The light is very nice and ZooMed has several bulbs to choose from. I have a 55 gallon tank with a glass top to prevent fish from jumping out. How this thing sits you can not have a glass top and must have an open aquarium, because the hinged sides slip over the aquarium preventing a glass top from sitting correctly. If you have an open top aquarium I recommend it, but if you have a closed or glass top then no. You can mount it from the ceiling but that is a pain.
In the box you'll find the legs, which are adjustable for width. The lighting frame alsi has a built in channel with a cable receiver thingy.. basically, you can hang the light if you wish, and this receiver thingy is what lets you do that. Mine included some steel wire to do such, I'm not sure if they all do.
The best feature is that you can "swing" the lighting open, if you're using the legs. There's a hinge system built-in, so you can lift the light system up and reach into your tank or feed/maintain as necessary. It also allows easy access to the bulbs.
Overall, I was really impressed with the product design and the price I paid.
PROS:
* Great price/value
* Adjustable leg width
* Hinge system allows you to lift the light when necessary to reach the tank
* Can be used for aquarium or vivarium or plant systems
* Can be hung
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I can't comment on the light yet because it is brand new, but when this item arrived, one of the bracket screws was broken (the wide head snapped off in shipping). I was dreading packaging everything up and returning to Amazon, so I popped a quick email to Zoo Med and within a couple of hours I got a response and a replacement screw was mailed out.This may seem like a small thing, but I have had much less positive experiences with a number of other pet product vendors in the past, so I wanted to give them props!
This light will be used in a 28 gallon bowfront, heavily planted in a soil substrate with no CO2 but some Flourish Excel dosing. I'll comment on success in a couple of months :)
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This is the best light I have ever owned. It is easy to turn on and if you get the correct lights, it will support your live plants.The only problem is that the protector was hard to come off and CHIPPED. I had to remove it to install lights. OH, that reminds me, for all of you looking for good lights, IT DOES NOT INCLUDE LIGHTS! But I knew that before. It does need to make that clear though.
ONE THING I AM NOT SATISFIED WITH.
You would think with an original price of over $200 and a buying price of over $100, you would think it cam with A LONGER CORD. This thin is like 3 feet long >:(
If I am paying this much money, I WANT A LONGER CORD!
ALSO, that is just the product itself. The seller was a OK person to work with :3
5 stars for the seller!
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I have only had the light for a few days so I can not say anything about longevity of this product. Also, I purchased it for plant growth and I can not attest to this either but that would be inaccurate even in long term due to the differences in potential bulb selection.PROS:
DUAL SWITCHES!!! This is an amazing feature if you need to turn one off to control algae and is what steered me to go for this lamp over many others!
COST. Compared to other dual T% HO fixtures this one runs at about half the price and seems to be a great product.
QUALITY FEEL. Although I can not attest to longevity, the light feels very durable and is actually a metal casing and not plastic. Power cord is thick and sturdy.
REFLECTOR. Comes with a highly polished reflector already in the lamp. Also has the plastic window below the bulbs for protection from water and it slides in and out of place very easily.
CONS:
Short power cord, unless the outlet is right next to the tank you WILL need an extension cord. Also the power cord is on one side and the dual switches on the other. Every other light I have owned has had switches and the cord on one side, the back, so this is different for me but at least it has switches unlike the Hagen Glo system.
Also the overall size of this product seems big! The bulbs housing seems very large for what it needs to be. Also the mounting options including hanging, bolting to the side of the aquarium which makes it impossible to use a hood, or placing it directly onto the top of the glass top. I wish it had legs so you can elevate it and just place it on the top of the hood. I plan on having a custom sheet of glass cut to allow for the light to be bolted onto the tank.
CONCLUSION:
Great light for a great price! The difference in light reflected into my aquarium is huge compared to the standard T8 fixture. The dual switches is an amazing option to have and the quality feels good and sturdy. I cant say for sure but if you wanted to replace the ballast in the light it looks like there is enough room to expand to a 3 or 4 light fixture. Would buy again and recommend to others.
UPDATE 1 year later
It seems the you get what you pay for comes to mind again. It was always difficult to get bulbs in and out because the ballast is cheap but within a year one of them is broken to the point you can not get a bulb to light up and the second one is very loose and temperamental. The only thing this fixture has over many other ones is the dual switches. The price is cheap but it does not come with bulbs which at 10-20 a piece would put you at a 70-90 buck fixture, why not spend an extra 20 bucks and get a way better fixture with bulbs included. Just ordered an aquaticlife dual bulb fixture and the zoomed will be a thing of the past
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