Is there a such thing as too much light for soft Coral/ lps tank? I had a 36 in 4 bulb T5 fixture roughly 156 Watts on a 20 gallon long tank mainly because I did not like any of the 30-inch fixtures and knowing that I was going to upgrade to a 40-gallon breeder. My question is there a such thing as too much light? My local fish store seemed to think that was way too much light?
How much light is too much
- Thread starter Marine430
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I never had a problem! The reason why the whole discussion came up was because I was thinking of switching to an LED fixture. the fixture I was thinking was 140 Watts the fixture he was thinking I should go with 100 Watts. If you need more specifics on the light I'm looking at has Blue, Royal Blue, Cool White CREE XT-L LEDs, and UV-Semi LEDs distributed through 2 channels. 120-degree optics.
The 100w has 40 leds
The 140w has 52 leds
The 100w has 40 leds
The 140w has 52 leds
glb
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I think it's much easier to overdo it with LEDS. T-5's are plug and play while LED's are usually not used at 100%. Plus they're a more targeted light. I changed from CF to LED's on my nano and never could get the LED's quite right. For my new 40g I'm going with T-5's.
If there's not much difference in price, I always go for the bigger, higher wattage. I always hate to be penny foolish, but like to be dollar wise. After 2 yrs, I'm upgrading to T-5's from Current Orbits, but I'll be running both. LEDs are much cheaper to run, T-5's take the guess work out, and will allow the Acros to grow well
If your thoughts are to stay with the softies, I would still go for the 140 watt. But, after 2 yrs and a 180, I'm thinking my next tank would be a 400 . I knew I should have just flooded the basement. My new fixture should be here some time this coming week. The best thing about T-5's is there's no guess work. Just plug them in, set the timer, and watch them grow. Coral placement becomes more of a issue with MH and T-5's. LEDs are the cheapest more cost effective solution at any wattage, just not strong enough to grow the Acros. My Current Orbits would be fine with the easy corals, softies, but growing Acros seems to really complete a reef tank, I could care less about the fish.
Hope this helps in your decision issue!
I actually went with 140 watt fixture. I have t5 now but it is on its last leg. I already replace the bulbs the fan the feet wound up buying a ballast for it before something like that went on it. The fixture I have it's been discontinued a long time ago so finding Parts is almost impossible. I have my lights on two sets of timers. My fan is on a timer. My Moonlight is on a timer. And I have a stunner LED strip that I just have plugged in from time to time for effect. So I can essentially clean up a hole power strip with timers get rid of all the wires around my light and my tank. And hopefully after all this is said and done it works good enough for my Coral. At the end of the day it's not what I want it's what my Coral needs!
And that's why I'm going with ATI fixture, most vendors use them for the dependability, growth, and the overall results. I'm sure you will have success with this led with the softies. Good Luck
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