I Want to Upgrade My Lighting

[dbati]

Hey everyone,

I bought and set up my system back in March. The tank is cycled well, haven’t had any signs of new tank symptom as i religious test parameters and do weekly water changes.

That being said, I’ve had a difficult time with my very limited corals. I had a small hammer come and go. Some Clove Polyps disappear. I have a leather and a Kenya tree hanging on but not thriving. And even my GSP isn’t opening up much.

I’ve tested my parameters. I have no phosphate very very low nitrate. Calcium levels are good too. No ammonia either. The only thing I can think of is the lighting. I bought this aquarium in a garage sale and it was set up for a fresh water Fish only tank so the lighting, while LED, isn’t anything to write home about.

Do you have any recommendations for lights that will allow me to start dipping my toe into some combination of LPS and SPS corals?

For reference I have a 46 gallons bowed tank. The dimensions are 36” wide, 20” deep and from front to back it is 12” at the edges and 16” in the middle (due to the bow front)

Thank you in advance for your help and recommendations!

 

[blaxsun]

Let's start with what your budget is...

 

[ilikefish69]

Orphek or3 LED bars, I have two of them 1 blue 1 purple, they're $180 for 48" and cheaper as you get less length. They have an on/off switch - no spectrum control and no morning/evening settings.

I also do not have any coral in my tank. So I have 0 evidence as to whether they can grow coral. I will say - they put out some serious light, and look dang good doing it.

 

[dbati]

Let's start with what your budget is...

I would say $300-$500.

 

[dbati]

Orphek or3 LED bars, I have two of them 1 blue 1 purple, they're $180 for 48" and cheaper as you get less length. They have an on/off switch - no spectrum control and no morning/evening settings.

I also do not have any coral in my tank. So I have 0 evidence as to whether they can grow coral. I will say - they put out some serious light, and look dang good doing it.

Thanks but I’d like to hear from some tried and tested lights with corals. If someone says they’ve found success with these then I’ll definitely look into them.

 

[blaxsun]

EcoTech Radions are great - probably a pair of G5 XR15s would work well (and they're on sale, too). You could also look at a pair of AI Hydra 32s.

 

[ilikefish69]

Thanks but I’d like to hear from some tried and tested lights with corals. If someone says they’ve found success with these then I’ll definitely look into them.

Lol - I kind of assumed. Lights are EXPENSIVE so no matter what, you're gonna put putting out some dough. Make sure you get what you want, and do your research. There are some super knowledgeable people on here who are quick to advise if you ask the right questions.

 

[rtparty]

Besides a lighting upgrade, you need to get some phosphate and nitrate into the system. Corals will starve without them

 

[AXBROWN]

You can't go wrong with T5's in my opinion. They will put out the PAR and spectrum needed and will grow SPS no problem. Just make sure you get a high output T5 fixture, not any kind of fresh water or reptile one. And the more bulbs you can fit the better, maybe you can find a 4 bulb fixture that will fit over yours.

LEDs are great, but I've done the math and I swear it would take years of bulb replacement costs and monthly electricity paid before an LED is worth it, and some units don't last that long.

 

[dedragon]

Thanks but I’d like to hear from some tried and tested lights with corals. If someone says they’ve found success with these then I’ll definitely look into them.

Orphek leds are definitely tried and tested. 3 Or3 reef bars would work well, I would probably do 1 reef day, 1 blue plus and 1 sky blue. Reef bars like these will work well for your tank but you do have to consider mounting options. I like their tank mount personally. But there are also other reef bar options like quanta reef which has been getting a lot of attention lately.

Alternatively 2 smatfarms leds would work well, you may have light spill though unless mounted very low (idk i dont have these so idk how mounting works for them)

 

[Freenow54]

Hey everyone,

I bought and set up my system back in March. The tank is cycled well, haven’t had any signs of new tank symptom as i religious test parameters and do weekly water changes.

That being said, I’ve had a difficult time with my very limited corals. I had a small hammer come and go. Some Clove Polyps disappear. I have a leather and a Kenya tree hanging on but not thriving. And even my GSP isn’t opening up much.

I’ve tested my parameters. I have no phosphate very very low nitrate. Calcium levels are good too. No ammonia either. The only thing I can think of is the lighting. I bought this aquarium in a garage sale and it was set up for a fresh water Fish only tank so the lighting, while LED, isn’t anything to write home about.

Do you have any recommendations for lights that will allow me to start dipping my toe into some combination of LPS and SPS corals?

For reference I have a 46 gallons bowed tank. The dimensions are 36” wide, 20” deep and from front to back it is 12” at the edges and 16” in the middle (due to the bow front)

Thank you in advance for your help and recommendations!

