Lighting Recommendation for a Red Sea Reefer 250

[Cscultho]

I do not want any limitations. I want to be able to keep any coral. Please give me some good guidance as to which lamp is best for the RSR 250.

thank you....

 

[jsker]

Welcome to R2R. I would go with the Hydra 26 HD or the Mitras LX 7000 link

 

[ejalimagno]

Definitely the kessil360

 

[Cscultho]

Does anybody have experience with the Nanobox Quad light? Is it worth the money for the RSR 250?

 

[VstyLe09]

im running the the nanobox t5 hybrid , more then enough light but still playing around to get the right spectrum.

 

[Broadfield]

I do not want any limitations. I want to be able to keep any coral. Please give me some good guidance as to which lamp is best for the RSR 250.

thank you....

What is your budget? And what type of light source are you wanting?

 

[Water Dog]

If you want to go Nanobox, I'd get a 6x39 ATI Sunpower and have Dave retrofit it with 4 of his Nanobox LED pucks for a nice T5 / LED hybrid set up. Not cheap, but limitless in what you can keep with 100% shadow elimination.


The problem with a lot of the off the shelf LED options are the puck layouts, where from side to side, shadowing is addressed depending on how many fixtures you buy, but you will still get front to back shadowing. That's why fixtures like the new Mitras LX7 or the Maxspect Ethereal fixtures look promising because of their puck layouts.

 

[Cscultho]

What is your budget? And what type of light source are you wanting?

I'd like to stick around the $600 range. I want a light with nice color depth and control.

 

[Water Dog]

What do you plan on keeping in terms of coral?

 

[Cscultho]

What do you plan on keeping in terms of coral?

I dont want any limitations when it comes to corals thats why im really struggling with the lighting decision.

Would (2) Kessils be sufficient?

 

[Clayalaleona]

2 radion g4 pros, you can grow anything and have great color.
I'm getting 2 or 3 for my Reefer 350 eventually

 

[Water Dog]

Without knowing what corals you're planning on keeping, I'll have to assume a full blown SPS tank. If that's the case and you want controllability at the price point you mentioned , I'd suggest a 6x39w ATI T5 dimmable Sunpower fixture. You'll be able to grow anything you want with that fixture with zero shadowing issues. I know it's not the LED solution your looking for, but based on the constraints you've mentioned I'm very confident in my recommendation.

 

[Roy 9121]

I have a 55 gallon, and i keep LPS and SPS in it. I have 1 hydra 52 and it works great.

 

[Water Dog]

For an LED option at your price point and assumed coverage requirements, the Reef Breeders 32" Photon V2 is definitely a viable option.

 

[Cscultho]

For an LED option at your price point and assumed coverage requirements, the Reef Breeders 32" Photon V2 is definitely a viable option.

Thanks for all your help and recommendations. The Reef Breeders is intriguing. Are they new to the lighting game? Ive not heard of them. Are you confident the light is strong enough to keep all corals?

 

[Water Dog]

The 32" Photon V2 lights are more than adequate for your Reefer 250 IMO and Logan at Reef Breeders has excellent customer service and support. I believe @jason2459 just bought them for his 180 gallon tank, and that dude is a veritable wealth of information when it comes to reef keeping on these forums. Note however, although they are very programmable, it has step ramping in 30 minute intervals as opposed to smooth ramping from dawn to dusk.

 

[Cscultho]

The 32" Photon V2 lights are more than adequate for your Reefer 250 IMO and Logan at Reef Breeders has excellent customer service and support. I believe @jason2459 just bought them for his 180 gallon tank, and that dude is a veritable wealth of information when it comes to reef keeping on these forums. Note however, although they are very programmable, it has step ramping in 30 minute intervals as opposed to smooth ramping from dawn to dusk.

LOl. Your talking to a newbie . What does the 30min pamping mean versus a dawn to dusk? In laymen terms. Sorry! Just want to know if it really means anything that might make it unattractive. Also since you mentioned programming does it have features like overcast, cloudy or lightning settings? Sorry for all the questions but you seem very knowledgeable.

 

[jmp21677]

I have never had any luck with only putting one led fixture over a tank. I've tried both dual and single puck radion and didn't have a ton of luck. I switched to an ATI hybrid and its great. This is over a reefer 170

 

[Water Dog]

LOl. Your talking to a newbie . What does the 30min pamping mean versus a dawn to dusk? In laymen terms. Sorry! Just want to know if it really means anything that might make it unattractive. Also since you mentioned programming does it have features like overcast, cloudy or lightning settings? Sorry for all the questions but you seem very knowledgeable.

The Reef Breeders unit does not have storm, lighting or cloud cover effects. IMO that stuff is kinda gimmicky and has no effect on the health or growth of coral. All of those functions are turned off on my Bluefish controller for my Nanobox LED lights. The Photon V2 does have 6 channels so you can control the light spectrum to your liking and you can control moonlight intensity.

What I mean by "step ramping" is it will go from a "set" intensity, say 0% then in 30 minutes, it will bump up to the next "set" intensity, say 10% then 30 minutes later it will go to the next "set" intensity, say 15% and so on and so forth. You determine the "set" intensity and time intervals between changes through however you want to program it. This is opposed to a smooth ramp up or down that more expensive fixtures will do. Again, this stuff is more for our viewing pleasure than it is for our coral. I hope my explanation of the ramping makes sense.

 

[pelphrey]

Above the range you listed, if you consider kessil look at the ap700.