Fusion 20g light. Which one do i get?

[Jake_the_reefer]

So I got a fusion 20g pro today for christmas. However i still have to buy a light, protein skimmer, and powerhead. I'm pretty set on the skimmer and powerhead I just need to decide a light now. I want an ai prime but I'm not sure one would be enough so I dont want to fish out the money for 2. I am kind of eyeballing the noopscyche j7 pro 2. Would that be a good bang for my buck or are there better options I can go for under 200

 

[flchamp89]

Lots run a prime. Coverage isn't perfect. What about a 26?

 

[Jake_the_reefer]

Lots run a prime. Coverage isn't perfect. What about a 26?

I'm hoping to stay 200 and under unfortunately I may consider a 26 if I cant find anything

 

[Tuffyyyyy]

Either one of them will work fine. You might have some slight shading at the corner of the IM20 with the AI Prime but it’ll definitely be powerful enough.

that said, I’m always in favor of supporting the “little guy” in Noopsyche.

 

[Jake_the_reefer]

Either one of them will work fine. You might have some slight shading at the corner of the IM20 with the AI Prime but it’ll definitely be powerful enough.

that said, I’m always in favor of supporting the “little guy” in Noopsyche.

I'm pretty torn at the moment. Not too worried about shading because until I move next year it will be used as a frag/growout tank. I'll be discontinuing my biocube growout tank.

 

[Tuffyyyyy]

Tbh the controllability of the AI Prime is what sets it apart for me. you have to buy the semi-expensive stand, which sucks, but every other light out there doesn’t have as much built-in functionality as the prime.

 

[Jake_the_reefer]

Tbh the controllability of the AI Prime is what sets it apart for me. you have to buy the semi-expensive stand, which sucks, but every other light out there doesn’t have as much built-in functionality as the prime.

I'm moreso worried about spectrum, coverage, par. I care about performance over controlablity

 

[Nick Steele]

With the new ai 16HD I believe you could run a decent mixed reef with just one light. I have mine set up 8” from water and only the very corners are shaded. I’ve had it up 13” above the water and there was no shade anywhere even behind my rock work. Also on a Nuvo 20 I’m going to get a par meter and test some things out soon.

Two might be required for a heavy sps tank due to shading but I believe one is good for most tanks.

Here it is at 8” and you can see the shadow behind the left rock work

 

[nano reef]

Is tat because of the screen? I am thinking of getting the exact same tank and light!

 

[Nick Steele]

Is tat because of the screen? I am thinking of getting the exact same tank and light!

Screens only cut down light by about 4% I believe. It’s just from being a single source light. I have since bought another ai16 hd and it’s working wonders especially for my sps