Lighting for 90 gallon reef tank
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lpsouth1978
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This is a bit of a loaded question. 
It really depends on your goals and budget. I am personally a fan of AI lights and would go with 3 x Hydra 26HD's if it was my tank, however depending on lighting budget, this can be fairly expensive. Alternatively, you could get a couple Mars Aqua, Viparspectra, or similar "black box" lights and be successful.
It really depends on your goals and budget. I am personally a fan of AI lights and would go with 3 x Hydra 26HD's if it was my tank, however depending on lighting budget, this can be fairly expensive. Alternatively, you could get a couple Mars Aqua, Viparspectra, or similar "black box" lights and be successful.
Sehkmete
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The Aquatic Life T5-hybrid could be a good choice. Should be strong enough for some lps/soft corals on it's own and it's easy to add more lights onto it too.
BeejReef
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Break the bank is a very relative term.
No judgments here. If you share what kind of corals you'd like to keep and a price range you'd prefer, there are peeps on here who've gotten it done for $200 to much, much more!
Is controllability important to you... like sunrise, sunset, or is on-off fine? Does it have to look good on legs over the tank, or can you hide China value in a canopy?
No judgments here. If you share what kind of corals you'd like to keep and a price range you'd prefer, there are peeps on here who've gotten it done for $200 to much, much more!
Is controllability important to you... like sunrise, sunset, or is on-off fine? Does it have to look good on legs over the tank, or can you hide China value in a canopy?
OP
OP
Jdubbs0128
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I'm looking at the ai prime hd how many would I need do you think
JCOLE
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What are your tank dimensions and what type of corals are you wanting to keep? It is hard to give any advice without knowing these answers first.
lpsouth1978
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If your 90 is 48" I would go for the Hydra 26HD instead of the Primes. You would need at least 4 primes or 2 Hydra 26HD.
OP
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Jdubbs0128
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It's a 90 gallon 48 long it's deeper than a regular tank. I'm not home right now to measure it. Soft coral and lps to start out. Maybe awhile before I get into sps
zoalander1
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Id go with the 48 in aquatic life t5 hybrid. will work perfect for your softies and lps. bonus if you decide to add corals that require more light you can buy leds that mount to this fixture. I run this over my 48 in 75g with 2 ai primes and love it. I plan to add a 3rd once I need to.
Just spent 2.5 hours on reconnecting Hydra 26’s to new router. Total PIA. Would never go with AI again. No experience with the black boxes above but one thing I learned in this hobby is that you truly.. truly get what you pay for. For reefs that extrapolated x 10. Lights are one area imho you don’t want to be frugal about. I wish I had purchased Radions for my setup.
