- Let's be honest here.
There's a 95% chance, nay.
A 99% chance that you're just gonna buy an led light
for your saltwater aquarium.
All my eight tanks in the gallery have led lights,
but let's at least discuss the five options,
because some of them may be right for you.
(pop music)
Good day, everybody. Matthew here.
Your BRS beginner guru, coming at you with
episode 27,
in the beginner How to guide for saltwater aquariums
and reef tanks, five types of aquarium lighting.
This is part two in our three parts,
all about aquarium lighting.
So if you missed episode 26, where we go over spread,
spectrum and par, check it out, we'll put a link down below.
And be sure to stick around for our next episode,
because we are gonna tell you how to set up your lights,
and how to program them for success.
We're gonna jump right in with our first type
of saltwater aquarium lighting, refugium lights.
Refugium lights are basically grow lights for your aquarium.
They're a specialty type of saltwater aquarium lighting,
that's not meant for your display tank.
Refugium lights are almost always led lights,
that are specifically tuned to encourage algae growth, which
is something you usually don't want in your aquarium.
So then why would you buy a refugium light?
Well, as a beginner, you wouldn't buy a refugium light.
But as you progress in this hobby,
you're probably gonna want to experiment at some point,
with a macroalgae refugium,
and a grow light is the perfect solution for that.
Spectrum wise, grow lights are really heavy into the red,
magenta, and blue spectrums,
to encourage as much algae growth as possible.
If you were to use a refugium light on your display tank,
first of all,
it probably wouldn't fit,
because they usually have a really small form factor.
Second, you would encourage a whole bunch of algae growth,
probably, especially hair algae.
And thirdly, your tank just wouldn't be pleasant to look at,
because it would just be full of reds and blues.
So the corals and fish wouldn't look very pleasing.
I think pretty much every single major
saltwater aquarium light manufacturer
has gotten into the refugium light business.
And there are a lot of good options out there.
On the less expensive side, you have lights from Tunze,
from ReefBreeders, and Finnex,
to the more expensive side from companies such as
Aqua Illumination, Neptune Systems and Kessel.
The pros of refugium lights.
Number one, they're great for growing macroalgae.
Number two, they're usually much less expensive
when compared to other led lights
meant for your display tank.
And number three, is they have a small form factor,
which is really good for either a sump,
or you can often attach them to the back
of a rear filtration chamber.
And the two cons of a refugium light.
Number one, they're really not meant for your display tank.
And number two, they will encourage algae growth.
Moving on to lighting type number two, metal halides.
Metal halides are the old school aquarium lights.
When this hobby was in its infancy,
metal halides were absolutely the go-to choice.
They have a really long proven track record,
and are able to successfully grow corals
across the spectrum.
Some old-school reefers still use metal halides today,
but they are large form factor,
the amount of heat they put out,
and how much energy they consume,
make them a less than ideal choice for most new hobbyists,
who want a nice clean aesthetic look.
But let's say you bought some used old system,
that came with a metal halide fixture.
There's absolutely no reason why you can't use it.
All you'll need to do
is figure out how to Mount it,
get some new light bulbs, and you'll have lights.
These will absolutely work for your aquarium,
but I'm just saying as a beginner,
if you're going out and choosing your first lights,
I'm not exactly sure
why you would choose metal halide lights
over the other options available today.
Metal halide lights rely on a metal halide light bulb,
and like any light bulb, it puts out light 360 degrees
at every angle.
So to properly use these,
you will need some sort of canopy with reflectors,
that will redirect that light
and bounce it down into the tank.
I personally haven't owned a metal halide fixture before,
and there aren't a lot of options out there
if you wanna buy them new.
But if you are interested,
there are three things you'll need to buy
to make sure it works.
Number one is the light bulb,
which you'll have to replace probably every year.
Number two is the ballast,
which is just the large power unit.
And number three is the canopy with reflectors,
that will redirect that light down into your tank.
There are a lot of pros for metal halide lighting.
And the first, is it has an extremely long track record
and proven success rate,
for growing corals all across the spectrum in this hobby.
The second pro is their upfront cost
is usually quite a bit less than a comparable LED.
Yes, you may end up paying more in the long run
with replacing your bulbs every year,
but if you need a cheaper upfront cost,
then absolutely you can consider metal halides.
The third pro is metal halides put out a lot of par
all across your tank, and they have a really nice spectrum,
which gives that classical saltwater aquarium look.
And the fourth pro is you really can't screw these up
as a beginner.
They pretty much just have an on switch and an off switch.
And you can't even think about touching the spectrum,
or the intensity.
So as long as you set it up correctly and put it on a timer,
it will turn on and off by itself,
and you won't be able to mess with it.
The first con of metal halides is they put out a lot of heat
and I mean a lot of heat.
And where I live,
our home is 78 to 80 degrees all summer long,
a metal halide just wouldn't fly,
because I would have to put chillers on the tank,
just to counteract the heat.
Con number two is they consume a lot of energy
when compared to T5's or metal halides.
Number three is metal halides are large and bulky fixtures
that usually have to be hidden within a canopy.
So if you're looking for a minimal look,
halides aren't the way to go.
Number four is you're gonna have to replace the bulbs
every year, which can lead to a higher cost in the long run,
compared to other lighting options.
And the fifth con for metal halides
is they don't really have any good mounting options.
You're gonna have to figure out
how to hang them from the ceiling,
or build some sort of DIY Mount
to attach it to the rim of your tank.
So this just makes it a lot more difficult for beginners.
To be totally frank with you,
as a beginner, I wouldn't go out and buy metal halides.
And if you go to website,
you're gonna see the options for metal halides
are extremely limited.
I mean, why would you buy some big, bulky, massive heat
producing fixture,
when you could get something like an LED fixture,
which is the current trend in the hobby anyways.
Saltwater aquarium option number three,
our T5 fluorescence.
T5 fixtures are just fluorescent lights,
that are much smaller
and use less energy than standard fluorescent lights.
They come in different lengths
and you can get them in different colors
from something like a 10,000K to an actinic blue.
And usually most hobbyists will mix and match
to get the right spectrum for their tank.
Since T5's come in standard sizes from 24 inches,
all the way to over 60 inches,
they're usually meant to go on top of a tank
that has a similar
footprint.
T5 lights have been making a bit of a comeback lately,
especially with the advent of hybrid lighting,
which we'll talk about shortly.
A lot of hobbyists
are adding T5 lights to their LED fixtures,
to increase their spread
and get their spectrum tuned in just right.
There are a lot of pros for T5 lights, and the first,
is that they can be a much more affordable option
than other saltwater aquarium lights out there.
Number two is,
especially when compared to metal halide lights,
T5 fluorescence put out a lot less heat,
and consume less energy.
There also another really good set it
and forget it options that's kind of beginner proof,
cause from the lower end choices,
it's really just a turn on and turn off.
Although if you do
go with a more expensive fixture,
you will have the ability to program
the dimming cycles of your line.
And lastly, since T5 fluorescent light
emanates from the entire length of the tube,
you will get a really good, consistent spread,
and you won't have to worry about shadowing in your tank.
The cons of T5 fluorescence.
Well, longer term, it's gonna be
more expensive than LEDs,
because a standard fixture is gonna have
several of these tubes in them,
and they need to be replaced every year,
which can cost quite a bit.
Con number two is that mounting can be a pain for beginners,
since there aren't a lot of options out there.
Most of these have to be ceiling mounted,
which can be a bit daunting for a first timer.
The third con is you still need
a relatively large fixture,
because you do need reflectors,
to point that light down to the tank,
so you don't just get light spill everywhere.
And lastly,
while putting off way less heat than metal halides,
they're still gonna put off more heat than LED fixtures.
For beginners,
I think T5's are actually a really good option.
I would certainly recommend them
way, way more than metal halides,
even though the trend in the last decade
has been toward LED lights,
there's a lot to be said for going with T5 fixtures.
Really my only hesitancy is and recommending a T5 fixture,
and I really don't have any, is how simple it is to set up,
because a lot of these fixtures
need to either have some sort of DIY Mount,
or they need to be hung from the ceiling.
It can be a little bit more complicated for beginners,
but they're truly fantastic lights,
that are relatively beginner proof.
We're up to the fourth type of saltwater aquarium lighting.
And this is by far and away,
the most popular type out there.
(distort music)
Okay. Sorry, everybody look, it's two days later.
I'm wearing a different
shirt. This video was so much longer
than I thought it was gonna be.
That we're gonna have to break this video up,
and having a part A and part B.
So coming at you next episode,
we're gonna to call it episode 27, part B.
We will finish this and talk about LED lights
and hybrid lights.
And as always everybody, thank you for watching.
Happy reefing, be well. We'll see you next time.
(classic pop music)