Light that can be used for Freshwater and Saltwater

[TacticalReef]

I recently purchased an Innovative Marine Encore 20 gallon system and planned on doing one side salt and the other side fresh to provide some good contrast and use as a talking point to help get friends into the hobby be it saltwater or freshwater.

I want to keep the setups as uniform as possible for aesthetic reasons so I am interested in lighting recommendations people may have.

I know the AI Prime comes in a fresh and salt option as well as Kessil's A160 has an option for freshwater as well. Out of those two I would probably go with the AI Primes simply based on the ease of use and wireless control capabilities.

If anyone has any suggestions for lighting please let me know! I look forward to bringing this build to R2R once everything comes in.

 

[xxkenny90xx]

Any light can be fresh or saltwater. It only gets tricky if your doing plants or corals. Primes do great either way.

Is this a tank with a divider in the middle? Will it be ok that they'll be the same temp? How will you keep salt creep from getting into the fresh side?

 

[oreo54]

Any light can be fresh or saltwater. It only gets tricky if your doing plants or corals. Primes do great either way.

Is this a tank with a divider in the middle? Will it be ok that they'll be the same temp? How will you keep salt creep from getting into the fresh side?

20 Nuvo Concept Encore PRO AIO Aquarium Bundle

Re-imagine your aquarium experience with the Encore! The Nuvo Concept Encore sets aside the typical single theme aquarium setup and invites you to imagine new creative possibilities. With two individual aquariums built into one, you have the ability to create two totally separate environments...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

FW can take some salt and some prefer it. Fish like Guppies and Mollies (I believe) can live in both.
Plants are a different story.

 

[oreo54]

I recently purchased an Innovative Marine Encore 20 gallon system and planned on doing one side salt and the other side fresh to provide some good contrast and use as a talking point to help get friends into the hobby be it saltwater or freshwater.

I want to keep the setups as uniform as possible for aesthetic reasons so I am interested in lighting recommendations people may have.

I know the AI Prime comes in a fresh and salt option as well as Kessil's A160 has an option for freshwater as well. Out of those two I would probably go with the AI Primes simply based on the ease of use and wireless control capabilities.

If anyone has any suggestions for lighting please let me know! I look forward to bringing this build to R2R once everything comes in.

Off hand and short of building ones own lights the AI primes are fine.
Simple Chinese black boxes work ok considering they usually have one "white" channel and one blue and are dimmable down to about 10% or so.. depending on driver/quality.
So with those you may not really go low enough on the fw side without raising and removing lenses..

Cost is quite lower though.

There are probably 1/2 doz asst LEDs one could use..

S series WRGB Full Spectrum Planted Aquarium Light with Built-in Timer

HIRO Aquatics S series Full Spectrum Aquarium WGRB Light features a square light plate with soft board included, a built-in cooling fan and a built-in timer. WGRB provides four kinds of light- white light, red light, green light and blue light, covering almost all the spectrum plants needed for...

www.hiroaquatics.com

Getting a "matched set "is a bit of a search though.
Hiro, Dennerle, Higpro, Lominie, Zetlight, Halo, Fluval Nano ect ect..
all depends on what power you need on each side .

 

[jda]

I used to use 10k and 14k bulbs over my planted tanks and when I bred discus, rams and other soft-water fish and had Madagascar laces grow like crazy. I liked the look better and there is a lot of green, red, yellow and IR in a 10k or 14k T5 or MH bulb. Not sure how a bluer look would work with LEDs where most forsake the higher nm spectrum - you can use a good amount of blue, but don't turn down the other channels. I would think that most LEDs run all channels at the same percentage would be fine. If is Ok if some light bleeds. I use 6500k bulbs over my fuges and in my frag tanks and Poseidon has not come to get all of my fish and corals.