Hi There, We are just in the process of switching over from Freshwater tank to salt water. We have a 55 gallon corner pie shaped tank. We have had different opinions from three different fish stores on what type of lighting we need. We are looking to keep corals and fish. Anyone have any suggestions??
LED lighting for Salt Water tank
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What are the tank's dimensions?
I use a 120w full-spectrum LED unit over a 93g "cube" (30" x 30" x 24") and it does very well for my Rose Bubble Tip Anemone collection (13 RBTAs so far), softies (pulsing xenia & green leathers), LPS (hammers/frogspawns) and collection of non-photosynthetic corals.
It provides decent coverage for the footprint and could be raised higher to spread the light more.
Anthony
I use a 120w full-spectrum LED unit over a 93g "cube" (30" x 30" x 24") and it does very well for my Rose Bubble Tip Anemone collection (13 RBTAs so far), softies (pulsing xenia & green leathers), LPS (hammers/frogspawns) and collection of non-photosynthetic corals.
It provides decent coverage for the footprint and could be raised higher to spread the light more.
Anthony
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I think lighting requirements are going to come down to what corals you want to keep. I just went through this as well because I'm converting my 180g over to a reef tank. I want to keep mostly SPS with some LPS and possibly some clams so the light requirements are pretty high. I ended up going with a Metal Halide/T5 combo fixture. There are some LED fixtures out there that have some good reviews for high light demands but they can be a bit pricey and the general consensus seems to be that they don't quite provide the same growth rate as Metal Halide.
If you're not planning to have any high demand corals then your options open and you'll save lots of money lol
If you're not planning to have any high demand corals then your options open and you'll save lots of money lol
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If you check out my friend TomR's 180g & 6' 120g reef tanks, he converted a couple years ago from Metal Halide to LEDs and has never been happier. His corals are amazing and growth & colour are phenomenal. Mix of SPS, LPS & softies. Whenever we meet, he comments on how he loves no longer spending $600 on replacing his halides and another couple hundred on T5 bulbs every Boxing Day. I used to have a total of 10 MH (3x250w and 7x150w) at my peak volume (almost 1000g of sw tank total volume), and my hydro bill dropped tremendously when I downsized and converted all my lights to LED. I prefer the movement of LPS corals anyways, but that mainly means my LEDs are never at full 100% power (adjustable lighting intensity is another major advantage to going with LEDs).
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Ya I strongly considered LED and was about to pull the trigger on some BuildMyLED fixtures but the more people I asked, the more people told me they had better growth and healthier corals with MH (at least with a mostly SPS tank). When I spoke with J&L they also said that the number of people going back to MH is growing all the time. I decided to go with MH in the end (3x400w Radium bulbs + 4x80w T5). The deciding factor for myself was that every tank I looked at under Radium bulbs had a look that I really liked (if using the proper ballast). I picked up the Hamilton Cebu Sun 6' fixture on black friday and even though my tank isn't running yet, I love the look. I'll have to look into the water temp issue in the summer when I see what temp it hits. I don't regret my choice at all but I do see why people are trying to avoid replacing bulbs and dealing with the heat.
I would definitely recommend doing research on any LED fixture you're going to purchase though. There are a lot of cheap fixtures out there and investing in better quality under driven vs over driven fixtures will be worth it in the end (at least according to the research that I've done). I bought Current USA fixtures for my freshwater tank and they didn't even last a year before lights were burnt out in them.
I would definitely recommend doing research on any LED fixture you're going to purchase though. There are a lot of cheap fixtures out there and investing in better quality under driven vs over driven fixtures will be worth it in the end (at least according to the research that I've done). I bought Current USA fixtures for my freshwater tank and they didn't even last a year before lights were burnt out in them.
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Hey Daniel "PICTURES" how did they work out for you? Almost finished installing the doors will post some pic's when complete.
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Lol I know. I'll take some today and post them up. They are working great. All my corals are growing nicely
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Looking good Daniel, It's 12:45 am and just checked out your pictures LOL!! I hardly ever go on BCA since I've gone to salt water, great stand too BTW.
You way want to hang your lights 10-12 inches above the water line of your tank and it will give great distribution of the lighting and even it out more, also out of the way for tank maintenance too.
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