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Pico Tank Light advice


EggyShovell

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EggyShovell

I'm in the market for a new light for my new pico.

 

It needs to enhance the life of my eventual corals/critters/fish and be good for viewing.

 

I'd like it to be LED.

 

It'd also be neat if it could simulate sunrise/sunset at least, but moon cycle would be cool, as would something that could mimic the exact weather of other parts of the world.

 

Importantly though i'd like it to plug and play.

 

My budget isn't limitless and I'd like to keep it below the £200 mark if possible, (I know!!!) the further below the better!

 

All advice welcome guys, you'se have more experience than me!

 

I don't mind sacrificing some of the more advanced things obviously.

 

Eggy

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Dave's EcoTide (Nanobox) would be a good fixture for a tank of that size, but you wouldn't be able to dim it/simulate sunset and sunrises.

 

BML fixtures are a good choice too; although they don't look nearly as sleek.

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To get most of what you asked for, xiaoxiy is right - NanoBox. If you are willing to have just the light (no dimming, no controller, no sunrise/sunset/moonphase), the Eco Tide fits your budget. If you spend 200 pounds, which currently is ~$340 US, the NanoBox Tide with coraliux storm controller is $300 USD. The Storm controller allows everything you want. With shipping to you it would likely be right around your 200 pound mark.

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To get most of what you asked for, xiaoxiy is right - NanoBox. If you are willing to have just the light (no dimming, no controller, no sunrise/sunset/moonphase), the Eco Tide fits your budget. If you spend 200 pounds, which currently is ~$340 US, the NanoBox Tide with coraliux storm controller is $300 USD. The Storm controller allows everything you want. With shipping to you it would likely be right around your 200 pound mark.

This ^.

 

I was going to suggest a full blown Nanobox Mini, but wasn't sure how much shipping to the UK would be.

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This ^.

 

I was going to suggest a full blown Nanobox Mini, but wasn't sure how much shipping to the UK would be.

It would probably eat up the rest of the 350ish dollars left from the $300 light, I'd guess. It might be a bit more, but only a few bucks. I can't imagine it being like 75 bucks for standard shipping. I have received packages from the UK and the people who sent them couldn't have sent what they sent AND paid $$$$$ for shipping.

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EggyShovell

Thanks guys, I'd actually found these lighting units but having never heard of them was going to ask if anybody else had. Turns out you have and they are good! They look very nice too so I'll probably be picking one up soon.

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Hey guys can the storm/cloud/sunrise & sunset modes all be switched on and/or off independently?

Yes and no.

 

With a storm controller:

-The sunset and sunrises have the same exact duration.

-You can toggle clouds on and off and their frequency.

-You must have clouds activated in order to get storms/lightning (this is my understanding, I may not be right).

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EggyShovell

That's cool, sunrise / sunset in nature will always be equal I'd imagine? Might be wrong though!

 

Clouds on / off, storms on / off is also very good to know.

 

I take it then that you can simply program times for the sunrise / sunset and leave the coordinate programming, clouds and storm off, if required?

 

Also, what does the light given off by these look like? I've seen somebody selling an older one on here and it looks really blue. I like that but it'd better for my tastes to be a little more like natural daylight.

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Also, what does the light given off by these look like? I've seen somebody selling an older one on here and it looks really blue. I like that but it'd better for my tastes to be a little more like natural daylight.

This is what I love about the nanobox. The white and blue channels are wired independently, and the storm controller allows you to pick the intensities for each channel. This means that you can run it white like old school reefs, blue like more contemporary reefs, or somewhere in between.

 

Regardless what blue/white mix you end up with, the nanobox will not disappoint.

 

I've ran extremely white spectrums (140 whites and 110 Blues) and super blue spectrums (85 white 170 blues) and have been impressed with the color output on both ends.

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