In Need of some help!

Bubba_0161 · Apr 12, 2012

I am new to R2R and the saltwater world. I have had freshwater tanks for 5 or 6 years now wuld just like to upgrade. I just recently bought a 150 gal tank 72 x 18 x 28. I plan on right now just doing some live rock with fish but hopefully adding some corals at a later point and time. So my questions is i would like to go with some LED light s but not sure how much i should go with? But i would like to get the LED big enought so when i add corals to the tank i have the lighting already in place.

Thanks in advance!

revhtree · Apr 12, 2012

Welcome to R2R! Thanks for joining and please make sure and post often!

To start to answer your questions let me ask you a couple questions.

Are you wanting to go with a dimmable fixture? Also are you going to be using a hood over the tank? Are you interested in one long set up, or several separate fixtures?

SmokeyCFH · Apr 12, 2012

Pendants are cool, multichip LED's seem to be the new wave of LED's, Orphek and Kessil both have great pendants...Evolution LED's aren't half bad either, great colors and really make fish and corals pop. LED's are popping up everywhere and are constantly being upgraded so the most time goes by the better LED's you'll find. Good luck and keep us updated!

myclang · Apr 12, 2012

Welcome bubba! Sounds like you're in the very same boat I am in currently!

sucker_fish · Apr 12, 2012

If it were me I would go with 3 pendant type led, the reason i say this is because if you change tanks later down the road you can either add another pendant or leave off a pendant instead of trying to sell a whole light fixture for a fraction of what you paid for it and then worry about buying another all new light set up

sucker_fish · Apr 12, 2012

i would recommend 3 high quality led pendants over a tank your size, should be able to keep most anything later on when you get into corals.

SmokeyCFH · Apr 12, 2012

I really like my Orphek pendant and you can get different lens for the type of spread you'd like; They're interchangeable, it's real simple, screw it off and screw the other on.

Can't really go wrong with over buying if you have the money cause you'll later be able to set up different types of tank if you choose not to utilize all of them on one tank.

Bubba_0161 · Apr 13, 2012

Thanks Everyone for the help! I will start to do a little more research. About how many watts should i have about?

SmokeyCFH · Apr 13, 2012

You could go with 2 of these guys Orphek DIF-100 100 Watt 120 Degree LED Pendant

or three of these: Orphek DIF-50 50 Watt 120 Degree LED Pendant - UV/blue

at least that's what I would do.

Mike&Terry · Apr 15, 2012

Welcome to R2R, Bubba.
Check out the Lighting forum for your research. There are a ton of good threads about LED fixtures. As Smokey said, the LED market is changing fast - many new products coming out and the technology is improving. With a 28" high tank, you'll need some good LEDs to be able to keep corals or clams on the bottom of your tank. I think the advice you got was good about going with multiple pendants, so you can re-use them on future tanks you may set up, or it will be easier to sell those to upgrade later.