Eshopps M180- Looking for Lighting Recommendations

[Rocco's Reef]

Hi everyone,

I am planning on getting the Eshopps Mariner M180 which is 72Lx26Wx22H. Looking to have softies/LPS at the start. I was originally thinking of going with 4 Radion XR15s or maybe two Kessil AP9X lights. I actually really like the look and app features for the Illumagic x4 but not sure about them or if they would be worth the money, maybe the ease of the app would make them worth it? And there is the Reefi Uno 2.1 which seems like a lot of people like here on the forum.

Anyway, I am kind of torn between all of them as they all have something I like about them, what are some swaying factors that could help me in making a decision, especially for this size of a tank?

Thanks!

 

[lapin]

I would choose the one that is the easiest to use.
Don’t get something that is not your first choice. You don’t need buyers remorse.

 

[painter1982]

My two kessil a360xe are comparable to one apx9 from what I read. They are in same class as xr15. These are on my 60g cube. 24x24x24. I have lps at the bottom 1/3 and sps at the top. Imo you would need 3 apx9. If I was doing a 180 I would use 3 xr30’s. But I don’t like to run at 100%. Running with just softies wouldn’t need as much light but if you ever wanted sps you wouldn’t need to buy new lights.

 

[blueoverbrown]

I’m planning on getting the same tank, probably mid 2026, most likely with 3x Uno 2.1s. I see you’re in Florida, the guy at living reef Orlando talked me out of going with a large innovative marine and showed me that beast of a tank.

 

[Rocco's Reef]

I’m planning on getting the same tank, probably mid 2026, most likely with 3x Uno 2.1s. I see you’re in Florida, the guy at living reef Orlando talked me out of going with a large innovative marine and showed me that beast of a tank.

Yep! As a matter of fact, I went there yesterday to look at the M180 they have on the show floor. Needless to say, I was impressed and definitely going to be ordering this bad boy soon! Just trying to get a decision on lights made. I also went to World Wide Corals yesterday to see some X4s in person and I really liked the look of them compared to the radions. I might just have to bite the bullet and go with them.

 

[blueoverbrown]

I’m planning on getting the same tank, probably mid 2026, most likely with 3x Uno 2.1s. I see you’re in Florida, the guy at living reef Orlando talked me out of going with a large innovative marine and showed me that beast of a tank.

Yep! As a matter of fact, I went there yesterday to look at the M180 they have on the show floor. Needless to say, I was impressed and definitely going to be ordering this bad boy soon! Just trying to get a decision on lights made. I also went to World Wide Corals yesterday to see some X4s in person and I really liked the look of them compared to the radions. I might just have to bite the bullet and go with them.

I saw saltwateraquarium.com is running a huge sale on that tank right now. And it looks like they won't even charge sales tax. It was so tempting, I just won't have the space ready for a while.

 

[Rocco's Reef]

I saw saltwateraquarium.com is running a huge sale on that tank right now. And it looks like they won't even charge sales tax. It was so tempting, I just won't have the space ready for a while.

I know! The only reason I haven't ordered it yet is because I want to make sure black friday wont bring any "better" sales for the tank... Probably not, but it would suck to order it and then it go on sale even more.

 

[oakcityreefer]

I just bought the Mariner M180 from SWA. I got the 20% off but I paid sales tax. I went with (3) Radion XR30 G6 Pros since they were on sale too. Im new to Saltwater and Reefing so I just went with lights I knew were good even though they are extremely high on cost. I was looking at the Illumagic X4 before the Radions went on sale.