20 gal cube - Lighting advise

Mikepaul75 · Mar 15, 2020

Have a 3 month old 20 gal nano JBJ Cubey. Looking to upgrade theighting as I plan to add more corals. Looking at the AI Prime and Kessell Tuna Blue. Anyone have experience with the 2? Cuurently housins, ACAN's, Elegance, Zoa's, BTA, Duncan, Ricordia, Finger leather, GSP, Candy Cane Coral, Torch's, Montipora, Kenya Tree, Oyster, Shrimp, Oscellaris, CBB, and Firefish. Thanks,

Spare time · Mar 15, 2020

Prime 16HD is more powerful. I prefer the red sea reef led 50 though. Maybe the noopsych would work well.

vessxpress1 · Mar 15, 2020

I just started up my 20 gal JBJ frag tank today. I have a Kessil A160 over it at 9 inches off the water with the A arm bracket. My tank is cycling but the light looks great. The usable tank space is 14-1/2 by 23-3/4" across the front. At this height I'm getting a lot of lost light out into the room so I may still lower it. I have it on a kessil X controller and so far I'm not a fan of the controller. I set up a modified light schedule for it and try to get it to run it and it runs something else. I thought it'd be easy to figure out but you get so far with it and then it stops making sense. I'm using a tuna blue preset that is working but it's not following the adjustments I made so I don't know what to do. Other than that, the light is great.

Mikepaul75 · Mar 15, 2020

vessxpress1 said:
I just started up my 20 gal JBJ frag tank today. I have a Kessil A160 over it at 9 inches off the water with the A arm bracket. My tank is cycling but the light looks great. The usable tank space is 14-1/2 by 23-3/4" across the front. At this height I'm getting a lot of lost light out into the room so I may still lower it. I have it on a kessil X controller and so far I'm not a fan of the controller. I set up a modified light schedule for it and try to get it to run it and it runs something else. I thought it'd be easy to figure out but you get so far with it and then it stops making sense. I'm using a tuna blue preset that is working but it's not following the adjustments I made so I don't know what to do. Other than that, the light is great.

Thank you for all the details.

Thjhiggins · May 29, 2023

how can you add a bit more blue lighting to a 20g cubey without removing the lid?

Reef Psychology · May 30, 2023

Looking at your tank and the aquascape, I’m not sure the 16HD or A160 (probably the two most suitable) will give you good coverage. They have enough spread, but are point sources so all the nook and crannies won’t get much light. Thats why people stagger their rock work up like steps so everything gets some light.

A Radion XR15 G6 will likely be the best option because of its very good coverage and flat PAR. It’s expensive though. So, second best is the 16HD paired with the third party diffuser to help with hot spots and the crazy disco effects it has.