Help me choose my lighting.

[Joiningsession]

Quick overview. Building first sps tank, 75g 48l x 18w x 21h and looking for best LED route to go for the money to deliver adequate lighting.

With the tank being only 18w not sure how much supplemental light I would need if any. Rockscape will be somewhat minimalistic with room behind the rocks and back glass so most sps corals will be mounted directly under the lights.

Light will also be in a canopy mounted 8-10in”

I have an XR15 g6 right now on nano I could transfer over if I could fit 2 more in the budget but don’t think I will go this route as the par from this single light seems to be subpar compared to the gen5

I am on the fence about going with the Reefbreeders photon V2 48”. I understand colors in corals can be determined by many different factors but not sure if Reefbreeders will help bring out the best in colors or would need supplementation as well. If I go this route I was debating at a later point to add or3 bars front and back.

Any other thoughts or input? Have a budget of roughly $800 for lighting.

Thanks

 

[TX_REEF]

Congrats on the new tank!!!

Lots of folks have great success with reefbreeders photon fixtures. Check these out as well:

Kessil AP9x. I use this on both my frag tank and siplay. SPS grow just fine in my display in the upper half of the tank, and the coloration is excellent. I'm also including a video showing the clear coloration advantage kessil fixtures offer. The shimmer is also unbeatable, except by halides or natural sunlight.

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amzn.to

Reefi LEDs. These are relatively new, but seem VERY well thought out and quite sleek/ affordable.

LED Lighting – ReeFi Lab

www.reefi-lab.com

 

[shakacuz]

two reefi uno pro 2.0's. if later down the road you'd like supplemental lighting you can buy LED bars of your choice. quantareef, orphek, aliexpress are your options. in that order.

personally, i only have experience with aqua illumination hydra32HD's and 2 reefbrite hko kits over a 40B. i plan on upgrading to 1-2 reefi's for a 2ft cube i'm planning.

 

[Joiningsession]

Congrats on the new tank!!!

Lots of folks have great success with reefbreeders photon fixtures. Check these out as well:

Kessil AP9x. I use this on both my frag tank and siplay. SPS grow just fine in my display in the upper half of the tank, and the coloration is excellent. I'm also including a video showing the clear coloration advantage kessil fixtures offer. The shimmer is also unbeatable, except by halides or natural sunlight.

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amzn.to

Reefi LEDs. These are relatively new, but seem VERY well thought out and quite sleek/ affordable.

LED Lighting – ReeFi Lab

www.reefi-lab.com

Thanks for the response and input. As stated below I guess I’ll look into the reefi lights.

two reefi uno pro 2.0's. if later down the road you'd like supplemental lighting you can buy LED bars of your choice. quantareef, orphek, aliexpress are your options. in that order.

personally, i only have experience with aqua illumination hydra32HD's and 2 reefbrite hko kits over a 40B. i plan on upgrading to 1-2 reefi's for a 2ft cube i'm planning.

again will look into these! With being only 2 lights on a 48l tank, think that would be enough for sps dominant? I’m slightly worried I would need a third bringing my budget back up again lol

 

[shakacuz]

Thanks for the response and input. As stated below I guess I’ll look into the reefi lights.

again will look into these! With being only 2 lights on a 48l tank, think that would be enough for sps dominant? I’m slightly worried I would need a third bringing my budget back up again lol

i believe they are very much capable of lighting 24” areas. the reefi’s also come with 90 and 120 degree lenses to help with spread

 

[vetteguy53081]

2-3 Orphek OR3 light bars (Sky Blue and Blue plus)

Noopsyche K7 pros

2-3 Ai Hydra 26 or 32hd

 

[ThaBeast]

I've had many of the name brand lights. I've been happiest with my GHL Mitras. Other light I would seriously consider is the Reefi

 

[twentyleagues]

I have 1 reefi on my 28x28x24 I put the 120 lens on it. I'll be looking at around 185 par averaged at my chosen intensity 116w when fully acclimated at about 10" depth. Im near 100 at the glass and 100 on the sand bed too. So 2 over a 75g would be plenty. With the 90 lens it would melt my lps at that level but would also only cover 24x24 according to the owner. Did I mention its capable of 285w?

How I did my par average was I picked 12 spots in the tank at the same level. I left the water flow on. I took 3 readings in all 12 spots on that plane. I then averaged those 3 numbers added them together and divided by 12. Yes in some spots it was around 130 and in the middle was 250 but over all it spreads the light/par well.

 

[TehBrainz]

I've had many of the name brand lights. I've been happiest with my GHL Mitras. Other light I would seriously consider is the Reefi

What has made you happiest about the Mitras? Ease of use? Coral response?

 

[ThaBeast]

What has made you happiest about the Mitras? Ease of use? Coral response?

First and foremost build quality! You will occasionally see really old Mitras still working for sale. You don't see that in other brands. Pretty much all decent brand leds can grow corals but many of them aren't built to last. One ti,e I had a bank of 9 Radion G4s on a big tank & the fans ran all the time. The racket those fans made drove me crazy. I have 6 Mitras 7204 over my current office tank and I never hear the fans running. The software and setup can be a bit more involved with the Mitras but has been rock solid for me. Mitras are also built to allow the end user to easily replace the light pucks