Lighting a 48" bookshelf tank

[fermentedhiker]

I'm waiting on a quote for a 48x12x12 custom acrylic tank. It's intended to be a "header fuge" of sorts for a 4 foot 120 gallon softy reef.

The header tank will contain mostly macros, zoas and palys and a few fish I already have that I don't want to put in the DT once it's setup.

Trying to figure out some good LED options to research. a 48" V2 Photon would certainly work since it's dimmable and can be set to a low enough level but at 650$ that seems like a waste of money. What are some possible fixtures I should be looking at?

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

48 is a hard tank to light on a budget.

And bells and whistles cost.
So I wouldn’t rule out used gear.

If you’re going low par , you can look at the older no lens current orbit marines.
I’m in a thread now that the guy is using a Fluval.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/3...-im-seeing-or-not-seeing.383701/#post-4665869

I have 3 16in SBreeflight BB’s on my 48 in 55. No controller.

You could look at the SBreeflight Sbars and a controller. Its made for t5 supplements but it would work. They have white and blue bars.

2 t5 would be an easy one. That and an orbit strip would be pretty cool too.

 

[fermentedhiker]

48 is a hard tank to light on a budget.

And bells and whistles cost.
So I wouldn’t rule out used gear.

If you’re going low par , you can look at the older no lens current orbit marines.
I’m in a thread now that the guy is using a Fluval.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/3...-im-seeing-or-not-seeing.383701/#post-4665869

I have 3 16in SBreeflight BB’s on my 48 in 55. No controller.

You could look at the SBreeflight Sbars and a controller. Its made for t5 supplements but it would work. They have white and blue bars.

2 t5 would be an easy one. That and an orbit strip would be pretty cool too.

Thanks. It's not so much a budget matter as not wasting money. The V2 would be great but for a 12" deep tank it's just overkill. The money could be better spent on lights for the DT etc... The Fluval and Current Orbit Marine could work because of the depth as well as an aquaticlife fixture. As far as bells and whistles dimmable is the only real requirement. A rampable timer as well would be ideal but not a deal breaker.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Thanks. It's not so much a budget matter as not wasting money. The V2 would be great but for a 12" deep tank it's just overkill. The money could be better spent on lights for the DT etc... The Fluval and Current Orbit Marine could work because of the depth as well as an aquaticlife fixture. As far as bells and whistles dimmable is the only real requirement. A rampable timer as well would be ideal but not a deal breaker.

Cool. Check those ones out.
The orbit is only timer and a 30 min ramp. Looks like that fluval is a bit better.
Not sure what the fluval looks like in person.

I’ve been seeing some no name stuff pop up too, but no reports on long term sucess.

 

[mcarroll]

Nothing wrong with considering regular strips on plain timers for such a shallow tank....a set of these would be great:


Current USA TrueLumen Pro Marine Fusion 12K/453nm Blue LED StripLight

$99/ea...one or two would be plenty for most apps in that tank, but you have room for 4+ if I'm not mistaken. (4+ could like a fairly deep tank.)

$200-$400 seems like a more reasonable range to spend in IMO. (You do have to add one or more power supplies to the cost...optional in-line dimmers and power-supply splitters too.)

You can check out their recommendations for these strips here, including recommended power supply: