65g Reef Lighting Question

[ClearwaterReeferNoob]

Good Morning Everyone,

I have a 65g Reef tank that is 36x24x18. Currently, I am using 2 Fluval Marine and Reef 2.0 lights that are setup to run with the WiFi box. I got all of this with the tank and it was fine at first, but now that I've started becoming interested in coral, I worry that they aren't strong enough to provide adequate PAR down on my sand bed. Now, the lights seems to be fine for higher up in the tank. I have some Euphyllia, Acans, 24k Lepto, Blasto all higher up in the tank and they are growing. The Acans all have new heads growing! Down lower though, I have some Goniopora (pink), a Scolly, and a Lobo coral and I worry they aren't going to get enough light. The soft coral, I'm not sure what it is, is lower in the tank and is growing fine. I haven't noticed any growth from the Lobo, but I've only had it for about 3 months. I spot feed the Lobo. The Scoly and the Goniopora are both new. If needed, I can provide pics when I get home later.

If I were to use Black Boxes (looking at Marsaqua Dimmable 165W 300W LED) how many do you think I would need? Would one cover the whole tank? Site says it will cover 24x24x24, so I guess I answered my own question, but I worry about hotspots if I get 2 of them. Do you guys have any suggestions for lights that would cover the whole tank with just one light? The MarsAqua seems to have a pretty decent rep. What are the other brands of Black Boxes I could look at? I like LPS and Soft coral, but mostly LPS. I doubt I will ever get into SPS, but never say never in this hobby I've found. When I first wanted my tank, I wasn't even interested in coral. Now, I think I like the coral more than the fish, but the fish are amazing too.

Thank you in advance for your time!

 

[arturoo1977]

With black boxes you will have hot spots, but its not bad (I think) you can place you more demanding corals under that hot spot and other species outside it.
Visually you will not see that hot spot.
Maybe you can still use your actual light and supplement with a black box and program a basic timer within the schedule of your current setup.

 

[ClearwaterReeferNoob]

With black boxes you will have hot spots, but its not bad (I think) you can place you more demanding corals under that hot spot and other species outside it.
Visually you will not see that hot spot.
Maybe you can still use your actual light and supplement with a black box and program a basic timer within the schedule of your current setup.

I worry that the Fluval lights will block the light from the Black Box as the BB's are suspended from the ceiling where the Fluval lights sit on top of the tank itself, so they would cause dark spots under them. I would think at least. I guess I could always buy one BB and then just test and see.

Thank you for the response!

 

[arturoo1977]

You would need to figure how to place them at same height, non above the other. Maybe fluval at front and black box at rear.
Although black boxes are intended to be suspended, you can make a sort of fixture to handle it. I've seen some TV fixtures used to hang them.

 

[arturoo1977]

You can also try to use just one blackbox as only light source. You will illuminate all 36" long but just for your apreciation, not for place anything photosynthetic at edges.

 

[BeejReef]

I run a 65g also, same dimensions. If it were me, I'd prefer what you run currently over a single black box.
No way to know about par without renting a meter. I really recommend it. There can be a lot more variation at the same depth than you would imagine. Perhaps your lobo is in a dimmer spot. Def with a new black box or two, you'd want a par meter bc they can flat out cook your corals if run too high. It's always hard to judge on coral growth. Sometimes they chill for 6 mo's and suddenly start (or stop) growing :mad:

If I had it to do again, I'd have gone with two black boxes mounted a bit high. The 3' fixture I have is good, but it doesn't get the rock structures within 6" of the side of the tank near as well as I would like.

 

[ClearwaterReeferNoob]

I run a 65g also, same dimensions. If it were me, I'd prefer what you run currently over a single black box.
No way to know about par without renting a meter. I really recommend it. There can be a lot more variation at the same depth than you would imagine. Perhaps your lobo is in a dimmer spot. Def with a new black box or two, you'd want a par meter bc they can flat out cook your corals if run too high. It's always hard to judge on coral growth. Sometimes they chill for 6 mo's and suddenly start (or stop) growing :mad:

If I had it to do again, I'd have gone with two black boxes mounted a bit high. The 3' fixture I have is good, but it doesn't get the rock structures within 6" of the side of the tank near as well as I would like.

