Lighting for a 40 Breeder

Mark Waltermire · Dec 12, 2018

I'm in a bit of a dilemma. I currently have a 72 gallon tank that I'm going to be downsizing to a 40 breeder because the tank is at home, and I'm at college now. I currently have 48" T5 lighting and 4 Kessils running overtop of my 72 gallon tank. I know I want to sell at least one of the Kessils, putting me at only 2-3 left over. I currently have a 24" dimmable 6 bulb ATI fixture that I could put over the tank. I was originally thinking I could mount Kessils on the side of that light fixture, but now realize there isn't enough room for that to happen. This leaves me with the 5 options listed above.

If I go for the ATI fixture then it's simple, and I already have the light and everything, then I'd probably sell off all of my Kessils. I could go the route of an aquatic life hybrid fixture either the 24" or 36" and use some of the Kessils in there. I could also just use the Kessils, but I'm not really leaning towards this idea. The tank is currently an LPS/SPS mix, but no Acropora, just Montipora. I'd like to add acropora, but the last frag I tried a year ago didn't survive, so I've been waiting for the tank to establish itself more. It's now been set up for 18 months so Acropora should live, and that would be the eventual goal for the tank. I know all of these options will work, but I'm looking for the best option.

Octane13 · Dec 12, 2018

I have two 160we and a 36" hybrid which is a pretty nice combo. I felt like two 160's just wasn't enough spread, three would probably have been fine but for the same price The T5 is nice and I'm growing easy SPS just fine. I do have a few acros that seem happy directly under one of the kessils maybe 10" or so.

hart24601 · Dec 12, 2018

I bought an orphek v4 for my deep blue rimless (34g but same footprint) and it's really fantastic. With already having the kessils the aquatic life with them makes sense though. I am personally not a fan of T5 without some LEDs in there, but that is just me.

timrocks311 · Dec 12, 2018

I have a 40 breeder with a 24" 4-bulb T5 fixture. It's mainly an LPS tank. I wish I had a 6 bulb because, with the 4 bulb, I'm limited with the color combo of bulbs. I feel I don't have the optimal color I want. I also feel I could use some pop that LED brings. The 24" is okay because I figured the outsides would be lower light areas for lower light corals. I guess a 36" fixture would be nice, but I'm okay with 24".

I already had the fixture, so I used it. If i could do it again, I'd get either a 6-bulb T5 or probably more likely the 36" hybrid fixture with 2 LEDs.

jda · Dec 12, 2018

Is there an option for "sell all of the stuff and get a 6 bulb 36" T5 fixture?" That is what I would choose.

Second choice would be the 36" Aquatic Life, but I would do it with the 4 bulbs and then barely run the kessils.

Jacked Reefer · Dec 12, 2018

It depends, are you more for aesthetics or growth. If you for growth t5 led hybrid (36 inch) would be optimall. But the modern look of just three kessil is so nice.

Porpoise Hork · Dec 12, 2018

Look at the ReefBreeders Photon V2. I have the 48" version and love it. They are amazingly powerful lights and the 32" model can be compared to a AI Hydra 52 HD and can easily provide more than enough PAR for a mixed reef tank.

https://www.reefbreeders.com/shop/photon-32-v2/

Bryce M. · Dec 12, 2018

36" my friend, no personal experiences but out of those options, sure seems the best

Mark Waltermire · Dec 12, 2018

jda said:
Is there an option for "sell all of the stuff and get a 6 bulb 36" T5 fixture?" That is what I would choose.

Second choice would be the 36" Aquatic Life, but I would do it with the 4 bulbs and then barely run the kessils.

I already have the 6 bulb 24" so I'd rather not have to go through the process of selling everything to free of the cash and then purchase the 36" fixture.

On your second choice, I feel like that's going to be overkill and the money from selling the kessil fixture will be used to pay for the aquatic life fixture. Using all 4 of the kessils would get rid of the money for the aquatic life fixture. I already am running 4 A360's on my 72 gallon (48") with a 2 bulb 48" T5 setup. I just took one of the A360's off because it was overkill using all 4 of them. I can't even imagine the overkill that would be on a 40BR. There would literally only be about 2 inches between each of the Kessils. I think that having 5 inches between the lights would still be plenty if I wanted to go the route of 3 kessils on a 36" aquatic life, but that's not one of the options that I listed.

jda · Dec 12, 2018

Go and look up @Crabs Mcjones 40 breeder setup. He does SPS has gone from Kessil, add T5s and now on to better/more lighting. I don' think that anything that you listed is even close to overkill. Kessil in no way are output monsters.