Lights for standard 55 reef

[seahorsedragonet]

Which lights are best for a standard 55g reef tang? I generally like easy corals but haven’t really tried much else recently as my focus was seahorses. I have an old T5 that works great but would like to upgrade as I like that LEDs have more options than on/off.

 

[Tahoe61]

Do you have budgeting constraints? Do you want to add LED strips to the existing T5 fixture or acquire a completely new fixture.
You could look at adding two LED fixtures such as AI or Red Sea, or you could just go with one larger ReefBreeders style.

 

[seahorsedragonet]

Do you have budgeting constraints? Do you want to add LED strips to the existing T5 fixture or acquire a completely new fixture.
You could look at adding two LED fixtures such as AI or Red Sea, or you could just go with one larger ReefBreeders style.

I’d like to get new lights altogether. Likely midrange budget. I was thinking 2 hydra 44 or 32 but they say 30” wide, which may be overkill on a width of 12”, or fluvial marine 4.0 or…..?

 

[DrV4n]

2 39” AI blades: one glow and one grow.

 

[Tahoe61]

I’d like to get new lights altogether. Likely midrange budget. I was thinking 2 hydra 44 or 32 but they say 30” wide, which may be overkill on a width of 12”, or fluvial marine 4.0 or…..?

I have never seen a Fluval Marine that I thought was worth the money.
Look at Popbloom, Nicrew, Smatfarm or for budget lighting. Those are all fine choices for mixed soft corals and LPS.

 

[vlangel]

I love my ReefBreeder Photo V-2. It was half the price of a ration when I bought it a few years ago. I have the Photon 24 V-2 but I bought it for a 30" tank and your tank is 48" but you could probably get 2 Photon 16 V-2s or the next size up from the one I have.

 

[UnnamedReef]

I was happy and had success with my Aqueon 55 for a few years with two Smatfarm G5s. Added a third when I went up to a 120 and they're still kicking.