I am setting up a new 230 gallon(60"×30"×30") this summer and I will be buying stuff for between now and then my question is what light set up do you recommend? I would like leds but I don't know what kind would be best... thank you for your help.
tearlessnikon
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I am setting up a new 230 gallon(60"×30"×30") this summer and I will be buying stuff for between now and then my question is what light set up do you recommend? I would like leds but I don't know what kind would be best... thank you for your help.
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Reef tank and there is really only 1 piece of sps I want the rest will be lps
Well if your thinking LEDS than your gonna get a ton of replies as to what people think are good and basically it's all about your budget and what you like. Me personally, I've a couple fixtures that people are getting off of eBay cheap, the Chinese fixtures, and never had that great of luck with my sps keeping their color and growing. But others rave about how great they are. I've been running 2 aqua illumination hydra 26 units over my 120 and have had amazing results from all my corals, color is great and acros are growing like crazy. Remember though that besides the lighting your water parameters are going to be a big part of how well your corals are gonna do. Lighting and parameters go hand and hand in a reef.
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I sent them a message and they said I would need 6 of the 26s
Mmmm... that seems like a bit much. My two cover the 120 with light to spare. The tank is 48x24x24. I would say since yours is a little bigger than mine that you could easily run 3 fixtures, 4 max and you'll have plenty of light for whatever you want to keep. Especially if you went with their new HD models.
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That's what I was thinking as well since I read somewhere that they have a 24 in spread on them and my tank will be 60in
I built my LED lighting system on my 50 gallon SPs reef. Goals of the project were to keep overall cost down, but produce a lighting system that produced an adjustable full spectrum with a bias for blue and purple LEDs. The colors are fantastic and corals grow like weeds. I use several OCW, royal blue, blue, warm white, and 2 different violets. The violets and royal blues produce the color pop, and the remaining colors provide the color balance so the tank is easy on the eyes. The energy available for photosynthesis is more than enough from the blues and violets. I use a Coralux controller which is works well for dimming and maintaining a program for day and night lighting.
If you do not want to build one purchase an LED that contains full spectrum lighting with 2x more blues than other colors. You also want a lighting system that allows you to control each color channel independently from one another. The cheaper Chinese fixtures usually have 2 channels and these are more difficult to adjust than multi-channel setups. Customization is key. Look at some of the higher end LED setups and compare them with some of the lower cost items. You'll notice that they have better control features than the cheap ones.
Initially, the cost is quite high, but a well made unit will last for years. I used to spend 250 bucks on T5's every year and do not miss the replacement cost. Good luck....................Jim
If you do not want to build one purchase an LED that contains full spectrum lighting with 2x more blues than other colors. You also want a lighting system that allows you to control each color channel independently from one another. The cheaper Chinese fixtures usually have 2 channels and these are more difficult to adjust than multi-channel setups. Customization is key. Look at some of the higher end LED setups and compare them with some of the lower cost items. You'll notice that they have better control features than the cheap ones.
Initially, the cost is quite high, but a well made unit will last for years. I used to spend 250 bucks on T5's every year and do not miss the replacement cost. Good luck....................Jim
Ya so..... it is helpful to remember several things when considering what light to buy.
Try to focus on the actual science of light and aquarium lighting which will get you closer to the answer of which product is your best choice.
There are many factors that go into a healthy growing coral. Lighting is only one of them so be a bit cautious regarding the experience that others may have with one product over another since in most cases, it is very difficult to ascribe success to the lighting in isolation from all the other factors.
Everyone wants their lights to make their tank to look fantastic but remember that fantastic is a relative term and that much of the light that is pleasing to the human eye is of little value to coral growth. The best looking light could be very bad at providing the light energy that corals need to grow. SO... again, stay close to the science... make sure that whatever product you get is designed to deliver the appropriate wavelength for coral growth. Although many products allow you to manipulate the "color" of the light, just remember that adjusting the light so that you like the look may at the same time be reducing the amount of flight that is useful for coral growth.
When you see PAR ratings for light remember that this is a measure of all the light energy that is emitted regardless of wavelength so PAR alone is of limited value. PUR is the more useful measure (when considering the effectiveness for growing coral) since this is a measure of how much light is available that the coral can actually use for growth.
One thing that distinguishes higher quality products from lower quality ones is their energy efficiency. One primary reason to go with LED's is their low power requirements. But not all LED's are created equal and some fixtures will require much less power to produce a fixed amount of light than another. overall power consumption is a quantifiable thing that can be directly compared from one light to the next.
As an opinion, based on what I have gathered from my all my reading regarding the construction, quality of LED's, spectral spread, efficiency, etc... all the science based stuff, I think the Kessil products are a solid choice.
Try to focus on the actual science of light and aquarium lighting which will get you closer to the answer of which product is your best choice.
There are many factors that go into a healthy growing coral. Lighting is only one of them so be a bit cautious regarding the experience that others may have with one product over another since in most cases, it is very difficult to ascribe success to the lighting in isolation from all the other factors.
Everyone wants their lights to make their tank to look fantastic but remember that fantastic is a relative term and that much of the light that is pleasing to the human eye is of little value to coral growth. The best looking light could be very bad at providing the light energy that corals need to grow. SO... again, stay close to the science... make sure that whatever product you get is designed to deliver the appropriate wavelength for coral growth. Although many products allow you to manipulate the "color" of the light, just remember that adjusting the light so that you like the look may at the same time be reducing the amount of flight that is useful for coral growth.
When you see PAR ratings for light remember that this is a measure of all the light energy that is emitted regardless of wavelength so PAR alone is of limited value. PUR is the more useful measure (when considering the effectiveness for growing coral) since this is a measure of how much light is available that the coral can actually use for growth.
One thing that distinguishes higher quality products from lower quality ones is their energy efficiency. One primary reason to go with LED's is their low power requirements. But not all LED's are created equal and some fixtures will require much less power to produce a fixed amount of light than another. overall power consumption is a quantifiable thing that can be directly compared from one light to the next.
As an opinion, based on what I have gathered from my all my reading regarding the construction, quality of LED's, spectral spread, efficiency, etc... all the science based stuff, I think the Kessil products are a solid choice.
Rfurst's mention of science is that red and blue wavelengths provide nearly all the energy to drive photosynthesis. In aquatic and marine environments, red wavelengths are absorbed in the surface water and contribute very little energy to photosynthesis. Blue wavelengths provide most of the energy for photosynthesis in marine systems. So, a good fixture should have at least twice as many blue LEDs than the other LEDs in the system. The other LED colors are there to provide a more balanced spectrum and produce light that is less straining on your eyes. The greater number of blue LEDs in the system are what drives photosynthesis. Most of the newer LED lighting systems are full spectrum with a blue light bias and have a controller that allows users to adjust the strength of each individual color in the LED array. ...................Jim
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