Fishneedit reviews

[corallineadam]

I bought a 2x96watt PC fixture from them a little over a year ago. After about 6-months the white bulb started flickering and went dim so I assumed bad bulb. So I ordered new bulbs put them in and turned out to be the electronic ballast. Should have checked it with the other bulb before buying new ones.. I found a used Coralife 2x96 fixture, put in the new bulbs and have used it since then. I kept the fishneedit fixture for parts or a backup 1x96. They no longer sell PC lights...wonder ????

 

 

Do you think they would sell to an online competitor?

they will give you a new ballast if you contact them... simon at fishneedit is very helpful and he has replaced my bulb for me no problem and said if i need to replace to ballast or any other part to contact him via email.

 

adam

 

I have the 20K 70 watt bulb. Looks like a 10K

true... well maybe like a 14k, but still it looks good. id say get the 20k always from fishneedit, they tend to look very 14k... even the 150w does...

[myjohnson]

Bump.

 

Anyone got the new 150w MH

 

or the 24'' x 4 bulb t5?

 

Have they upgraded their ballast?

[jakeottoson8]

yeah i've got the 24"x4 t5ho fixture. it's in my thread link in my sig. you can check it out if you want. It was set up as 50/50 blue/10k... I'm not a fan of the color.. got new bulbs on the way but it's very well built and looks great.

[Maddevil1]

Bump.

 

Anyone got the new 150w MH

 

or the 24'' x 4 bulb t5?

 

Have they upgraded their ballast?

 

Yea I got the 150w MH. See thread

[Pilg0re]

Yea I got the 150w MH. See thread

 

Same here.

[HiImSean]

has anyone replaced the stock MH bulb yet? do they require their MH bulbs or can you used what ever you want?

[Zer0]

I had the newer 150w MH pendant and it is just plain great. Runs very cool, as cool as a MH could be.. Idk how good the stock bulb was.. but i imagine it wasn't the greatest but it certainly gave off great color and most of my zoanthids started budding new polyps within a week and a half so clearly it wasn't that bad.

 

Great lights.

 

Plan on buying the 36" T5HO setup from them in a week or two.

[awcasper]

I used to work for a place that carried these fixtures. I have used the old model 36" 4x T5 bulbs, the newer model 36" 4x T5, and the 24" 2x T5.

 

The customer service is great, but the product itself is flimsy and breaks/ falls apart easily. I sold the earlier model 36" T5 for the new model because of the individual reflectors. The LED moonlights burnt out after 3 weeks, and the screws were loose out of the box. I tried tightening it, but it was already stripped.

 

At first I thought that it was a good product, but only the bulbs needed to be replaced. Even after replacing the bulbs with quality ones (ATI, Geisseman, UVL), my corals still were losing color, looked brown and unflattering.

 

After changing to an Icecap 660 ballast T5 retrofit, I noticed the difference immediately. I still use the 24" T5 on my sump, but never again on my display.

 

My $.02 is to save up for a Current fixture or better. Even Aquaticlife fixtures are better quality. Don't be surprised if the Fishneedit fixtures falls apart on you under a year.

[Zer0]

Uh oh.. looks like someone got a lemon..

 

Their newest/latest fixtures are great and i've seen tons of threads here and on two other sites, AA and RC, with people who have their 24" and 36" T5HO fixtures and each one of them never had a single bad thing to say about the fixtures. The bulbs may not be the best.. but look at what your getting for the price. Also.. out of all the complaints i've ever seen about FNI fixtures and pendants.. never have i heard anything bad at all about how they are built. I've only heard about bulbs shorting out.. or ballasts needing to be replaced. But flimsy.. ? I mean.. come on. I have the pendant and it's in no way flimsy.

 

And yes. I am here mentioning all this with full intentions of backing up FNI. FNI has helped tons of reefers out there looking for quality lights at budget costs. If they are as bad as you say they are.. then how come so many people buy their fixtures and actually like them? Obviously they're doing something right.

[fote03]

I had two of the 250MH. Fixture were great. I tried 14ks and 20ks and end up using the 20k cause i liked the bluer light. The fixture does get hot but what metal fixture doesn't? I planned to retro fit some fans and some leds but moved and sold all most of my tank. Im setting up a AIO 20L Nano and planning to get the 70mh or a 24x4 T5 fixture.

Here are two 14k bulbs brand new.almost looked like a 10k and a 20k. My 20ks burned in much better and almost like the bluer one.

[awcasper]

Uh oh.. looks like someone got a lemon..

 

Their newest/latest fixtures are great and i've seen tons of threads here and on two other sites, AA and RC, with people who have their 24" and 36" T5HO fixtures and each one of them never had a single bad thing to say about the fixtures. The bulbs may not be the best.. but look at what your getting for the price. Also.. out of all the complaints i've ever seen about FNI fixtures and pendants.. never have i heard anything bad at all about how they are built. I've only heard about bulbs shorting out.. or ballasts needing to be replaced. But flimsy.. ? I mean.. come on. I have the pendant and it's in no way flimsy.

 

And yes. I am here mentioning all this with full intentions of backing up FNI. FNI has helped tons of reefers out there looking for quality lights at budget costs. If they are as bad as you say they are.. then how come so many people buy their fixtures and actually like them? Obviously they're doing something right.

 

 

After going through three of these myself, and having customers take back nonfunctioning fixtures to the store, I stand by my testimony. They are made of lightweight plastic, things go wrong often, and my corals turned brown, even after switching out the bulbs.

