. It's single tube, but has reflectors. I like it quite much, hasn't caused any problems yet
And it's really cheap! I got it for only $32 at a LFS in Alexandria

 

[Man of fish]

It doesn't seem flimsy?

 

[Ruskull]

Yes I want more than 24 watts, but it's the quality of the solarmax that people are talking about that troubles me.

If money is no option then go for the Coralife.

It's easily the most sleek looking unit & it has true 30 inch bulbs where the Current version has a 30 inch unit but 24 inch bulbs. Both include the legs, but the Coralife Legs are just a bit more sturdy IMO. I have both of these units & I favor the Coralife. One major consideration is the fact that the CurrentUSA is available with 1 Daylight & 1 Colormax, where the Coralife has 1 Daylight & 1 Actinic. The Actinic made my tank look very yellow, especially the plants. My bright red Cherry Barbs males were dark bown/burgundy colored under that light. You will pay more for the Coralife & you will need to change one of the bulbs to a pink if you want the "freshwater effect."

It doesn't seem flimsy?

Are you planning to use yours as a jack stand?

I have a SolarMax...

Does it fit into your stock hood?

 

[Man of fish]

I wish these choices were easier!!!!!!