what are my options here for better lighting?

[Ballyhoo]

I have the red Sea 200 and it came with the 90 W. "Red Sea 90" Led. this was the first tank I owned and it was an "all in one" so I just thought at the time that a 90 W would be enough pretty but it's turning out I really do need more Par for the achro in particular. I cannot get my par level to hit 250 to 300 in the middle of the tank where the Achro are unless I add two supplemental lights like you see here, which is a little ridiculous but I don't want to spend $1000 on another lighting system. would that be my only option? I imagine another Red Sea 90 might be an option so I would have a dual Red Sea 90. Idk but I know that when I crank up the light with these two supplemental LEDs, I have the coral seemed to flourish a bit more.

 

[TX_REEF]

you definitely don't need to spend $1000 in any case. First of all, I am really surprised you can't get PAR up to 300 with a 90-watt fixture, maybe the quality of the LEDs or optics is the issue with the fixture? Here are some options that would probably work for you:

• Add another Red Sea fixture of the same type. problem solved.
• Replace with a kessil a360. I'm confident you could hit the required PAR. I get 250-300 PAR in my frag tank running my kessil ap9x, which is basically just 2x a360s, at 15% power. Kessil also produces exceptional shimmer, and there is documented evidence that suggests kessil fixtures produce superior color development in corals compared to similarly priced and cheaper fixtures. https://amzn.to/3IrUqWm
• replace with a reefi uno. 270 watts of power at a reasonable price. this would produce as much PAR as you could ever want, and then some, in your tank. https://www.reefi-lab.com/product/reefi-uno-2-1-pro/

 

[Dread Pirate Dave]

I have the red Sea 200 and it came with the 90 W. "Red Sea 90" Led. this was the first tank I owned and it was an "all in one" so I just thought at the time that a 90 W would be enough pretty but it's turning out I really do need more Par for the achro in particular. I cannot get my par level to hit 250 to 300 in the middle of the tank where the Achro are unless I add two supplemental lights like you see here, which is a little ridiculous but I don't want to spend $1000 on another lighting system. would that be my only option? I imagine another Red Sea 90 might be an option so I would have a dual Red Sea 90. Idk but I know that when I crank up the light with these two supplemental LEDs, I have the coral seemed to flourish a bit more.

For me, a Nicrew Hyperreef gen 2 150w on my 29 gallon biocube is perfect. I only have LPS so it's only at about 40% of the AB+ settings. With it 9 inches above the water I am getting about 200 par just under the surface.

The light + controller is around $300.