I'm looking at a redneck solution to weak lighting.

[HawkeyeDJ]

Don't get caught up on the color of the lights. It's not what makes the difference.

My algae doesn't grow under the blues spectrum. When I turn the whites on, it goes nuts.

I'm thinking now it is just too low wattage (42 watts).

I guess I'm just going to have bite the bullet and get something in the 90-100 watt range. $150-200 range.

 

[oreo54]

My algae doesn't grow under the blues spectrum. When I turn the whites on, it goes nuts.

I'm thinking now it is just too low wattage (42 watts).

I guess I'm just going to have bite the bullet and get something in the 90-100 watt range. $150-200 range.

Your going to have a hard time finding a " full function" led in that price range
https://reefbreeders.com/shop/photon-16-v2/.Why not just add to what you have?
Slightly under 1/2 your current wattage is " not blue" light

Adding an 18" actinic bar like this
https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/actinic-blue-lumi-lite-pro-led-strip-light-reef-brite.html.would improve your output 2 ways. Directly adding more photons and also allowing more white output from your orig light.
Will of course depend on your preferred look
Algae isn't always spectrum dependent. Could be other causes as to why you can't increase par

Problem w/ the $100 bar ( need to put it in a timer or buy a secondary controller) is it doesn't really come with a mount per se.

That 18" bar may only be like 18 watts.
Their writeups aren't always revealing.

Total wattage (your light plus bar) is still below what most would like to see.

There are some relatively inexpensive high power leds out there.
Brands off the beaten path so to speak.
Plenty of info with a search here.


Amazon product ASIN B08VWRJXS9
Size is a bit err odd for your tank though.
Good thing is the diode choices in 4 out of 6 are "blue".
One warm white channel, one green.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/smat-farms-led-from-amazon.843957/

.

 

[Tavero]

Adding an 18" actinic bar like this

If he us going for a band aid solution anyway why not fully embrace DIY. My light is an array of royal blue led, uv and white. All led only cost 30€, and would have supplied 120w of light but i dimmed it down to 45W. Still too bright to make a picture

 

[ikaros70]

On a 29g cube like you have, a single Viparspectra led fixture will be plenty.
They are in the $150 range and out of the black boxes I tried, IMO.. have the best color spectrum.
You will need a par meter, leds are strong and will need to be adjusted accordingly.

 

[noopsyche Verified Sponsor]

it's recommend one K7 PRO III or mini

 

[Roli's Reef Ranch]

I've been there as well. I was reefing on a budget for years. I started with 1 mushroom and a little GSP under 1 T8 light in a 20 gallon. Close to the top, they survived.

I then swapped to a cheap, standard output, dual-lamp T5 when I switched my 29g from fresh to salt. I could then get some slow growth out of these corals, plus yellow parazoanthus and cactus pavona. Absolutely no coralline algae though.

I inherited a second dual-T5 light and after adding it I could grow cap monti and euphyllia. I eventually added a clip-on marineland LED for extra power and some blue light.

Then I went to a 55g with an Orbit Pro light. It worked great for 2 years for LPS and SPS but heat was the Achilles heel (at least in early models) and I saw this happen with multiple units.

Now I have a 90 gallon with 4-lamp HO T5 lamps. Plus I still use those blue LED clip-on LEDs from Marineland. This setup has been very good to me with any type of coral. A light is often the priciest piece of equipment, but it's also the best investment for coral growth!

dang right. SPS means Spectrum Par and Spread.... :cool:

 

[Miami Reef]

I use 2x 8 bulb T5 fixtures for my 96” tank (260 gallon)

 

[HomebroodExotics]

Just buy some nicrew or smatfarm leds on Amazon and chill. You overthinking this stuff.

 

[smartin]

I am running 2 ViparSpecta 165W units on my 75G. The units are 16"x8.5" each so one would fit nicely over your tank. I have to run them at 10% blue and 1% white to keep from burning corals in the top half of the tank. They would be overkill but are low priced and have some basic functionality like a built in timer and the ability to adjust blue and white spectrum.

 

[noopsyche Verified Sponsor]

Par value: