Current USA Orbit Marine Vs Orbit Marine Pro

[Aldo Garcia]

I will be setting up a 40 Gal. Breeder with LR and some sps&Lps and a few fish.

I was wondering if anyone could tell me if there is a big difference in these 2 lights besides the price.


Thanks in Advance.

 

[Reef6789]

Hi I recently went through looking for affordable reef lighting. I would say the current orbit pro would be your best bet as the current orbit is meant for soft corals for the most part. I highly recommend any kessil light as they are very high quality for a great price. The kessil 160 is a very nice light that could work on your tank. I have the kessil a 80 on my ten gallon mixed reef and everything is going great. Let us know what you decide.
Happy Reef Keeping!!!!

 

[DaveK]

The fixtures your looking at are very limited. Total light output from the Orbit Marine is about 36 w, and the Orbit Marine Pro is about 52 watts. It would be asking a lot of either of these lights to grow SPS corals under them. As a note, the Current Marine Pro in the 36 to 48 inch length doesn't seem to be very available. Shop carefully.

You also have another issue with LED strip lighting. Like other LED lighting it wants to direct the light straight down. Viewed from the end of the tank this is sort of an A pattern. This results in an evenly lit bottom but with a the top having a bright center band and dim areas to the front an back.

To get around this, you usually need to get dual fixtures. This will give you better light. Yes, it also makes it cost twice as much.

This gets us into the whole area of LED lighting. Its a trade off between the cost, amount of light produced, features and control ability, along with customer support and replacement parts.

My personal choice for LED lighting for a 40 breeder would likely be two AI Prime fixtures, but there are a lot of other good LED fixtures out there.