Help making a decision.

[smellslikefish]

Ahoy maties! I want to upgrade my lighting. I cant decide between the Current Sundial with the built in timers and ind. reflectors or the Nova Extreme Pro w/ ind. reflectors but w/o built in timers. Sundial has 216watts while the Pro has 324watts. The Pro is also $40 more than the sundial.
I like the idea of the built in timers because I could get rid of half of my cord mess behind my tank. But I also think I could keep anything under the pro.
Which would you choose?

 

[mojo46825]

I would go with the Nova extreme pro. The Light output will be far better than the sundail. You will have more option later on. Just my two cents.

 

[davmul]

I just got the 48'' sundial. I am too new at this to comment on coral growth but I like the light. The best part of this light is that it is easy, the built in timers and moonlights are great. I also looked at the pro and made the decision primarily based upon cost. To make a fair comparisson, I added the price of 3 timers and moonlights to the cost of the pro. I am a little nervous about the reduced light output. I have a 55g tank 18'' deep.

 

[tfolke1]

I upgraded to the Nova Pro about a month ago and I'm very happy with it. My Zoa's open up quite a bit more then with my old POS powercompacts. I also got more coraline algea growth in the first week than in the previous 3 months. One of the plain red mushrooms grew blue spots. I also did not get the large increase in evaporation that I expected.

I do miss the moonlights.

 

[fishfreak1242]

+1 for the nova pro

 

[smellslikefish]

Darn, I wish the pro had moonlights and timers like the sundial. Does anyone have a suggestion for a different unit all together?

 

[fishfreak1242]

I am working on building my own retrofit fixture with metal halides and t-5s. So far it has worked out pretty well. You could try it out too, but it might end up being a little more expensive but worth it in the end. You could get a Outer Orbit fixture. They have moonlights and it think that they have timers too.

 

[aquaguy24]

get the nova pro. u can always add moonlights...outer orbits come with free timers but they are not built in..correct me if im wrong which i usually am..

..

 

[jrthomas40]

outer orbit comes with timer but it has no atinic...i have the 36" 2x150w fixture on my frag tank