[georgiadawgger]

Hey all, I guess this is my first official post here besides my intro in the water bucket.

I was wondering what you all think about the following two PC light strips:

1. AGA 110 watt pc hood 36" for $101.99 at petsolutions.com
2. Coralife freshwater 96 watt pc hood 36" for $94.99 at big als.

I currently have a 108 watt pc hood and a 60 watt double bulb NO hood on my 46g bowfront. I'd like to keep the 108 watt pc hood and replace the NO with one of the two above mentioned. I'm just trying to figure out which one is better. As far as the coralife, I'll definitley get the legs. Any suggestions?

 

[Gomer]

First, welcome aboard!


I am not familiar with those, but the first thing to look at is the bulbs it comes with. If it says Actinic, 50/50 or reef etc, then you will need to replace it.

On all my bigger tanks, I use AHSupply.com kits. If you are handy at all, then you end up with amazing reflectors! Might want to check it out

What are the dimensions of your tank? Most 65 and 55 watt bulbs are ~ 22 inches. you might not have good coverage with those.

 

[georgiadawgger]

Hey Gomer,

Well the AGA has two 55 watt PC bulbs both rated at 6700 K. The ballast seems to connect both bulbs in the middle of the hood rather than at the ends so the bulb tips are at the two ends of the hood.

The Freshwater Coralife is a long 96 watt bulb rated at 6700 K.

Basically, I'm having the issue of the "bends" with my taller background plants with my current setup. The PC hood I have now has two 36 watt bulbs on the left side and two 18 watt bulbs on the right side. And both ballasts are at the end of the hoods so I get a bending of my plants towards the middle. I'm thinking of putting this hood on the front of my tank while using the new one for the back. Oh, its a 46g bowfront so I'm looking at 36" hoods.

I also thought about the retrofit kits for my 36 in NO hood, but I kind of want to save it for a future 20 long breeder tank.

 

[pineapple]

One of the 36" AGA hoods is fitted with 2 GE9325 PC bulbs and ballast (110 watts in total). Apart from the usual ABS design, which is hardly elegant, and the flat mirrored reflector which is not as good as those offered by www.ahsupply.com, the hood is quite good.

Andrew Cribb