Super Noob: Question About Lighting

[redzfit]

Hey Guys,

I have had this tank for a few years now. For the first 1-2 years I was doing the maintenance and having trouble. I ended up hiring someone who comes once every 3 weeks to do maintenance and it has made this a lot more enjoyable. I kept having fish die and hiring someone costs me way less then when I was doing it. Recently corals are something that have been really interesting to me. Lately I have been watching videos and learning how lighting is so important and not letting the lights always be on. So with all that said I would like to invest in some lighting so I can enjoy more corals and have them be healthy. My budget for lighting is up to $800. It seems like most lights have Bluetooth and have an app to control them.

Lights I am considering:
1. Red Sea LED 50 (two of them?).
2. AI Prime 16HD (Two of them?)
3. Radion G5. I do not know if I need 1 or 2 and I do not know which to use (Blue or Pro).

My Tank:
I have an anemone that has split up into 6 pieces so I am having a couple of them removed. I believe the other type of corals I have are mushrooms.
I have 4 Clown Fish, Blue Tang and a Flame Angel (I have never seen this fish mess any current corals).

Tank Dimensions:
37 Galloon Bow Front
30 Inches Wide
15 Inches Deep
22 Inches Tall

I also have 11 inches of room above the tank in the cabinet it sits in. I provided a few pictures to try and get any feedback. So any guidance on what lights I should consider would be great! I have always enjoyed the fish side of the hobby more and now I am wanting to expand into corals.

PS The tank gets cleaned tomorrow so this is the dirtiest it ever looks!

I do not know how to edit my thread title, so LIGHTING****

 

[kenbennedy]

Some up close coral pictures under white lights will help ID the corals, and better inform what amount of light is required.

 

[redzfit]

Some up close coral pictures under white lights will help ID the corals, and better inform what amount of light is required.

Yes, please see attached..

 

[TnFishwater98]

I can save you a lot of money. I like The Coral Moon LED Plus V3. I had V2 also. It’s everything you need. Don’t know going price but I think I got 2 for $360. What light are you running now?

 

[redzfit]

I can save you a lot of money. I like The Coral Moon LED Plus V3. I had V2 also. It’s everything you need. Don’t know going price but I think I got 2 for $360. What light are you running now?

Something happened to my original lights and so I bought these off of amazon thinking they were good but looking into this a little more I believe their par value is to low and they are not strong enough. I can not get the link to appear so here is an image.....

 

[TnFishwater98]

Old pic but the lights I mentioned are the ones over the DT

 

[mdb_talon]

So thats an acan and a few types of mushrooms in your pics. Moderate to low light is fine. Of course future corals may be more light demanding. Having said that any lights you listed will have no issues growing coral of all types.

To get even good coverage over the whole tank you would need 2 of any of those lights(unless you went with the xr30 radion). However if you dont mind the edges a bit darker and less par i think you could get by with 1 of each other than maybe the led50.

I cant help recommend which is best i personally am a fan of cheaper lighting options....cause i am cheap

 

[AnotherReefHobbyist]

Looks like you are prepared to do it right! I would say any of those would be great but the ai primes would save you some money and easily get the job done.

 

[redzfit]

Old pic but the lights I mentioned are the ones over the DT

Thank you!

So thats an acan and a few types of mushrooms in your pics. Moderate to low light is fine. Of course future corals may be more light demanding. Having said that any lights you listed will have no issues growing coral of all types.

To get even good coverage over the whole tank you would need 2 of any of those lights(unless you went with the xr30 radion). However if you dont mind the edges a bit darker and less par i think you could get by with 1 of each other than maybe the led50.

I cant help recommend which is best i personally am a fan of cheaper lighting options....cause i am cheap

Thank you very much! Can you tell me if the arms for the different amounts adjust height? I have 11 inches above the tank and I want to make sure the mounts will fit and that the lights don't have to be 12 inches or more above the water.

Looks like you are prepared to do it right! I would say any of those would be great but the ai primes would save you some money and easily get the job done.

I am all for saving money I just thought putting a max budget would help with suggestions etc.... I have had this tank for close to 7 years now and my kids/family love it.

 

[mdb_talon]

Thank you very much! Can you tell me if the arms for the different amounts adjust height? I have 11 inches above the tank and I want to make sure the mounts will fit and that the lights don't have to be 12 inches or more above the water.

Make sure to confirm before purchase but arms should be available for all three of those options that allow you to be less than 12" above water. Again though i am mostly making an assumption here and would confirm that

 

[redzfit]

Make sure to confirm before purchase but arms should be available for all three of those options that allow you to be less than 12" above water. Again though i am mostly making an assumption here and would confirm that

So far the reviews I found online have have not been initial setup videos where I can see that.

 

[TnFishwater98]

I can use arms or hang them. I used to use the arms but now they are hanging from the ceiling

 

[redzfit]

I ordered 2 AI Prime lights that get delivered today. I have a glass top on my tank, does that glass top have any affect on the light power? My guess would be yes but I am not been able to really find anything online so I thought I would ask....

 

[AnotherReefHobbyist]

I ordered 2 AI Prime lights that get delivered today. I have a glass top on my tank, does that glass top have any affect on the light power? My guess would be yes but I am not been able to really find anything online so I thought I would ask....

yes, it does. Any material between the light and water will have an effect on the lighting. Long ago when reading a manual for an old fluval light I came across a figure stating that it reduces intensity by 20%, but if you keep the glass clean I assume it could be less than that.

 

[redzfit]

yes, it does. Any material between the light and water will have an effect on the lighting. Long ago when reading a manual for an old fluval light I came across a figure stating that it reduces intensity by 20%, but if you keep the glass clean I assume it could be less than that.

Thank you. I planned on running my lights at 40% because a lot of videos I watched hit the right par ranges with that intensity but I noticed they had open tops. So maybe I will do 50% until I can rent a par meter because that will be much stronger than my lights now.

 

[AnotherReefHobbyist]

Thank you. I planned on running my lights at 40% because a lot of videos I watched hit the right par ranges with that intensity but I noticed they had open tops. So maybe I will do 50% until I can rent a par meter because that will be much stronger than my lights now.

Just remember that it never hurts to start out to low and slowly ramp up to find your sweet spot!

 

[vetteguy53081]

Primes were good choice. Many spectrum colors and reliability

 

[Dbichler]

If you’re able to grow and split anemones you probably don’t need much of an upgrade have you considered just adding orphek light bars or equivalent.

 

[redzfit]

Hey Guys, I bought 2 AI Prime lights with the AI mounts but the mounts did not work on my tank. The cabinet area did not have enough space behind the tank and my tank has a plastic lip around it so it did not work out. So the lights sat around for a few weeks and I bought an AI hanging kit (that needs to be adjusted) but I got around to installing them last weekend and bought some corals.

 

[AnotherReefHobbyist]

Hey Guys, I bought 2 AI Prime lights with the AI mounts but the mounts did not work on my tank. The cabinet area did not have enough space behind the tank and my tank has a plastic lip around it so it did not work out. So the lights sat around for a few weeks and I bought an AI hanging kit (that needs to be adjusted) but I got around to installing them last weekend and bought some corals.

Great choice! I can already invision that turning into an amazing reef.