Originally Posted by
meowzer
http:///forum/post/3108661
I have the satellite dual....I have successfully kept frogspawn, zoas, kenya tree, green ricordia, red mushrooms, gorgonians, xenia and pipe organ corals.
I second that to the T lol. I would go for that light if you are serious about LPS and even if you want to dip into SPS.
If you just like fish and softies, then go for the Power compact light.
I would spend extra money now though because LPS is much more beautiful.
In case you didn't know:
LPS stands for Long polyp stony
SPS stands for small polyp stony
and softy means that the coral has no calciferous skeletal structure.
So LPS is the one with a skeleton that has big polyps (mouths) and SPS is the hard one with tiny mouths.
A generalization is that softies require little light, LPS requires a moderate amount of light, and SPS require a lot of light.
Now, this isn't ALWAYS true, but it is a fairly nice generalization. For example, a sun coral is an LPS...but that is nonphotosynthetic and doesn't need light really.
Remember that even though a power compact may seem just as bright, it isn't necessarily. It is all about the wavelengths ability to penetrate.
I wish you the best of luck and I hope that I have helped or at least reviewed some things with you