First of all check your flow. Mine are very touchy to it. My leather will close right up. It doesn't take much I bump my power head when cleaning the tank, and sometimes forget to re aim it. They do not like big flow. As to lights, I like my Aquanest M8s. Have preprogramed schedules or you can do your own, and change the preprograming if you like. As an example I turned of the lights completely at night. They are wi fi, and downloading the app to your phone is a snap

 

[ZombieEngineer]

You didn't mention your Alkalinity. That is far more important to be in the right range than calcium.

Hydras and radions are super nice. Ecotech just released their gen 6 so the market will be flooded real soon with used g4s and g5s from people upgrading. Check your local reef club, Facebook, craigslist, and classifieds here. If you go radion, a 46 bow front, you could probably get away with a single XR15 which are going used for about $200 for a gen 4

 

[xcountryx]

Have you checked out the lights from @noopsyche

 

[MaxTremors]

You can't go wrong with T5's in my opinion. They will put out the PAR and spectrum needed and will grow SPS no problem. Just make sure you get a high output T5 fixture, not any kind of fresh water or reptile one. And the more bulbs you can fit the better, maybe you can find a 4 bulb fixture that will fit over yours.

LEDs are great, but I've done the math and I swear it would take years of bulb replacement costs and monthly electricity paid before an LED is worth it, and some units don't last that long.

Maybe if you’re buying the most expensive, top of the line LEDs (which then means for a fair comparison you’d also need to compare to high end T5 fixtures). There are plenty of great LED lights out there that are much cheaper in the long run than T5s or Halides (and this is to say nothing of the increased power consumption and potential need for cooling with T5s and Halides).

OP - considering your budget, I would recommend two Noopsyche K7 V3s, you’d be able to grow anything and would have even coverage for your tank. If you get them at MSRP, they’d be right around $500, if you catch one of their frequent sales, you could probably get them for $350-$400. Overall they are excellent lights, the only negative is that they aren’t app controlled, they use a little controller (which is somewhat unintuitive, but it’s not too bad once you figure it out).

 

[dbati]

You didn't mention your Alkalinity. That is far more important to be in the right range than calcium.

Hydras and radions are super nice. Ecotech just released their gen 6 so the market will be flooded real soon with used g4s and g5s from people upgrading. Check your local reef club, Facebook, craigslist, and classifieds here. If you go radion, a 46 bow front, you could probably get away with a single XR15 which are going used for about $200 for a gen 4

I forgot to mention that. It’s also been stable all throughout

 

[ZombieEngineer]

LEDs are great, but I've done the math and I swear it would take years of bulb replacement costs and monthly electricity paid before an LED is worth it, and some units don't last that long.

For a 4ft tank that requires 2 radions or 6 t5 bulbs SPS dominant PAR

Starting cost of T5 (dimmable)
$400 plus more for moonlighting if you like that. Minimal savings if getting used

Starting cost of Radions
$800 used or $1600 newest gen brand new.

Recurring costs.

T5
- $100-200 per year bulbs
- $200 electric

Radions
- $100-150 electric

Pays for itself in less than 2 years used or 4 years new with the most expensive lights they make brand new. These lights can last 10+ years. I have AI sols from 2012 that still work.

 

[xcountryx]

Maybe if you’re buying the most expensive, top of the line LEDs (which then means for a fair comparison you’d also need to compare to high end T5 fixtures). There are plenty of great LED lights out there that are much cheaper in the long run than T5s or Halides (and this is to say nothing of the increased power consumption and potential need for cooling with T5s and Halides).

OP - considering your budget, I would recommend two Noopsyche K7 V3s, you’d be able to grow anything and would have even coverage for your tank. If you get them at MSRP, they’d be right around $500, if you catch one of their frequent sales, you could probably get them for $350-$400. Overall they are excellent lights, the only negative is that they aren’t app controlled, they use a little controller (which is somewhat unintuitive, but it’s not too bad once you figure it out).

You would only need one controller for the 2 noopsyche light. Just an fyi for OP

 

[dbati]

You would only need one controller for the 2 noopsyche light. Just an fyi for OP

What does OP stand for?

 

[xcountryx]

Original poster (which is you)

 

[dbati]

Maybe if you’re buying the most expensive, top of the line LEDs (which then means for a fair comparison you’d also need to compare to high end T5 fixtures). There are plenty of great LED lights out there that are much cheaper in the long run than T5s or Halides (and this is to say nothing of the increased power consumption and potential need for cooling with T5s and Halides).

OP - considering your budget, I would recommend two Noopsyche K7 V3s, you’d be able to grow anything and would have even coverage for your tank. If you get them at MSRP, they’d be right around $500, if you catch one of their frequent sales, you could probably get them for $350-$400. Overall they are excellent lights, the only negative is that they aren’t app controlled, they use a little controller (which is somewhat unintuitive, but it’s not too bad once you figure it out).

I ended up ordering a couple of these and they were on sale like you mentioned. Thanks everyone for all the input!