Lighting for 55G Reefer

[mjszos]

Hey all!

It's the most wonderful time of the year - BRS discount season... I am looking to purchase a light for my new tank, and would love some first hand opinions. On the fence between a couple of lights, and would love to hear your thoughts.

Tank; Red Sea Reefer 250.
36Lx21Hx20W

My thoughts on lighting options... I would prefer a single fixture. Tank will most likely be a euphyllia dominant with mushrooms. But I do want the option to throw SPS in there eventually.

-Kessil AP9X
-Radion XR30 G6 Pro
-ReefBreeders Photon 32 V2 Pro

Here are where my concerns are with each light:

Kessil: I am worried about it being a 2 puck light and having hotspots near the middle with shadows on the sides... In theory this would be the best next to the Photon as it's 2 lights.
XR30: Worried about shadows on the side. Additionally I'd likely go with the blues, which I have read if you want to crank up the whites you may be losing PAR value as you tradeoff blues. Given the dimensions of my tank, would this ever really be a concern?
Photon 32: I know next to nothing about this lights history aside from it's appealing form factor. Would be really interested in seeing some opinions on it.

Cheers all!

 

[52728299]

With your radion concerns, I would probably suggest 2 xr15 lights instead of one xr30. Imo should give you better overall coverage

 

[dedragon]

the xr 30 probably wouldnt work well for a 36x20width (but i havent seen much of the g6 so maybe it is better now for 36"), probably 2x xr 15 would be better. Kessil usually lack par and color pop so a lot of people use them with a blue led bar or 2. Reefbreeders im not a huge fan of because they have a lot of discoball effect (color separation on sand, which i hate) but will definitely cover the entire tank easily.
I would also look at the reefi uno 2 pro and the orphek icon. With the icon you would only need 1 fixture as well reefi would be 2 like the ecotech lights

 

[mjszos]

With your radion concerns, I would probably suggest 2 xr15 lights instead of one xr30. Imo should give you better overall coverage

the xr 30 probably wouldnt work well for a 36x20width (but i havent seen much of the g6 so maybe it is better now for 36"), probably 2x xr 15 would be better. Kessil usually lack par and color pop so a lot of people use them with a blue led bar or 2. Reefbreeders im not a huge fan of because they have a lot of discoball effect (color separation on sand, which i hate) but will definitely cover the entire tank easily.
I would also look at the reefi uno 2 pro and the orphek icon. With the icon you would only need 1 fixture as well reefi would be 2 like the ecotech lights

Looking back at the specs an XR30 would likely be a bad move. They upgraded their spread it seems so I’d be at 48x48. The 15s claim 36x36 which would be plenty.

How would we feel about a single 30 with room to upgrade to another should I choose to add SPS in 8-12mo? Think I’ll have any problems with mushrooms and euphyllia?

 

[dedragon]

Radion XR15 G5 Pro

www.scaquariums.com

there are still some g5s out there if you dont want to get blinded with light spill, never realized they made it so wide now. Doesnt really make sense as it doesnt fit standard sized tanks well.

 

[mjszos]

Radion XR15 G5 Pro

www.scaquariums.com

there are still some g5s out there if you dont want to get blinded with light spill, never realized they made it so wide now. Doesnt really make sense as it doesnt fit standard sized tanks well.

Yeah my only gripe is missing out on the added fluorescence with the G6. Truthfully I've never used a gold-standard light on any of my tanks, so even if I went with an older model I would still be "driving a Rolls-Royce" so to speak.

At this point I think I've convinced myself that I'm going to go with an XR15, then when I am ready to move into the SPS world I will pick up another one. Will be watching a few more reviews of the XR15 to make sure I'll have the spread I want to get some lower light corals on the edges of my tank.

 

[dedragon]

I would look into getting the light shade if you go that way, just because of the 36" spread for the width, could blind onlookers lol

 

[Crustaceon]

4-bulb t5ho. Yes it's old school, but it's well proven to grow stuff and without the guesswork of LED. For a little extra wattage, you get probably the best spectrum and coverage in the hobby. Cost to own in the long run is probably more similar to high end LED than people realize. You won't get the same pop as LEDs of course.

 

[mjszos]

I would look into getting the light shade if you go that way, just because of the 36" spread for the width, could blind onlookers lol

4-bulb t5ho. Yes it's old school, but it's well proven to grow stuff and without the guesswork of LED. For a little extra wattage, you get probably the best spectrum and coverage in the hobby. Cost to own in the long run is probably more similar to high end LED than people realize. You won't get the same pop as LEDs of course.

From an unrelated hobby experience I'm scarred off of T5's, and while yea the cost of LEDs vs T5s and their operating cost is a matching bell curve over lifespan, I still would rather go with LEDs. I'm going to do some more research on PAR values of the XR15 in a tank of my size and then make the final determination. Almost certainly will be going with the XR15 Pro though.