Phillips Coral Care gen 2 for 90cm tank

[vmesri]

I am setting up a new tank with dimension 90*50*50 cm (35*20*20 inch).
I want to keep sps all from bottom to top of the tank and I am thinking of using Corale Care gen 2. I have contacted Philipse’s help desk and they advised me to use two fixtures. I understand that one would not cover corners of the tank well.
I am worried I will get too much light spill in the room if I use two. Does anyone have any experience with such tank size or have recommendations on mounting high and direction of mounting for Coral Care gen2?

 

[Colt13]

35 will be pushing it, but you could just have higher light corals in the middle. Or add a couple 36” light bars in the front/back. I had mine on a 30” and it reached fine

 

[Rams]

I am setting up a new tank with dimension 90*50*50 cm (35*20*20 inch).
I want to keep sps all from bottom to top of the tank and I am thinking of using Corale Care gen 2. I have contacted Philipse’s help desk and they advised me to use two fixtures. I understand that one would not cover corners of the tank well.
I am worried I will get too much light spill in the room if I use two. Does anyone have any experience with such tank size or have recommendations on mounting high and direction of mounting for Coral Care gen2?

I would say one is enough to start with and add Reefbrites bars along or Kessils to left and right of coral care gen2.I am using 3 coral cares in my 265g tank 84inch

 

[vmesri]

I’m thinking if two fit without too much light spill, I just go for two to begin with. Light bars plus Kessils would be just as expensive.
if I install two gen2s, length-wise they will take 92cm which is practically equal to the width of the tank itself.
I am reading in your comments that two just won’t fit, am I right?

 

[Rams]

I’m thinking if two fit without too much light spill, I just go for two to begin with. Light bars plus Kessils would be just as expensive.
if I install two gen2s, length-wise they will take 92cm which is practically equal to the width of the tank itself.
I am reading from your comments that two just won’t fit, am I right?

2 is too much for that tank..one is very plenty if you put intensity to 70-80% it will grow sps at any part of your tank

 

[jhuntstl]

In my opinion, if you want to maintain the exceptionally good spread and T5 look of the Gen2s throughout the entire tank, go with two. You could also mount them the other way, which would only take up roughly 82cm. I think you could mount them pretty low to avoid light spill and reduce the intensity quite a bit.

This would be A LOT of light. Overkill for sure, but I understand wanting to keep it simple with two rather than mess with bars, kessils, etc.

 

[ReefNewbie909]

I use 2 of the CoralCare Gen2 led fixtures on my 60x20x20 tank and my corals get plenty of light. I think you will be ok with 1.

 

[mfinn]

1 is plenty.
Maybe add a pair of 36" Reef Bites to get a little extra par on the ends. I use 2 on a 72" tank.
Another point is, most people have a space of 2"-3" on each end of their tanks, so you are probably looking at 30" that needs good light.

 

[TL1]

Check out the light shades I made for the CC Gen 2 on my build thread. BTW I absolutely love these lights!

Happy to help with any questions - DM Me

 

[jhuntstl]

If he/she is looking for top to bottom, wall to wall SPS(especially acropora) than one fixture IMO is not enough. I have one over a 30x30. At 11" above water, 100% intensity, 50/50 blue to white... I see about 150 par in the corners.

I realize it's not the most efficient use of the Gen2s, but good lord that 35" would be blanketed in sweet sweet acropora blasting light. If money is no concern and you don't want to mess with supplements, two is your answer.

 

[vmesri]

Thank you all for your comments. I think I will buy two Gen2s. Having two, future proofs the tanks and allows me to go full Acro which is something I really like to do. I thought of having one Gen2 and two AI prime 16 on each side but then I will have two apps to mess with. Also since Gen2s use passive cooling, it will be nice to not have any fan in my light setup.

Here in the UK reefbrite for Gen2s aren’t available for sale unfortunately.
Light bars won’t easily fit at front and back of Gen2s either, as it is 42cm back to front compared to 50 for the tank itself.

 

[vmesri]

Check out the light shades I made for the CC Gen 2 on my build thread. BTW I absolutely love these lights!

Happy to help with any questions - DM Me

Great work! If I get two I can mount the lights really low, so wouldn’t get much glare hopefully.

 

[jhuntstl]

Thank you all for your comments. I think I will buy two Gen2s. Having two, future proofs the tanks and allows me to go full Acro which is something I really like to do. I thought of having one Gen2 and two AI prime 16 on each side but then I will have two apps to mess with. Also since Gen2s use passive cooling, it will be nice to not have any fan in my light setup.

Here in the UK reefbrite for Gen2s aren’t available for sale unfortunately.
Light bars won’t easily fit at front and back of Gen2s either, as it is 42cm back to front compared to 50 for the tank itself.

I truly hope you start a build thread for this tank. I'll be very interested to see how low you mount them and what intensity you end up at. The coverage is going to be exceptional.

 

[TL1]

Great work! If I get two I can mount the lights really low, so wouldn’t get much glare hopefully.

Thanks... Mine are ~9" above the water and there was still a lot of glare when seated in the room. These lights are heavy ~16lbs each, so be mindful if you mount them too low then getting in and out of the tank will be difficult. Good Luck!

 

[mfinn]

Thank you all for your comments. I think I will buy two Gen2s. Having two, future proofs the tanks and allows me to go full Acro which is something I really like to do. I thought of having one Gen2 and two AI prime 16 on each side but then I will have two apps to mess with. Also since Gen2s use passive cooling, it will be nice to not have any fan in my light setup.

Here in the UK reefbrite for Gen2s aren’t available for sale unfortunately.
Light bars won’t easily fit at front and back of Gen2s either, as it is 42cm back to front compared to 50 for the tank itself.

I had to make a hanging system for both the CoralCare gen 2 fixtures using just 2 cables, and a mount for the light bars.