need some advice on upgrading my lighting

[nebguy]

I really really need to upgrade my lighting(it's poor now, please don't ask) and i have two ways i can go about it, retrofit my current housing with an AH kit, or just get a new ballast/fixture. My tank is a 55 gal. 48" long. I've been looking at the coral life aqualight 2x65 and the kit from AH is 2x55. The coral life from Big Al's is $118 the kit from AH would run about $110 including bulbs. Is one way really any better than the other than if got the coral life fixture i'd have another fixture for different tank later on? hmm maybe i answered my own question, here i'd save enough to pay for shipping and wouldn't have an extra fixture sitting around(but is that all bad?) well, thanks for reading my rant and any advice you all can give

Garrett

[malkore]

Where in NE are you at garrett?

I'd suggest the AH kit, becase the reflectors they ship with that kit are the BEST you'll find.

What you might wanna do is build a simple canopy, and house your lights inside there. Then you could easily add another 2x55 kit if you wanted to move into high light plants.

[nebguy]

i'm in lincoln, i'd love to build a canopy but dont' really have the tools or the place for building anything right now. so i'll go ahead and get a kit from AH supply. Thanks for the tip, i am curious about their reflectors though, are they really that reflective?

Garrett

[malkore]

I'm in Lincoln too.

Yes, they sell Miro reflectors, which are polished specular aluminum. You can't get more reflective than that.

If you've ever seen a glass-less mirror (like what the military might use for signalling, etc), they are made of specular aluminum.

I was skeptical when I ordered them, but after installing them, I was amazed. I tried to take a photo to show people how shiny they are, but the flash reflected back too much and the photos were all over-exposed. That's how good they are.