Best LED options for Fluval Flex 32.5?

[Sink_or_Swim]

The good news is, there is always someone willing to buy a 2nd 3.0, so you can sell your light when you upgrade and make some money back. I sold mine for $180 with the brick to someone local. I'd have done $200 w/ shipping included to someone out of state. Like you I keep my house at 70F year-round when I had the hood it made my heater not have to run because tank temp was 78 and heater was set to 75-76. Once I got the screen top and the AI Primes, I unplugged my heater just to see how low it would get and it dropped all the way down to 72 before I decided that was enough of an experiment and turned the heater back on Evap is crazy, I'm adding about a gallon or so every other day right now, waiting for that humid summer weather to come back so it will slow down, lol.

Good point! I'll definitely have to look at selling the light down the road, even the full hood if someone needs one. Sounds like your heater experiment was a good one, and since I don't want to freeze out my tank either, I'll definitely plan to deal with the evap if I eventually ditch the hood and get new lights (I went ahead and got a Hygger ATO off Amazon... it'll be interesting to see if it works well and doesn't make me too nervous that it might fail in the "on" position... that would be a nightmare). We get pretty humid here in the summer too, but can still get snow all through spring, so it could be a while before top offs would slow down for me without an ATO.

 

[Bear Claw]

I am just starting out with the 32.5 gal Fluval Flex Sea - stock light is the Fluval Marine 3.0 LED. Once the tank is cycled, I plan on only adding a couple fish and some "easy" beginner soft corals. If I want to try some more demanding corals in the future, will the stock like work? If I'll need to upgrade, are there options that would work with the existing tank hood? TIA!

I have the Fluval too! My corals started to bleach after a couple of months and I think it was because of the light. I switched mine out for an AI Prime 16 HD LED. And for lids you can get customizable mesh tops that work fine.

 

[Sink_or_Swim]

I have the Fluval too! My corals started to bleach after a couple of months and I think it was because of the light. I switched mine out for an AI Prime 16 HD LED. And for lids you can get customizable mesh tops that work fine.

Hmm that's kind of concerning, though I see lots of examples of tanks doing great with the stock light... so confusing! What types of corals were bleaching? I'm still trying to battle coverage - I have a lot of rock and overhangs, and because the light is towards the back of the lid, I feel there isn't enough light at the front half of the tank in places. How are things going with the prime?

 

[Bear Claw]

Hmm that's kind of concerning, though I see lots of examples of tanks doing great with the stock light... so confusing! What types of corals were bleaching? I'm still trying to battle coverage - I have a lot of rock and overhangs, and because the light is towards the back of the lid, I feel there isn't enough light at the front half of the tank in places. How are things going with the prime?

The ones that were bleaching were all SPS I believe. They are all healing great though!

 

[Sink_or_Swim]

The ones that were bleaching were all SPS I believe. They are all healing great though!

Do you remember what you had your whites set at when that happened? I don't have any SPS, but I have softies on upper middle rocks and while the mushrooms love it, I have a toadstool that doesn't seem to. And I only have whites at 85%.

 

[Bear Claw]

Do you remember what you had your whites set at when that happened? I don't have any SPS, but I have softies on upper middle rocks and while the mushrooms love it, I have a toadstool that doesn't seem to. And I only have whites at 85%.

Yeah, mine was at 90% I believe. My softies were doing great though!

 

[Sink_or_Swim]

Yeah, mine was at 90% I believe. My softies were doing great though!

So weird that your SPS bleached... I thought they liked high light?

 

[|Tom the Bomb|]

My LFS has a very nice mixed reef under the fluval 32.5 stock light they even have a BTA!!, personally I dont see a need for upgrading unless you really want some high light requiring stuff like sps dominated, clams ...

 

[Andy Horngren]

My LFS has a very nice mixed reef under the fluval 32.5 stock light they even have a BTA!!, personally I dont see a need for upgrading unless you really want some high light requiring stuff like sps dominated, clams ...

What do you have your settings at for the stock light?