lighting for reef tank

[Adrian in Ontario]

I currently have the https://www.opentip.com/product.php?products_id=6693087 Marineland strip light. It worked great when this was fresh water planted tank but wanted to make sure it would be enough for live corals. Thinking I will do soft coral. Tank is 48L x 21H x 13D

 

[Crabs McJones]

I don't know that it would produce enough par for corals. 24 1 watt white leds and 8 .6 watt blue leds. It hits more of the whiter spectrum, corals thrive in a more blue spectrum, it may do fine for soft corals only.

 

[Adrian in Ontario]

Sorry ignore this one, I just found similar one with same light asking same question on forum :/ Sorry for the wasted post.

 

[Tuffyyyyy]

What size tank were you thinking of? I don't think that light alone would get the job done but you could use that and a couple of these:

https://www.amazon.com/KINGBO-Aquar...TF8&qid=1539039550&sr=8-4&keywords=PAR38+reef

 

[Adrian in Ontario]

What size tank were you thinking of? I don't think that light alone would get the job done but you could use that and a couple of these:

https://www.amazon.com/KINGBO-Aquar...TF8&qid=1539039550&sr=8-4&keywords=PAR38+reef

Aquarium is 48"L x 22"H x 13"D

 

[Tuffyyyyy]

Aquarium is 48"L x 22"H x 13"D

Are you trying to not spend any money or do you have a budget we can work with?

 

[Adrian in Ontario]

Are you trying to not spend any money or do you have a budget we can work with?

I am trying to keep it around $200. Seems like a few options out there. If I go with the 4-8W per gallon formula there are a few decent lights I am seeing for $200-300 at 300W. Lots more at 165W, is that formula really worth using? When I bought my lights for fresh water I found chart for height and distance.

 

[Adrian in Ontario]

https://www.amazon.ca/WillsLed-Aqua...qid=1539041304&sr=8-20&keywords=reef+lighting says its good for 21" depth... 36" coverage for spread which if centered would leave 4" each end. I have to admit this is addictive I am getting lost in figures and numbers here.

 

[Zohar78]

lighting will be one of the most important pieces of the system. it may be worth it to save up for a couple good lights. ai primes may work very good on this tank. though you would need 3 for adequate coverage. .

 

[Tuffyyyyy]

https://www.amazon.ca/WillsLed-Aqua...qid=1539041304&sr=8-20&keywords=reef+lighting says its good for 21" depth... 36" coverage for spread which if centered would leave 4" each end. I have to admit this is addictive I am getting lost in figures and numbers here.

That would work. The only thing I'd suggest is picking up 2x of the smaller versions so you don't have to worry about coverage as much. I'd suggest picking up 2x of these: https://sbreeflights.com/sbox-reef-lights/1-sbox-basic.html

SB Reef Lights are in the black box format but the spectrum is upgraded. One other thing I'd suggest would be a super cheap T5 fixture:

https://www.amazon.com/Odyssea-Timer-Aquarium-Marine-Cichlid/dp/B016VAZ31S

If you pick up that and then replace the 4 bulbs ($25 per bulb) with some mixture of the following (I'd personally do 3x blue+ and 1x Coral plus):
https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/t5-ati-blue-plus.html
https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/t5-ati-coral-plus.html

These are the cheapest ways I know of to get good lightning in a tank. I used the Odyssea light on my 40 gallon tank for close to a year before switching back to LED.