Lighting for a 29 gallon reef

King_Acidic

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I'm currently in the planning stages of my 29 gallon reef setup and for the most part, I've sorted out most of the hardware that I want to use. I'm pretty much down to just lighting and wave pumps at this point. The one I currently like the most is the Current-USA IC Pro Dual LED light with eFlux 660gph wave pump. I've chosen this one because of the adjustability in both the light spectrum as well as the flow rates using the app. There are a lot of things that still haven't been decided on in terms of livestock so I'm not entirely set on a specific direction yet. I'll post the list of hardware that I've got in mind below (posting so I can give you guys the best idea of the planned equipment as well as getting feedback on experiences using these products before purchasing them). This tank will be going in my bedroom as I've run out of space in other rooms. The objective behind the deeper build is to allow my children a better viewing area of the fish and corals as I know they're going to love watching them. (They've been having a blast watching my freshwater tanks evolve over the past few years.)

Hardware:

29g Aqueon Glass tank
Fluval E Series 100W heater (if I can find one)/Eheim Jager Tru-Temp 100W
Fluval 70g Power filter

Definitely will be doing Live Rock as well as a Live Sand substrate (thinking of going a little heavy on the Live Sand to help reduce the depth a little bit as 19" is a little more area than I want. I'd like to be closer to 16" after substrate). The only definite livestock that will be in the tank is a couple of clownfish and 1 or 2 pajama cardinals. Am I missing anything that I should be including? Any thoughts on the Current-USA IC Pro Dual setup running the LOOP controller with wave pumps?
 

Bfragale

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Hello.
I’ve used the current 660 gph wave pumps. I like them and they should provide enough flow for a 29gallon.

I have not used their light except on a display refugium. I know it grows macro algae but From what I understand it may be ok for fish and maybe easy low light corals- but I don’t know spectrum or par on these lights. And I doubt they can support mid to higher light-needing corals.

personally I think the best bang for the bucks when it comes to lights are the AI prime. One should be sufficient for you to grow most corals in a 29 gal. New they retail $209 but you can usually find decent used ones as well on most popular selling apps/Facebook market place/ r2r market place etc. and if you upgrade tanks you can just pick up another ai prime and add to tour set up

I think you would like the control ability on the ai app.

with sand: read into deep sand beds - I have one tank with 4-5” sand bed because I wanted to try the look- but seems the deep sand bed has a better time converting waste and keeping nutrients low. I don’t know the science behind it so bare with me: but I believe a different kind of beneficial bacteria that can convert nitrites to nitrates then to
Nitrogen gas allowing it to escape the tank- the deep sand facilitates this bacteria to my understanding. it seems to help in my case -

good luck- can’t wait to see what you do!

take care and happy reefing!
7E77E905-BAB5-4918-887D-B02B80A798F7.jpeg
 

TheDuude

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+1 for AI prime. Great light and added benefit of being expandable by adding more units when you upgrade your tank later on down the road.
 
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King_Acidic

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Do you guys think that running 2 dual LED strips would help increase the PAR in the tank? That was the logic behind using the IC Pro Dual over the IC Pro?

Since I don't have a reef set up yet, I'll share my lightly stocked 55g (recently had a couple of cichlids that decided to breed like rabbits in there that were rehomed and didn't want to stress the previous inhabitants of the tank further by moving them back from their new homes back to the big tank.)
20210129_114301_HDR.jpg
 

Bfragale

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Looking at there web site- spectrum looks acceptable. Par should support low light corals.

if that’s what your set on- give it a shot. Looks like par would be 100 on the sand and maybe 200 towards top of a rock structure according to their chart. I believe this should grow soft and lower light corals.


85E3900A-4690-4DE4-9886-EFD6E983242D.png
 
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King_Acidic

King_Acidic

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Looking at there web site- spectrum looks acceptable. Par should support low light corals.

if that’s what your set on- give it a shot. Looks like par would be 100 on the sand and maybe 200 towards top of a rock structure according to their chart. I believe this should grow soft and lower light corals.


