Lighting Advice

[BrianneG]

I am looking for some help with choosing some lighting for my tank that is not going to break the bank but will also help improve my coral growth and give me better PAR.

Tank Setup:
115 gallon Acrylic
60(l)x18(w)x24(d).
With a canopy on it.

Current Lighting:
Fluval Sea Marine 3.0 59w light strips. x2
Mounted to the underside of the canopy hood

I have a budget of $850, no more than $950 that i can use for new lighting.

What recommendations do you all have for me. I would still like to keep the canopy set up, so mountability the lights to the inside of the canopy is plus.
Currently i have sofities, and some SPS, but the SPS are not thriving as much as they should be. And I would like to move up to some LPS

 

[Catawba_Valley_Reef]

How tall is the canopy? Any lights with fans may be an issue if you have them mounted all the way up top.

Some good cheap options are VIPARSPECTRAS on Amazon or NICREWS. On a 5 ft tank you can probably get away with two of them.

 

[BrianneG]

How tall is the canopy? Any lights with fans may be an issue if you have them mounted all the way up top.

Some good cheap options are VIPARSPECTRAS on Amazon or NICREWS. On a 5 ft tank you can probably get away with two of them.

Thanks for your canopy is 7.75" but the top of the tank sits just a little over 5" from the canopy lid where my lights are currently mounted.

 

[Catawba_Valley_Reef]

Thanks for your canopy is 7.75" but the top of the tank sits just a little over 5" from the canopy lid where my lights are currently mounted.

One option is to use a hole saw and drill some holes on the top of the canopy where the light fans can send the air out.

Also, if you wanted lights with a little more controlability you could do two ai hydra 44s.

 

[BrianneG]

Thanks for your canopy is 7.75" but the top of the tank sits just a little over 5" from the canopy lid where my lights are currently mounted.

One option is to use a hole saw and drill some holes on the top of the canopy where the light fans can send the air out.

Also, if you wanted lights with a little more controlability you could do two ai hydra 44s.

i do have a fan cut into the canopy already that is temperature controlled. So it runs in there during the day already. Thanks for the suggestions i will look at those lights.

 

[Hooz]

Honestly, if you need more PAR, why not add another Fluval strip? AI Blades and Fluval strips are the best bet for mounting that close to the water (widest spread). Switching to AI Blades doesn't fit in your budget for a 5' tank. Adding another Fluval strip would work, though.

Typically Fluval lights actually have a nice blue band, but their owners have to crank the whites to get the total PAR numbers they're looking for. Adding another strip would let you max out all the "color" channels and turn down the whites a bit and still have more total PAR.

Just a thought.

 

[jermzisurmom]

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[Mr. Mojo Rising]

I always suggest nicrew as good quality budget lights that will grow anything you want. IMO a pair of 150 watt or 200 watt will be good for the tank, and shouldn't take much more than half your budget.

 

[jermzisurmom]