Lighting Upgrade

[Schennj]

Looking to upgrade my lighting. I'm considering the Aquaticlife 48" 6x54 or TEK lighting 8x54. I'm really liking the the set it and forget for the aquaticlife but 432 watts for under $350 for the TEK lighting is quite appealing also. Anyone have an unbiased opinion on either of these. THANKS!!

[Schennj]

Well I was doing some more research and I'm starting to believe that neither one of these choices will suit my needs. I plan on keeping zoas, leathers and maybe some softies for the time being. My tank is 48" wide x 30" deep. Are MHs going to be my only choice? Any feedback is much appreciated. THANKS!!

[Zegg]

Cant really compare an 8 bulb to a 6 bulb fixture....

But also Aquatic Life bulbs are included... Tek doesnt come with bulbs.

Aquatic Life fixture has digital timer with clock built in to control Actinic, day bulbs and LEDS individually... Tek Does not. But if you have a controller of plan on using a controller thats not really a benifit.

Aquatic Life has led moonlights .... Tek does not.

Aquatic life or TEK fixture with the right bulbs are both good choices IMO

In the end I went with TEK only because IMO it looked better was lighter, smaller.. and was going to get all ATI, Geismann and a Fiji purple bulbs... meaning the aquatic life including bulbs really had no use for me. Also already a few timers laying so the built in timer really didn't do anything for me either.

Also when I got my Tek fixture Aquatic Life only had a 4 bulb fixture available at the time.

Today if I were to set another tank up I would chose sunlight suplly TEK just cause it goes with the tank, room etc better. Not because the cost looks cheaper at first.... after adding LED moonights, 3 timers, 6 $25-$30 to the TEK ended up being more in my case

[Zegg]

At 30" deep shoudl have no problem specially with an 8 bulb.... have plenty of 6 bulb fixtures doing great on 36" deep tanks but all softies, shrroms, palys, zoas, chalices, etc low moderate lights.... sps would even do great top 15 inches or so with a 6 bulb

[Schennj]

Would 8X54 be enough light to keep what I mentioned above in a 30" deep tank

[NYCBOB]

8 bulbs is plenty

[Schennj]

Thanks, you all made the search a lot easier

[Schennj]

Looking at the 6x54 sunlight supply TEK fixture. My bulb selection is Giesemann Pure Actinic x3 and Giesemann Daylight 6000k x3. That comes to just under $500. Would this be sufficient lighting for what I mentioned above? Does anyone have any other suggestions for bulb configurations?