Best lighting for a strictly zoa frag tank?

[CoralStop]

Hi,
I have a 40 gallon breeder with a frag rack that holds all of my frags that is about 6-8 inches from the top of the aquarium. What type of lighting is best? Best fixture? Would prefer LED but open to other lighting. Thanks

 

[Capitol Reef Corals]

I use 6 AI Prime HDs in my setup. Two over frag tank and four over my display. My frag tanks have 90% zoas, 8% shrooms, and 3% lps. Does a great job at growing those, and over my main display with SPS. (My pfp only shows 3 but i upgraded to 4 recently)

 

[CoralStop]

Do you think 2 AI Prime HD, 1 AI Hydra 26, or 1 Radion XR30W Pro Gen 4?

 

[starypotter]

Really depends on your budget and what you're willing to spend I say, I'm getting good growth from my zoas and I'm running a black box (Viparspectra) on only about 35%blue 5% white

 

[Capitol Reef Corals]

Do you think 2 AI Prime HD, 1 AI Hydra 26, or 1 Radion XR30W Pro Gen 4?

I would go with the Prime HDs for two a few reasons: 1) cheaper than the radion 2) wireless control without a need for the EcoSmart Live Module 3) better spread over a 36" tank with two modules you can move around than the Hydra 26 or radion.

 

[Capitol Reef Corals]

I keep all of my zoas in about 80-100PAR and the Primes would do that well for your situation I think. Best bang for buck.

 

[Kremis]

I have LEDs (kessil and ai prime) for my zoas, I have some right under them and some at the bottom of the tank and they are both fine, I dont think it matters too much just dont blast them with light to the point where they close for long periods of time

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hi,
I have a 40 gallon breeder with a frag rack that holds all of my frags that is about 6-8 inches from the top of the aquarium. What type of lighting is best? Best fixture? Would prefer LED but open to other lighting. Thanks

LED's heavy on the blues

 

[Nicholas Dushynsky]

Really depends on your budget and what you're willing to spend I say, I'm getting good growth from my zoas and I'm running a black box (Viparspectra) on only about 35%blue 5% white

Hi I use this same light over my mixed Reef 24x18x18 running 76 blue and 8 white 9 inches off the top of the water. Can i ask why you run them so low?
I don't know if the blues are too bright as my frogspawn don't look happy under them as they have lost thier colour under the higher blue, but my montipora digitata are growing like mad.

 

[mrkell]

Really depends on your budget and what you're willing to spend I say, I'm getting good growth from my zoas and I'm running a black box (Viparspectra) on only about 35%blue 5% white

I run my blackbox at almost the exact same settings. Any more light than that and my zoas start to shrink and disappear. Softies just do not need the light to be cranked up. Even my sps and bubble tip do well, they may not grow quite as fast, but I am able to keep a mixed reef with par around 200 to 250.

 

[Nicholas Dushynsky]

I run my blackbox at almost the exact same settings. Any more light than that and my zoas start to shrink and disappear. Softies just do not need the light to be cranked up. Even my sps and bubble tip do well, they may not grow quite as fast, but I am able to keep a mixed reef with par around 200 to 250.

This I great to know as my frogspawn I can't get happy and I'm thinking it's lighting as my hammers and torch that are off to the sides are growing great. Also I've lost the vivid gold out of my hammers aswel. Can too much blue do this?

 

[mrkell]

This I great to know as my frogspawn I can't get happy and I'm thinking it's lighting as my hammers and torch that are off to the sides are growing great. Also I've lost the vivid gold out of my hammers aswel. Can too much blue do this?

It can, especially if you did not take a really long time acclimating them to the light. I never assume anything, I always closely test my parameters, just to make sure they are in line, then if nothing is out of spec, I bring the light power down and slowly raise it back in power to find the sweet spot.

 

[Nicholas Dushynsky]

It can, especially if you did not take a really long time acclimating them to the light. I never assume anything, I always closely test my parameters, just to make sure they are in line, then if nothing is out of spec, I bring the light power down and slowly raise it back in power to find the sweet spot.

I assumed that as the tank I got it from was using gen 3 radions that it would be fine so put them where I wanted them and thought great. Then over time lost colour and don't open as much. I thought about it and the lights he had were alot higher up off the water and his tank was 30" deep so I think I shocked them and need to dim the blues back alot to 50 or less then keep an eye in them.

 

[starypotter]

Hi I use this same light over my mixed Reef 24x18x18 running 76 blue and 8 white 9 inches off the top of the water. Can i ask why you run them so low?
I don't know if the blues are too bright as my frogspawn don't look happy under them as they have lost thier colour under the higher blue, but my montipora digitata are growing like mad.

