Lighting my 40 breeder - specific light advice

[VintageReefer]

Front left and side.

The torches on the left are on these reefin art shelves
Medium slim

https://a.co/d/6JF4LkT

The front glass currently has 2 reefin art mega shelves

https://a.co/d/3dgLRot

The individual square shelves scattered around are my own concept/Design. Please Pm me if you want info on them

 

[mdpitts]

I am enjoying the new orpheks but I cant imagine using just one over a 40 breeder. The fixture is 14 inches long, that means 11 inches on either side to cover a 40 breeder...

So the photon is automatically much better imo for your budget. It is 23.5" long.

in fact you could even get the photon 32 in your budget which is 31.5" long :) and this is the one I would personally choose so you get amazing coverage.

Photon 32-V2 Pro LED Fixture - ReefBreeders

Photon 32-V2 Pro LED Fixture - ReefBreeders

aquacave.com

You could get the new meridian but you would have to go with a shorter one to stay in budget.. I am not sure it would be better to get the newer light with less coverage over a longer photon.

You are used to lights being close to your tank, you def need to think about hanging height and light spill and glare. The shorter the fixture, the higher you may need to hang and more spill front to back you may have and potentially more glare depending where your tank is, how you view it, if you sit near it, etc.

I can't give you the answer here but it is worth some research and thought.

I did look into light height and I couldn't believe how much I learned. It's weird and seems counter-intuitive. I currently have my Orbit Marine LED bars resting on my rim and I'm probably not doing myself any favors there. Thanks for pointing that out.

 

[mdpitts]

I like Kessil lights, and they are currently 15% off on major vendors' websites. An $800 budget should be sufficient.

My LFS has a couple tanks lit with Kessils and once I started to learn more and was noticing lighting those were the first tanks I noticed that looked great and I asked them what they were using. Kessils might get saved for when I upgrade my tank. I do love their look.

 

[mdpitts]

Another vote for the reefbreeders photon. I run them over two tanks. I have two 32s over my reefer 300. One would probably work but I started this tank to try my hand at acros so I wanted too much vs too little light.

I have a single 24 over my reefer 170. The tank is in a poor state currently but has nothing to do with lighting

Looks like you are doing pretty good in the acro department. even your "poor" tank looks pretty good.

 

[exnisstech]

Looks like you are doing pretty good in the acro department. even your "poor" tank looks pretty good.

Thanks. That was studio shot of the 170 after cleaning lol. I've been fighting GHA and cyano for the last year and a half.