I like the Fluval lights, but the PAR drop off as you go deeper into the water is what worries me about my coral on the sand bed.

Per Fluval (for 1 light, note I have 2)

PAR: 376 @ 3"
PAR: 222 @ 6"
PAR: 90 @ 12"
PAR 47 @ 18"

Which tells me that my PAR on the sandbed of my 24" tank is around 18-20. Just seems really low for any coral I'd like to grow down there. I would guess that since I have two, my PAR is probably slightly higher. Do you think that is enough for my Lobo, Scoly, Favia, and Gonio? I've read gonio's prefer to bed fed anyways. I spot feed all the coral down on the sand bed in case they aren't getting the light they require. I'm not sure if that helps, but dont' think it hurts anything.

I'll have to rent a par meter and then go from there. From my research, any where the two lights overlap, the par is higher than it would be with just one light. IT does help I have two of them, but the real question is how much light do I have down at 22'ish inches of depth.

 

[BeejReef]

I wouldn't dare hazard a guess on corals and light levels. I had gonis and favias that grew under 60-70 par, but they are doing better now under 120. Just hate to see a big change made on a tank already doing well. If you succeed in bumping up your par 100% on the sandbed, it may be 200-300% brighter in the middle and top.... just like the fluval specs show. Can your lps higher up take that, or are you considering a full re-scape following a lighting upgrade?

Would you consider a 24 or 36" light strip mounted in front of your fluvals to push a little more light down to the front of the sand during your peak hours?

 

[ClearwaterReeferNoob]

I wouldn't dare hazard a guess on corals and light levels. I had gonis and favias that grew under 60-70 par, but they are doing better now under 120. Just hate to see a big change made on a tank already doing well. If you succeed in bumping up your par 100% on the sandbed, it may be 200-300% brighter in the middle and top.... just like the fluval specs show. Can your lps higher up take that, or are you considering a full re-scape following a lighting upgrade?

Would you consider a 24 or 36" light strip mounted in front of your fluvals to push a little more light down to the front of the sand during your peak hours?

Hmm, I did and didn't think about that. I guess we will just have to wait and see. I wouldn't want to do a full re-scape as the tank is doing so well, I just want to ensure that the light is getting down to the sand bed. I appreciate this word of caution as I don't want to cook the corals higher up. Lobo's apparently like having low light and he's been in there for a few months now. I can't tell if it's really grown or not, but it has great color and looks super fat! The Scoly and Gonio are both new, not even 3 days in the tank. Those two frags were quite pricey and are currently most expensive frags in my tank. When I saw that BIG colony of Pink Gonio though, I knew I had to have some. I did have the Scoly near the Lobo, but read that Lobo will be rude and sting neighbors, so the Scoly is on the other side of thank on the sand bed.

 

[ClearwaterReeferNoob]

I wouldn't dare hazard a guess on corals and light levels. I had gonis and favias that grew under 60-70 par, but they are doing better now under 120. Just hate to see a big change made on a tank already doing well. If you succeed in bumping up your par 100% on the sandbed, it may be 200-300% brighter in the middle and top.... just like the fluval specs show. Can your lps higher up take that, or are you considering a full re-scape following a lighting upgrade?

Would you consider a 24 or 36" light strip mounted in front of your fluvals to push a little more light down to the front of the sand during your peak hours?

Do you have a suggestion on a 36" strip LED light? The Fluvals are also strip lights, so really, if you have a solid suggestion there, I'd absolutely look into it. I wish I would of done a build thread so I could of asked all these questions as I went. I just looked through yours and I'm kicking myself.