I started according to the directions, starting low and slowly ramping them up and I've noticed that everything is seeming to do well under these lights. 35% for blue was a good spot and I find if I do too much more with that it starts to get too bright in the room. I have softies and LPS. I'm going to slowly start bringing them up just a bit only so I can move some of my zoas lower in the tank. It sounds like you shocked them, try to bring your lights down a lot and give them some time to recover, mine is 12 inches off the water and less than half the power you're running at and I'm able to see good growth so I'd say you're safe to reel it way back.

 

[Nicholas Dushynsky]

I have brought them down to 35% blue and 5% white and it looks good I've just got to keep an eye on my sps though. I don't mind if they grow a bit slower though as I'm getting annoyed to have to frag them so often.
I should have thought that the lighting might be a bit high as the sps grow downwards slightly or sideways as opposed to towards the light. I think that's why I was running them that bright to please the sps. I'm now wandering if the green/silver digi is ment to be that colour?!? Only time will tell. I do have a frag of the red that I put towards the bottom of the tank at the back and the new polyps on the top growth are white?

 

[starypotter]

I have brought them down to 35% blue and 5% white and it looks good I've just got to keep an eye on my sps though. I don't mind if they grow a bit slower though as I'm getting annoyed to have to frag them so often.
I should have thought that the lighting might be a bit high as the sps grow downwards slightly or sideways as opposed to towards the light. I think that's why I was running them that bright to please the sps. I'm now wandering if the green/silver digi is ment to be that colour?!? Only time will tell. I do have a frag of the red that I put towards the bottom of the tank at the back and the new polyps on the top growth are white?

I don't know esentally anything about SPS so maybe take that question to the SPS forum and I'm sure they'll know what's going on with that and will be able to help. If I were to guess though if anything is growing down that it's got too much light seeing as most things do tend to grow up towards the light or spread where they are but that's just an educated guess.

 

[Nicholas Dushynsky]

I don't know esentally anything about SPS so maybe take that question to the SPS forum and I'm sure they'll know what's going on with that and will be able to help. If I were to guess though if anything is growing down that it's got too much light seeing as most things do tend to grow up towards the light or spread where they are but that's just an educated guess.

Well they have been growing for 2 years at last I was just happy they didn't just die. My wife doesn't like the stick things as she calls them she likes euphyllia and zoas and softies. It's my tank so tough.

 

[Pola0502ds]

I have a 80 gollon 4’ long frag tank that is 100% zoas and i light it with nothing but 2 reefbrite XHO blue led lights. And, they grow like freaking weeds. Those XHO reefbrites are hands down the best lights money can buy in my opinion. I have them on all my other tanks as well. I would never consider setting up a tank with out them.

At first i was running t5’s with them, i didnt think i would be able to run a successful tank without another light source other than the XHO’s. But i turned off the t5’s a few years ago and never looked back.

I really like the XHO’s because they are led and you dont have to figure out or worry about spectrum or intensity settings. Its either on or off and thats how i like it.

 

[Denisk]

I would run t5 and and some sort of led. I didn’t understand if you were saying that just the Zoas will be on the frag rack or the 40 gallon will be the frag tank. Since I’m sure the lighting you already have is sufficient.

But if we are talking about lighting the whole tank, I would do 36 inch t5 retro fit with two ai primes. I don’t know what it is but my polyps have never been so large and most people are shocked to see it in person. But that’s just my opinion on set up.

 

[ADAM]

I have a 80 gollon 4’ long frag tank that is 100% zoas and i light it with nothing but 2 reefbrite XHO blue led lights. And, they grow like freaking weeds. Those XHO reefbrites are hands down the best lights money can buy in my opinion. I have them on all my other tanks as well. I would never consider setting up a tank with out them.

At first i was running t5’s with them, i didnt think i would be able to run a successful tank without another light source other than the XHO’s. But i turned off the t5’s a few years ago and never looked back.

I really like the XHO’s because they are led and you dont have to figure out or worry about spectrum or intensity settings. Its either on or off and thats how i like it.

Guessing you have the DeepBlue80 “frag” tank?, I am looking at the same tank for a zoa dominate reef/ frag system. Which of the XHO are you using? Are they mounted in a canopy OR how are they mounted? What height are the lights above the water line? Seems to me like I’ll have more money for coral if I went this route than using 3 AI26Hd or Ecotech XR15s. Also do you see the same coloration from “named” Z/P as they are pictured online?

@CoralStop I was happy to see this thread in the email of feature threads this AM, I was headed to the forum to search around for the same info! Like you, Id prefer LED over the other options out there too. However I have seen many grow out fraggers say that the basic T5 fixtures from Amazon(or similar) have great results for growth for maybe $200-300 total!