 

People like deals. If they think they got a deal, then they are happy. If you compare these to compact fluorescents, then they are nice. If you compare them to other economy T5's like Current Nova Extreme, Aquaticlife, or a Icecap 660 retrofit, then you would see the difference. If pricing is the best thing about these things, then yes, you are right about them being awesome. You get what you pay for.

[aund45pq]

iv got a 150 watt, great fixture love it!!!!!!

[Ahanix]

I have the 36" T5HO, running just great, Corals and the nem are happy, Birdsnest is growing on my sand in my 40 breeder with stock bulbs, so I certainly can't complain

[clownfishlover]

I have the 4 T5 24inch for 2 months. One of the ballast wasn't working right. I email Fishneedit, he send me a whole new set right away.

 

I have a LPS tank and the Acans and Frogspawn, Hammer are growing extemely fast with new heads. Lights are great. Customer service great.

 

 

 

I have the 36" T5HO, running just great, Corals and the nem are happy, Birdsnest is growing on my sand in my 40 breeder with stock bulbs, so I certainly can't complain

[wowser]

I have a FNI 150 MH pendant. I love it. Yes, it's a little flimsy (if you take it apart, you'll see) but the ballast is nice quality and once I put a Phoenix bulb in, it really made the light shine. Corals responded nicely. I didn't care for the 20k blue tint bulb but the white/blue of the Phoenix is great. So for under $200 I got a great light. I think it was well worth it and their customer service is top notch. The owner responds to emails within hours.

[Dani3d]

You seem to be the only one with a negative effect on coral with these fixtures..so maybe it was something else that turned your coral brown and just a plain coincidence they improved when you replaced the fixture.

 

If thise was due to the fixture, others would have issues as well.

 

 

After going through three of these myself, and having customers take back nonfunctioning fixtures to the store, I stand by my testimony. They are made of lightweight plastic, things go wrong often, and my corals turned brown, even after switching out the bulbs.

 

People like deals. If they think they got a deal, then they are happy. If you compare these to compact fluorescents, then they are nice. If you compare them to other economy T5's like Current Nova Extreme, Aquaticlife, or a Icecap 660 retrofit, then you would see the difference. If pricing is the best thing about these things, then yes, you are right about them being awesome. You get what you pay for.

[jtgordon20]

Im a teen reefer and that means me finding a good deal.

I went with the newer 24" 4x24W fixture for a 20H.

I have no complaint with this light. I had a problem with the ballast and I emailed them. They wanted me to call them and he helped me find the problem. Just a bolt that needed to be tightened.

New bulbs would make this an even greated fixture.

I might end up going with their 150W Metal Halide fixture for a 20L to give Metal Halide a try.

[othercents]

I just received my 4x24 30" T5 fixture from Fishneedit.com and while I would still recommend them I had some things that I wasn't totally happy about. Chalk it up to being anal retentive.

 

1) When I opened the package and pulled out the ballast one of the connectors came loose on the sides of the ballast. I checked all of the connectors and they were all loose, so I had to open the ballasts and tighten up the connectors.

 

2) Looking at the light fixture the 24" T5 lamps were about 2" closer to one side then the other. Also the lamps were not sitting properly in the holders, nor were the holders properly aligned to the ends of the lamps. I ended up pulling the fixture apart and moving the holders to the proper locations, so the lighting was aligned the way I liked it.

 

3) The reflector was bent out of shape and I had to reshape it slightly. It also looked like someone haphazardly cut the reflector.

 

Overall the external aesthetics of the fixture is good, the wiring looked above grade, and a decent inexpensive option to start with. I don't have any reason it will perform worse than any other 4x24 30in fixture in the market. If it does, changing the lamps and reflectors would probably be all that would be needed to make the fixture perform like a Tek II.

 

David

[Linilou]

I have the 24'' 4x24 Fixture over my 20H and ive never had a problem.

 

Allmost all of my corals have shown growth and better colors under this light than my old 2 t5 fixture-and ive even had to move my rics down since they were bleaching from the light.

 

Being a college reefer, every cent that I can save in this hobby is well worth it, so finding this light, and having it preform the way that it does is a real plus for me!

 

[edit]

 

Just adding that I went with 2 20k and 2 14 k, and the tank is ever so slightly yellow, but it really might be the sun light that some times hits it in the evening, since it isnt allways like this. But, fore warning, the 14k bulbs might be a little yellow for some peoples taste, getting a Super Actinic to replace one of the 14ks soon so hopefully that will help.

[asim58]

I have the 36"x4 T-5HO on my 40 breeder, overall its a good fixture. Shipping package was excellent, the body seems well put together. I do wish the power cords to the ballasts were a bit longer though. Would have to agree on the bulbs as well, but I replaced three of them and my red planet and tridacna derasa are growing and look fantastic with this fixture.

[Drew220]

I have the 36"x4 T-5HO over my 40 breeder as well. I have no complaints with it other than the cords are a little short. I replaced the stock bulbs with 2 ATI aquablu+, a Fiji purple, and a Geissman Aquablue Special. The stock bulbs worked but they were pretty crappy. You could here stuff rolling around inside the bulbs when handled.

 

I switched the wiring around so that on of the ballast will power both aquablue+ to simulate a dawn/dusk cycle. It was super easy to do. I also trashed the acrylic splash guard.

 

I would order another fixture from fishneedit, but replace the bulbs. Shipping was fast and it saved me alot of money.

[LeviT]

So how have these fixtures held up for folks over the last year or so? Have the endcaps turned brittle or the ballasts not lasted long? tia for any long term feed back!

[asim58]

May will be 2 years and my fixture still looks brand new with zero problems from it, sps, clam, various lps and softies all growing nicely in my tank.

[LeviT]

Thanks. Happen to have any FTS's you could share?