Need your opinion on which is better

[Georgiadawgger]

I'm looking into another upgrade to my current lighting. I have a PC hood that emits 108 watts and an AGA NO double bulb hood for 60 watts. The problem I'm having is some funky growth since I have my PC hood on the back side of the tank. All my plants along the two back corners bend really bad to the middle of the tank. I was thinking of getting another 96 watt PC hood and getting rid of the 60 watt NO.

The problem I'm having is which brand to buy. Here are my options for my wallet:

1. AGA 110 watt PC hood $101.99 Petsolutions.com
2. Coralife Freshwater PC strip light 96 watt $94.99 Big Als

Any input would be appreciated. Thanks.

[corigan]

Originally Posted by Georgiadawgger

1. AGA 110 watt PC hood $101.99 Petsolutions.com
2. Coralife Freshwater PC strip light 96 watt $94.99 Big Als

I have no experience with the AGA's, but have 2 different Coralife Freshwater PC Strip's and am quite pleased with them. If you go the route of the pc strip make sure you get the legs with it. I have a 96 watt and the 130 watt model on 2 different tanks and both do really well. I do however run low wattage NO along with these lights to create a dusk/dawn effect (I also have moonlights running as well). When I used to just run the PC lights, when it would switch from night to day the fish would scatter when it clicked on. You could tell it was too intense for them to go from darkness to full on midday light. So with running one of these low wattage NO bulbs, it clicks on first and they don't scatter and can adjust their eyes for an hr or so before I let the pc's kick in. Seems to work really well.

Matt

[Georgiadawgger]

Alright, so after thinking about it and with Corigan's reply I'm going with the Coralife single 96 watt PC. I got it through marineandreef.com for $108 which includes the mounting legs and shipping. It was about 10 bucks cheaper than BigAls so I went ahead with it. This ought to be interesting since I'll be bumping my wattage from 3.65 to 4.4!

The DIY CO2 is working fine for my system for now. I've had a constant ph of 6.8 with a kh between 6 and 7 (depending on water changes and how much baking soda I add) by running two CO2 reactors. I guess the next step is pressurized.

[oldfarmhouse]

If thats the quad bulb I think that comes through 50/50?? Not what you want.

[Georgiadawgger]

Nah, thanks for the concern though. Its a new product: A single linear PC bulb strip light made for freshwater...comes with a 96w 6700K bulb. The other option was the 50/50 bulb.

http://www.marineandreef.com/shoppro...ght_fresh.html