Lighting for 75 gallon reef tank

[EastCoastJon]

im looking to keep softies/lps in a 75 gallon would 2 50watt lights on each side work fine? or any suggestions for lighting... thank you guys!

 

[56longroof]

That wouldn't be enough light for corals unless you pick non photosynthetic varieties. Me personally, I'd put 2 250 watt metal halides with T5 filler over it.

 

[EastCoastJon]

That wouldn't be enough light for corals unless you pick non photosynthetic varieties. Me personally, I'd put 2 250 watt metal halides with T5 filler over it.

how would that look im used to LEDs or is that the same sorry new to all this lighting stuff lol

 

[hoffmeyerz]

I'm running two Radion xr15 g5 pros over my 75gal with lps/softies in the tank.
I put the diffusers on them to cut the shimmer and they work very well.

 

[PotatoPig]

You could probably get softies to work with that, depending on the exact PAR output, but you might need to run them at close to full power, which may shorten lifespan.

50W units also often only have one source, if so you may struggle to get good coverage.

My 2c is you’ll be better off with ~140ish watt units, and run them at about 1/3 power.

EDIT: Rereading, you’re using 4 lights total? If so you’ll probably be fine depending on the exact product.

 

[Gribbles]

how would that look im used to LEDs or is that the same sorry new to all this lighting stuff lol

2, 250watt fixtures with t5 filler would be incredibly overkill for lps and softies, yeesh.

Higher watt does not equate to a better light, and a 50watt fixture from one manufacturer may be wildly different from another manufacturer

 

[EastCoastJon]

You could probably get softies to work with that, depending on the exact PAR output, but you might need to run them at close to full power, which may shorten lifespan.

50W units also often only have one source, if so you may struggle to get good coverage.

My 2c is you’ll be better off with ~140ish watt units, and run them at about 1/3 power.

EDIT: Rereading, you’re using 4 lights total? If so you’ll probably be fine depending on the exact product.

was thinking 2 lights total im looking around now and looking at 100 watt light so would be 2 of them

 

[EastCoastJon]

I'm running two Radion xr15 g5 pros over my 75gal with lps/softies in the tank.
I put the diffusers on them to cut the shimmer and they work very well.

ill look into thos too!

 

[PotatoPig]

was thinking 2 lights total im looking around now and looking at 100 watt light so would be 2 of them

Just for comparison- I have two 145W Noopsyche over a 75 gallon rimmed tank.

I run them at 40% all channels, so a total of 58W each, and this grows my SPS and anemones just fine and churns out a bit over 200PAR at about 8” deep.

Prior to getting my SPS I ran them at 25%, for LPS and Softies, so about 36W each.

Photos: Full tank shot, close ups of various SPS, zoas, and the green “cone” is a fragment of a green Monti that ended up on the sand and is slowly turning into its own little mountain at the lowest light intensity in the tank except at shaded areas - you can see it front and center in the full tank shot.

No image processing or color adjustment has been done beyond the phone’s automatic inner workings.

 

[EastCoastJon]

Just for comparison- I have two 145W Noopsyche over a 75 gallon rimmed tank.

I run them at 40% all channels, so a total of 58W each, and this grows my SPS and anemones just fine and churns out a bit over 200PAR at about 8” deep.

Prior to getting my SPS I ran them at 25%, for LPS and Softies, so about 36W each.

Photos: Full tank shot, close ups of various SPS, zoas, and the green “cone” is a fragment of a green Monti that ended up on the sand and is slowly turning into its own little mountain at the lowest light intensity in the tank except at shaded areas - you can see it front and center in the full tank shot.

No image processing or color adjustment has been done beyond the phone’s automatic inner workings.

i love the tank so you are basically saying that around 60 watts should be fine for softies and LPS then granted running the lower watt lights at max intensity

 

[EastCoastJon]

i was looking at two of these

NICREW 48W Saltwater Aquarium Light​

its from amazon and a light bar that has 48 w each do you think this would be good?

 

[56longroof]

2, 250watt fixtures with t5 filler would be incredibly overkill for lps and softies, yeesh.

Higher watt does not equate to a better light, and a 50watt fixture from one manufacturer may be wildly different from another manufacturer

I kindly disagree. My LPS and soft corals are doing great under halides. In fact I'm pushing almost 900 watts over my tank. I do keep them lower than my SPS but that's how we did it when I first got into reefing and it worked just fine.

 

[Keithb22]

I would run a quanta 48” helix, cheap and likely only need one for a standard 75g. Probably your best bang for buck. Halides and t5 would be a bit more on the expensive side but they also kicked a** growing coral and feel funny plants, literally the standard that all lighting is measured by.

 

[Science/G]

That wouldn't be enough light for corals unless you pick non photosynthetic varieties. Me personally, I'd put 2 250 watt metal halides with T5 filler over it.

dang. Lol

 

[56longroof]

dang. Lol

Reefing isn't for sissies. LOL

 

[56longroof]

how would that look im used to LEDs or is that the same sorry new to all this lighting stuff lol

 

[jonelder68]

I would run a quanta 48” helix, cheap and likely only need one for a standard 75g. Probably your best bang for buck. Halides and t5 would be a bit more on the expensive side but they also kicked a** growing coral and feel funny plants, literally the standard that all lighting is measured by.

Agree…a few quanta bars and done. Maybe a meso blue and a reef crest. So could do a dawn/dusk blue and a full daylight spectrum/peak period.

 

[Keithb22]

I haven’t experienced the meso blue yet but reefcrest has a solid blue hue to it. Agree though to dial in the spectrum I will be going with a blue and reefcrest to split the divider in my lids.