Best Lights For Tank Setup???

eyyeye · Mar 9, 2026

Hello everyone. I'm a PhD student who is studying coral fragments from a material science point of view. My plan is to get a lot of Platygyra and Mystic Sunset Montipora fragments (expensive=precious samples). From some research Platygyra requires ~100-150 PAR and the Montipora ~250-450 PAR, so not a crazy discrepancy. I'm trying to plan the systems out (4 tanks, 30x12x12) and am kind of stuck on the lighting. I've looked at the NICREW Gen 2 (150W), but I think it might be an overkill. I've also looked at the Orbit Marine R24, but I think it might not have full coverage. Any suggestions would be much appreciated. Thank y'all so much in advance.

TX_REEF · Mar 10, 2026

the nicrew can be overkill, but you can also just tune the intensity down.

Would you have the 3 tanks adjacent to each other and use a single light fixture, or are you gonna have them separate and one fixture on each?

eyyeye · Mar 10, 2026

I was planning on having a light per tank, but they would be adjacent to each other. Do you think there would be enough light coverage/spread if I just have one light fixture or 2 b/c I'll have 4 tanks?