light upgrade?

[Donald Gilliss]

I’m looking to upgrade my lights, something better all around for coral and fish. I’m still new to the hobby and have not the slightest clue as to what I should be looking for.. along with what colors are best for what I need. I currently have a Fluval led light, not sure on much more than that lol as it was gave to me.. Helppp...!

 

[MaiReef]

It really depends on what coral you want. The fish you have may determine what coral you can have as well. The light is for the Coral. Fish don’t care what light.

 

[Donald Gilliss]

I already have some, all soft corls for now but I would like to eventually try with some of the SPS and LPS. All my soft corals are doing good so far but I know in order for them to grow properly you need the correct lights, as well as better ones for the SPS and LPS

My fish are:
2 blue chromis
2 occ. clowns
1 fire goby
1 mandarin goby
1 scooter blenny
1 ruby red blenny

I also have a Medusa worm, cleaner and coral banded shrimp (one each), a pin cushion urchin, 3 emerald crabs, some hermits and snails

 

[MaiReef]

Ok. Mandarins are tough. Feed him pods and baby brine. And a Ruby Red. They will not live without a very healthy pod population and feedings. Get them to eat frozen food. Cyclops and small mysis works.

What size tank? What is your budget?

 

[Donald Gilliss]

Yeah I had 2 mandarins originally and one died about a week ago. I (should) have lots of pods, feed mysis shrimp every other day and pellets on occasion. My tank size is 90g. And as far as budget I’m not really sure, I don’t want to go too crazy lol but I know they aren’t cheap either. So any good affordable one id love to look into

 

[MaiReef]

Are you partial to brand names. If not you could stay under $500. Top in my opinion would be $1500 + with the Orphek which are amazing.

 

[MaiReef]

Under $500 is the Sbox extreme 32” WiFi which would grow sps fine.

 

[Donald Gilliss]

Yeaaaah, definitely can’t spend that much lol under 500 is more so my range... probably more so around 250 if that’s possible..So any more suggestions would be great!

 

[Donald Gilliss]

My tank is also 48” long

 

[Donald Gilliss]

Also maybe a little more detail into what’s needed for the coral? Do they need more so the purple and blues? LEDs or t5s? Need all the info I can get... lol

 

[Donald Gilliss]

Pretty much what I need to look for when buying a light... and maybe how to cycle the lights? Not sure how I should really cycle the ones I have now too..

 

[stephen wyard]

I’m looking to upgrade my lights, something better all around for coral and fish. I’m still new to the hobby and have not the slightest clue as to what I should be looking for.. along with what colors are best for what I need. I currently have a Fluval led light, not sure on much more than that lol as it was gave to me.. Helppp...!

I also was looking for lights does anyone know if the hydra 26 hd would support sps corals

 

[Alyxx]

In that price range I'd just get some Chinese black boxes off amazon. They will be more than fine for soft and lps, if you are still newer I'd stick to those 2 for a bit and then dabble in monti in birds nest as you gain expierence

 

[Alyxx]

I also was looking for lights does anyone know if the hydra 26 hd would support sps corals

When an appropriate number of them are applied over the correct surface area, absolutely

 

[MaiReef]

Donald go check out SB reef. They are a good company. You can get the basic version of the light I mentioned quite a bit less expensive. Blue and white generally grow coral. The other lights are for other things. Evenly spread par is what you are looking for. Think of it this way for lights. $500 for 5-10 years is very inexpensive relative to the sps coral you will be putting in.

 

[MaiReef]

I also was looking for lights does anyone know if the hydra 26 hd would support sps corals

Yes, but you need at least 2 if not 3 over a 90 gallon.

 

[Jon Fishman]

Not what you are asking, but I was told the damsels with clowns is a bad idea. Someone else may say differently though. I am planning on a pair of clowns and biting the bullet on a very large Bubbe tip at my local shop, and the guy told me to ditch all my damsels first

 

[Donald Gilliss]

Damsels are the worst.... I had 2 and they were back out of the tank in a week..

 

[Donald Gilliss]

Donald go check out SB reef. They are a good company. You can get the basic version of the light I mentioned quite a bit less expensive. Blue and white generally grow coral. The other lights are for other things. Evenly spread par is what you are looking for. Think of it this way for lights. $500 for 5-10 years is very inexpensive relative to the sps coral you will be putting in.

I’ll definitely be checking those out... thanks so much. The Fluval light I have now has mostly white and blue and also has the red and purple.. but when it’s on it looks mostly white and you can’t change the separate color settings, it just dims and brightens

 

[Donald Gilliss]

Just a small update, I thought all my corals were soft but I actually have 2 sps.. birds nest and Montipora