Lighting a 200 gal Tank

[davefromwva]

Hey everyone. Just ordered an innovative marine 200 gallon int. tank and stand. Working on a list of equipment and I'm having trouble with the lighting needs.

I'm pretty confident I want to go with the EcoTech Radion G6 Pro's from BRS, as they will be paired to my apex system. They will be mounted 8" above the tank using the rail mount system from EchoTech. However, I'm finding contradicting information as to how many I will need for my tank. The dimensions are 70.9" long, 30" wide, and 21.7" deep. This tank will be a highly mixed tank with softies, lps, and sps. Any advice on the number of lights I need is greatly appreciated.

 

[oreo54]

Geometrically speaking . One for every 15x15 area ..So 8 to 10 of the 15's
800 to 1000w at full.
$4200 to $5300 plus ..

Or not ..

AI says ..

Reference and curiosity only, no recommendations....
3 xr30's sideways could be a start..

 

[exnisstech]

IMO radions are over hyped and over priced. Mobius isn't all that either. I'm one of the lucky ones that Mobius randomly changes date and time so lights come in in the middle of the night. For that reason my gen4 XR15s are on the shelf. I can't make any recommendation because I know nothing about apex and I'm not sure what the advantage to having it control lighting is? Lights are something I hardly ever change once they're set up.

 

[Featherweight]

If you are going w xr 30, id orient them opposite usual to cover the 30" depth. Then run one xr30 per 18 to 24".
So you probably want 4 or 5. Im probably running 4over my 60" length tank. Id consider also adding a bar or 2 on either side for color blending and getting rid of slight shadowing that is inevitable with spot type lights.

 

[Shirak]

I would suggest Reefi the new Uno. Much better and cheaper than Radion. Daniel will help you design the number and position of the lights and has any mounting hardware you would need.

 

[JeremyKnight]

I have 3 smatfarm lights over a 210. They are at 50% ramp max throughout the day.

 

[rtparty]

3 XR30s will cover that tank

I would look at saving thousands of dollars and getting the Nicrew Gen 2. 6 of the 150 would be more than enough and way better than 3 Radions. The Nicrew 200 would also be a great choice and 3 of them will cover the tank without issue. They use all Ecotech mounting gear which is nice. They will even come with the slides so just buying some rail is all you need.

 

[Hooz]

It all depends on what you plan to keep. On paper, 3x XR30s (mounted perpendicular to the length of the tank) would get you decent coverage and PAR. I'd argue that, if you really want to do Radions, I'd opt for 6x XR15s in a grid over 3x XR30s. I don't care what sort of coverage they say on paper, the 30" width of the tank is going to be a stretch (with reasonable intensity) for XR30s. Two XR15s with a bit of space in between gives the same total power, and MUCH better coverage.

You could also do a row of 3x XR15s with some sort of LED strips (Blades, Quantas, Orpheks, etc) running along front and back to fill things in.

All that being said... All of the Radions are out of stock currently, and the new AI Hydra Edge is supposed to be released any day now, so I question whether or not Radions are even going to be a thing any more. The new Hydras might be the "Gen 7 Radion" the way they seem to be consolidating product lines.