Programmable LEDs for corals and fish

Dezbian · Dec 24, 2022

So I'll be setting up (no time soon as the money for this tank has to be saved up with an emergency fund for malfunctions) a Lagoon 25 and I want programmable LEDs. I'll have corals and fish so I want something that will mimic the natural daylight cycle with some awesome blues for nighttime. Suggestions? I have scoured the interwebs only to come up more confused then before I started researching lol my budget is around $300 the tanks cost so far is at $3000 (I'm going all out for the first tank :)) so $300 really is the limit for lights.

Timfish · Dec 24, 2022

Yeah, there's a lot of confusing hype out there. You should be able to find cheap off brand fixtures. One or two Nicrew 30 watt fixtures off Amazon would be an option. FWIW aquarium lights don't really do a good job of mimicking natural lighting conditions including "moonlight" which is very yellow at 4000K and much dimmer than the levels I typically see used. yhis info usually isn't available but Your best success will come with matching the lighting conditions the corals grew under.

Dezbian · Dec 24, 2022

Timfish said:
Yeah, there's a lot of confusing hype out there. You should be able to find cheap off brand fixtures. One or two Nicrew 30 watt fixtures off Amazon would be an option. FWIW aquarium lights don't really do a good job of mimicking natural lighting conditions including "moonlight" which is very yellow at 4000K and much dimmer than the levels I typically see used. yhis info usually isn't available but Your best success will come with matching the lighting conditions the corals grew under.

Thank you I feel like I posted this in the wrong section so I started a new thread in new to saltwater aquariums because I can't delete this one. :/ very odd feature, should be able to delete things lol

Science/G · Dec 24, 2022

You might get away with 1 AI Prime 16 depending on your rockwork and coral needs. I have 2 on my 36x15x12 tall 30 gallon mixed reef. They are 9 inches above the waters surface with diffusers. They are tuned down and running at only about 70% power. The confusing part comes when you try to set up your light spectrum program. There is plenty of info on these lights though. Good luck...enjoy!

Dezbian · Dec 24, 2022

MrGisonni said:
You might get away with 1 AI Prime 16 depending on your rockwork and coral needs. I have 2 on my 36x15x12 tall 30 gallon mixed reef. They are 9 inches above the waters surface with diffusers. They are tuned down and running at only about 70% power. The confusing part comes when you try to set up your light spectrum program. There is plenty of info on these lights though. Good luck...enjoy!

Thank you! Someone else suggested these so I'll check them out.