Opinion on Lighting

[crny1]

Well we are contemplating lighting now and second guessing ourselves. The new tank has arrived but still waiting on the panta ray pump and few other small pieces as well as lighting. The tank is 84x48x32. We have limited head room above the tank so that has to be taken into consideration. We were leaning towards 4 Meridan 45s but now second guessing. What would your ideal lighting be for a tank of those dimensions. Here is the tank yesterday when we got it into the garage for now. Hoping to get the current 300 emptied and the new 560 to its final location next week.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

@oreo54

 

[oreo54]

Well we are contemplating lighting now and second guessing ourselves. The new tank has arrived but still waiting on the panta ray pump and few other small pieces as well as lighting. The tank is 84x48x32. We have limited head room above the tank so that has to be taken into consideration. We were leaning towards 4 Meridan 45s but now second guessing. What would your ideal lighting be for a tank of those dimensions. Here is the tank yesterday when we got it into the garage for now. Hoping to get the current 300 emptied and the new 560 to its final location next week.

You need to define limited headroom.
2 companies that have like "public aquarium" type lighting. And usually they have a much larger space between the light and water surface. To ad to that is the depth so its best to have more focused optics which... usually sits higher.

Orphek Amazonias and Kessil.
https://orphek.com/amazonas-960-reef-aquarium-led-lighting/https://www.kessil.com/products/aquarium_main.php
Not that you can't use "lesser" lights.
6 strong squarish lights that are good for 24x24 could work.
Or like you picked the Meridians. Not sure I'd do the 45's. They are slightly long for your tank.
2 end to end is 88.8" according to their specs.
You could do the 35's I suppose. 225w ($900 total)max each. $4600 before the add ons.

If you have time there are these:
https://www.aquariumcomputer.com/products/ghl-illumination/mitras-lx8-series/Quite interesting. I'd rank their build quality above most lighting. The dimming by current control over pwm is quite unique.

Same $4000, same 1000W total for 4. Again sans add ons. Fortunately in this case all the programming is free.. Some will understand.
Spending 4k on an unknown product is a gamble of sorts I grant you that.
They do have the current lineup but would be more costly I believe. I
'm not going to do the math.


Also depends on your choice of stocking of course. The above mostly assume simplistic stuff and an arguable 2watts/gallon to start.

Want a simpler product GHL makes 200cm light bars.
https://www.aquariumcomputer.com/usa/product/mitras-lightbar-3-170-200/160 watts , 5 exciting colors (sorry for the bad humor) $676.40 each
Sadly to make 1000W will cost you the same 4k.
Since they are waterproof and tank mounted (mounts included) you save there.

BUT there are plenty of other add ons that will drive the price up.
"sigh"..

 

[crny1]

You need to define limited headroom. We will have approx 18-22" above the tank.
2 companies that have like "public aquarium" type lighting. And usually they have a much larger space between the light and water surface. To ad to that is the depth so its best to have more focused optics which... usually sits higher.

Orphek Amazonias and Kessil.
https://orphek.com/amazonas-960-reef-aquarium-led-lighting/https://www.kessil.com/products/aquarium_main.php
Not that you can't use "lesser" lights.
6 strong squarish lights that are good for 24x24 could work.
Or like you picked the Meridians. Not sure I'd do the 45's. They are slightly long for your tank. Was planning on 4 of the 45s arranged front to back. Not length wise (left to right) if that makes sense.
2 end to end is 88.8" according to their specs.
You could do the 35's I suppose. 225w ($900 total)max each. $4600 before the add ons.

If you have time there are these:
https://www.aquariumcomputer.com/products/ghl-illumination/mitras-lx8-series/Quite interesting. I'd rank their build quality above most lighting. The dimming by current control over pwm is quite unique.

Same $4000, same 1000W total for 4. Again sans add ons. Fortunately in this case all the programming is free.. Some will understand.
Spending 4k on an unknown product is a gamble of sorts I grant you that.
They do have the current lineup but would be more costly I believe. I
'm not going to do the math.
I would rather buy the best option first time around and not buy again here anytime soon.

Also depends on your choice of stocking of course. The above mostly assume simplistic stuff and an arguable 2watts/gallon to start.
Its a completely mixed reef with heavier SPS than LPS.
Want a simpler product GHL makes 200cm light bars.
https://www.aquariumcomputer.com/usa/product/mitras-lightbar-3-170-200/160 watts , 5 exciting colors (sorry for the bad humor) $676.40 each
Sadly to make 1000W will cost you the same 4k.
Since they are waterproof and tank mounted (mounts included) you save there. Tank mounted is not an option with the tank design.

BUT there are plenty of other add ons that will drive the price up.
"sigh"..

 

[oreo54]

Yea, forgot about the geometry switcharoo with the Meridians.

Amazonias are 11" tall leaving 7-11" space. With 90 degree reflectors, light surface is about 6x6" so about 20" X 20" coverage for 1 at that height ..
So you would need like 8.
2560 total watts
UNFORTUNATELY I now see the price is quite a bit more expensive than they used to be.
$1700 each.
Believe the 320 is the dumbed down version so should be cheaper but likely $1000 range
IP 67 rating and fanless if that matters to you.

I'm not "selling" Orpheks except as like another starting point.
Point is it is unlikely any narrower than 90 degree lenses would be practical in that space.

As an "opinion" you should probably never spend more than 5K on lighting ( I choke even typing that ).

For "fun" I asked our new overlords..Unfortunately they seem to only know about certain Kessils and Radions.

My cost analysis was about the same.

 

[oreo54]

Going completely to a different universe.
You could probably do it with 10 or so Viparspectras at $106.64 each.
Note the lights have pretty narrow optics (listed at 90 but ehhh may actually be narrower.
They are really about 110watts each. 1/2 of which is "not blue" so your use-able wattage depends on how white you like your tank' Most probably wold dim ch 2 a lot , like under 50%.
So that channel only contributes 10-25 watts to the 55w on the blue side.
That will actually determine how many units one needs to get like 2 watts /gallon or more.

$1279.68.. Like I said.. another universe.
2 x 6 sideways..
not sure I'd like 24 fans running..


https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256...NoeFDvoCbSQaAg64EALw_wcB&gatewayAdapt=glo2usa

 

[crny1]

Well we ended up pulling the trigger and ordering 4 meridans for it. Have had reef breeders before and never had a complaint so we will try these. Although more than I wanted to spend!
Tank livestock is being transfered to a stock tank temporarily and the new tank will be put in place Tuesday or so. The Panta Rhey Hydro tube showed up but they forgot to send the power supply. So got to wait for it to show but at least the plumbing can be done and be able to bring the tank online.