First Reef Tank Need Lighting Advice!

djl-reef · Oct 28, 2020

I am hoping someone can give me an opinion.

I am putting together an equipment list for my first SW reef. It’s going to be on the smaller nano side.

The tank will be an ADA 30C which is 7.2 gallons and the dimensions are 11.8 x 11.8 x 11.8.
It will be a mixed tank with a couple SPS up top and then LPS below that.

In terms of lighting I have been looking at the Spectra Aquaknight V2.

Will this get the job done? I’ve seen a lot of the Pico reef community using the ABI tuna LEDs. Would I be better off with 1 or two of those bulbs?

Any other suggestions would be appreciated.

Spare time · Oct 28, 2020

The Aquaknight is fine. However, a 7.2 SPS LPS tank will be very difficult in terms of flow for keeping both as well as keeping up with the dosing requirements for SPS. If this is your first tank, stick with softies and LPS as nano sps is one of the hardest tanks you can keep.

djl-reef · Oct 28, 2020

Spare time said:
The Aquaknight is fine. However, a 7.2 SPS LPS tank will be very difficult in terms of flow for keeping both as well as keeping up with the dosing requirements for SPS. If this is your first tank, stick with softies and LPS as nano sps is one of the hardest tanks you can keep.

Thanks for the advice. As it stands my flow would be coming from a Jebao JP900 145gph return pump. It’ll be about a 2’ climb from a 5 gallon refugium below the display tank. Any thoughts on that? Sorry to get away from lighting.

Spare time · Oct 28, 2020

djl-reef said:
Thanks for the advice. As it stands my flow would be coming from a Jebao JP900 145gph return pump. It’ll be about a 2’ climb from a 5 gallon refugium below the display tank. Any thoughts on that? Sorry to get away from lighting.

Well the flow concerns me since LPS like gentle flow and SPS are designed for strong flow. In a 7.7 gallon, it is hard to make flow patterns that suit both. You will need some sort of nano wavemaker for the tank since the return pump wont be enough for flow purposes.

djl-reef · Oct 28, 2020

Spare time said:
Well the flow concerns me since LPS like gentle flow and SPS are designed for strong flow. In a 7.7 gallon, it is hard to make flow patterns that suit both. You will need some sort of nano wavemaker for the tank since the return pump wont be enough for flow purposes.

So my system will probably be around 10gallons total between. My display and refugium. You are saying I will need more than the pump running at 145gph? How much more flow should I aim for?

Spare time · Oct 28, 2020

djl-reef said:
So my system will probably be around 10gallons total between. My display and refugium. You are saying I will need more than the pump running at 145gph? How much more flow should I aim for?

You will need to experiment with a wavemaker and the corals themselves. I would start with 1 nano wavemaker and go from there.