85E3900A-4690-4DE4-9886-EFD6E983242D.png
Any specific low light corals that fluoresce that I should look for?
 

Bfragale

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My first thought would be zoa’s or paly’s- there’s many beautiful patterns and colors - mushrooms would probally do great, leather corals most likely too.

im not sure about specific LPS but I do believe there are some that could do well too.
 
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For anyone that is following this thread, my girlfriend and I have been talking about changing our build plan a little. We're debating relocating my current 55g tropical community to the new 29g that we had planned to use as our reef tank and just build out the 55g as our reef instead. Is this a wise idea to start bigger from the get go or should we start smaller and scale from there?
 

TheDuude

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For anyone that is following this thread, my girlfriend and I have been talking about changing our build plan a little. We're debating relocating my current 55g tropical community to the new 29g that we had planned to use as our reef tank and just build out the 55g as our reef instead. Is this a wise idea to start bigger from the get go or should we start smaller and scale from the


More water volume the better as it will be easier to achieve stability. Whatever water volume you go with doing water changes of 10% weekly or 20% bi-weekly will help lead to success. You will also need a RODI or trusted source of water.
 

Kinjirra

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For anyone that is following this thread, my girlfriend and I have been talking about changing our build plan a little. We're debating relocating my current 55g tropical community to the new 29g that we had planned to use as our reef tank and just build out the 55g as our reef instead. Is this a wise idea to start bigger from the get go or should we start smaller and scale from there?
I started mine with a 36g...I really wish I had gone bigger as it really limits your fish selections and number.
 
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King_Acidic

King_Acidic

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T
I started mine with a 36g...I really wish I had gone bigger as it really limits your fish selections and number.
That's what I'm concerned about. We don't really have much planned for livestock currently but I know that once we set up the 29g, I'll be full of regret and wish I had started with the 55g instead. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't alone in thinking that I should start with the larger tank rather than the smaller tank.
 

Soylent Wrasse

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55's aren't the best reef tanks. To narrow and deep. Great for freshwater, no the best for salt. Go to a 75, you'd have almost the same footprint, just a little wider, and way more options on fish.
 
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King_Acidic

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55's aren't the best reef tanks. To narrow and deep. Great for freshwater, no the best for salt. Go to a 75, you'd have almost the same footprint, just a little wider, and way more options on fish.
Unfortunately due to the layout of the apartment I'm currently in, I can't go any wider than the 55 as I'll end up with no walkway to the main living/dining area of the apartment. If we go the 29g route, it will be in my bedroom rather than the living room.
 

Imaexpat2

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Going with the biggest tank you can afford with the space you have to work with for a first tank is wise indeed. Not required, but wise! Bigger tanks have changes take place slower and as such more forgiving as far as a "tank crash" is concerned. The 55 will be a tall and narrow tank though for a reef tank, FO - non issue. Lighting for a reef tank can kinda get pricey at the 4ft length....what are you planning for lights? What corals you wanna keep?
 
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King_Acidic

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Going with the biggest tank you can afford with the space you have to work with for a first tank is wise indeed. Not required, but wise! Bigger tanks have changes take place slower and as such more forgiving as far as a "tank crash" is concerned. The 55 will be a tall and narrow tank though for a reef tank, FO - non issue. Lighting for a reef tank can kinda get pricey at the 4ft length....what are you planning for lights? What corals you wanna keep?
I've been looking at the Current-USA IC LED with Loop Bluetooth controller. If I go that route, I'll be using the 48"-60" version. Currently on the 55g I'm running a 36"-48" Marineland and while it provides plenty of light for freshwater, the side coverage isn't adequate for a saltwater setup in my opinion and I'd be better suited by going up a size in fixture length. I'm also looking at running a deeper live sandbed to help mitigate the deeper tank (probably somewhere in the 2" range above the bottom rim).

In terms of corals, I'm leaning more towards softies and possibly a couple of sps pieces but nothing is set in stone yet so to speak.
 

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