Budget LED Bar Lighting for Softies and LPS

[nickynack338]

TLDR; What is an LED light bar that measures =<4.5'' in width and ~29'' in length that can support low/medium light corals in a 29gal Aqueon tank.

Hi everyone! I'm new to the hobby and new to the forum, though I have read hundreds of R2R threads in the past month and a half. I'm currently trying to set up by 29gal Aqueon tank with affordable LED lighting. I have a specific hood that has a single glass panel that's about 29''x4.5'' Link. I understand this hood greatly limits the kinds of LED lights we can use on our tank, but we cannot use an open top or a mesh top because of curious cats in the household. Also, the other glass lid options are just not good looking to us. Also, we unfortunately purchased a Fluval Aquasky (I know, a mistake) before realizing it's not capable of supporting any corals.

Would the Aquasky, paired with a Fluval Marine 3.0 be enough for medium to low light corals? (They both might be able to fit over the glass panel) We hope to grow softies and some LPS. If not, what are some LED lighting options that would be adequate and can sit directly on top of the hood within the space (about 4.5''x29'')?

I've done a lot of research and have come across the Current Orbit and other lights, but those also don't seem to have the PAR values needed for low/medium light. I'm hoping you reef-pros might have some options up your sleeve I have encountered yet. Thanks for your help in advance!

 

[AutumnReefs]

Reef brite lumilite pro or orphek strips might work.

 

[slojim]

So i set up my tank to be fowlr, with the plan to transition to a reef eventually. I'll attach some shots of simple soft corals that i acquired as hitchhikers. Some were invisible on the new rock and took a few weeks to be noticeable. You can see gsp thriving, some random paly that needs to be trimmed, some mushroom polyps that keep splitting and have dropped to the floor. I had a nice zoa that thrived and waned and thrived and waned and disappeared. The torch is not growing, it's been the same for months. There is a new frogspawn i took off someone who was pruning. So far, it is looking good and even added some heads. The torch and frog spawn are only about 6" deep, but the floor is 30" deep.

 

[dedragon]

+1 orphek or3, cheapest for a good brand led full spectrum fixture

 

[slojim]

So what's giving the light? Don't tell anyone, I'll get flamed. But it's 2 60w beamswork light bars i bought as stopgaps. 1 watt emiitters. The spectrum may be encouraging some cyano, but it's manageable. If you pick low light specimens, the light you have will get you started. Save some upgrades for next year

 

[BiggestE222]

Amazon black box if I were looking for cheap shortlisting Chinese lights.

 

[oreo54]

So below is tank size​

You have a 4 1/2 " window​

Leds need to be close if not on top of that window
So 120's are best. At 90 degrees you can pump a lot of light in with of course upper tank err shading.
At 90 every inch down is a 2" circle
Full tank coverage begins 6" down.
2 bars on the edge beings it to 5" down.
So w that understanding it is what you may want to look for
120's will give SIG more light overall in the top part of the tank. Finding those powerful enough for the substrate is a challenge though .
The beamswork brand mentioned above have 30" strip lights that will push 50 par at 18" light to substrate.
5.25" wide.
Yea listed as " freshwater" but 1) may find " bluer" and 2) it's really cool for fw
More like 10000-12000k.
1/2 watt emitters.
Anyways more of an example.


So out of the box thinking .
Matches your physical parameters, low light plus corals. May not match your look but plenty of blue in the 10000k whites.


Sorry no practical experience with this but see no science that would contradict it. Peer pressure maybe.

Item Dimensions​

• Length​

  30.625 IN

• Height​

  19 IN

• Width​

  13.25 IN
• 
  

 

[oreo54]

That said.. you can get 30" bars on ebay..
$109 w/ bar and power supply.
Personally they gouge you on the ps..
Can probably find others

Aquarium LED Light Bar 50/50 10000K White/ Actinic Blue ReefBar Pro 3W Bridgelux | eBay

The ReefBar Pro is our Newest addition to affordable reef and freshwater LED Lighting! SUNSETTER NOW AVAILABLE - This will run both channels of your ReefBar Pro with Sunset, Sunrise, thunderstorms, moonlight, and everything else you can think of.

www.ebay.com

Same seller ..more "colors". Oddly cheaper too

Aquarium LED Light Bar 30" ReefBar Pro Ultra Actinic Blue 30 x 3W Bridgelux 20 g | eBay

SUNSETTER NOW AVAILABLE - This will run both channels of your ReefBar Pro with Sunset, Sunrise, thunderstorms, moonlight, and everything else you can think of. The ReefBar Pro is our Newest addition to affordable reef and freshwater LED Lighting!

www.ebay.com

Better deal..One catch between the 2.. likelihood of disco at your close mounting height w/ the more multi-colored bar.

Idea about the geometry of these..
diagram gives the light pattern of either 2 90 degree bars or one centered.
roughly to scale and assuming tight to top well you get the picture.
you can see what I meant about shading. Not so much for corals but if you have fish they go dull in the dead zones.

 

[nickynack338]

Thank you all for the help. And thank you oreo, for the detailed advice! That has really helped me to think about the aquarium lighting in a more thorough way.

Could you tell me what you mean by "they gouge you on the ps" though? I'm not sure what 'ps' stands for.

 

[Islandvib3s]

TLDR; What is an LED light bar that measures =<4.5'' in width and ~29'' in length that can support low/medium light corals in a 29gal Aqueon tank.

Hi everyone! I'm new to the hobby and new to the forum, though I have read hundreds of R2R threads in the past month and a half. I'm currently trying to set up by 29gal Aqueon tank with affordable LED lighting. I have a specific hood that has a single glass panel that's about 29''x4.5'' Link. I understand this hood greatly limits the kinds of LED lights we can use on our tank, but we cannot use an open top or a mesh top because of curious cats in the household. Also, the other glass lid options are just not good looking to us. Also, we unfortunately purchased a Fluval Aquasky (I know, a mistake) before realizing it's not capable of supporting any corals.

Would the Aquasky, paired with a Fluval Marine 3.0 be enough for medium to low light corals? (They both might be able to fit over the glass panel) We hope to grow softies and some LPS. If not, what are some LED lighting options that would be adequate and can sit directly on top of the hood within the space (about 4.5''x29'')?

I've done a lot of research and have come across the Current Orbit and other lights, but those also don't seem to have the PAR values needed for low/medium light. I'm hoping you reef-pros might have some options up your sleeve I have encountered yet. Thanks for your help in advance!

. Worked great on my 20g tall.

 

[oreo54]

Thank you all for the help. And thank you oreo, for the detailed advice! That has really helped me to think about the aquarium lighting in a more thorough way.

Could you tell me what you mean by "they gouge you on the ps" though? I'm not sure what 'ps' stands for.

Power supply. Seemed more expensive than it should be.

 

[Jekyl]

Would making an egg crate top with some weight on it work? Would open up more options for lighting and increase gas exchange.

 

[SteveMM62Reef]

Check out 21ledusa.

 

[nickynack338]

I did end up going with 21ledusa Reebar Pro! It's been working out fantastically with some color-controll support from a Fluval Marine.

 

[JoJosReef]

I did end up going with 21ledusa Reebar Pro! It's been working out fantastically with some color-controll support from a Fluval Marine.

Can you explain "color control support from a Fluval Marine"? Do you mean you are running a Marine 3.0 next to a Reefbar? Or are you controlling the Reefbar using a Fluval controller?

I am running a Marine 3.0 on an Evo 13.5g and looking at 21ledusa to replace or supplement. Thanks!