new lights

i have heard that the marineland LEDS are not good for corals...look into AI Sols they are a bit more $$ but VERY nice

 

LEDS are expensive and i doubt the marineland LEDS will be enough for coral growth. they run closer to the 10k spectrum. you could always try a DIY LED system..just my .02 worth

 

I have a similar dilemma. I want LED's cause I love their efficiency, low heat, and low maintenance cost. I too considered marineland as an option but as Killernights has pointed out they arn't the best. I havn't personally used marineland's LEDs so its all been hear say. AI LEDs are WAY out of my budget. Decided to just go for a DIY unit. JB has a killer thread about his experience that might be some assistance to you.

If you go for the marineland fixture I'd be interested to hear how you like it.

Good Luck!

 

you could probably pull it off...just use the marineland LEDS to suplament the 10k spectrum and use Actinic 420nm in the T5 system

 

your t5s would probably be plenty. have you looked at the marineland pro fixture? I know it is pricey but I love mine. 1 cord, a built in timer that takes care of all the lights. its a pretty sweet setup

 

I run marineland LED's on my 125 FOWLR and they aren't even as bright as the stock T8 lights.

they do offer a better color spectrum that makes colors pop out better than t8's

 

I would

 

i have done allot of research on led light systems and this is what i have come up with. if you are looking for a good system look at the watt of led that it uses. they range from .6,1,3 and so on. i would not underestimate how strong led lights can be. a good fixture can actually bleach out some hard corals. if i were you i would definitely look into building your own led light system its cheep and not to hard to do. a good diy led system would include 3Watt leds angled around 45 degrees with a mix of 10000k and 14000k and then any blue and red led lights. i run a t5 fixture at the moments but plan on turning over to led lights.

 

http://www.fosterandsmithaquatics.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=20394