Lighting requirement for FOWLR

[RikardJ]

So, a dear colleague gave me a 30g aquarium with stand and a few extras, which I plan on turning into a FOWLR intially, potentially evolving into a reef with softies in due time.

The light I got with the 30g aquarium is very similar to this: http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+3733+10704+23550&pcatid=23550&r=518 It is the same casing, but the LED's are slightly different, and I don't have the blue ones.

Will it be sufficient for FOWLR?

I don't think the fish will notice a difference, but I'm unsure if I get the full potential out of the rock with this light.

 

[andrewkw]

Without the blue light it's not going to look very nice but any light is sufficient for a fowlr including no light. When you want to start adding softies it will be time to reevaluate the lighting. I have a 90 gallon (3x2x2) fowlr and I light it with a single par 38 bulb. More than enough to look at my lion fish and the bulb even gives off decent shimmer. I wouldn't attempt any corals at all with this setup though.

 

[Crabs McJones]

If you're looking for something simple, you could always get the sb reef lights
The basic, which has no timer, just on, off, and can be ran by wall timers
https://sbreeflights.com/sbox-reef-lights/1-sbox-basic.html
or the one with a build in timer
https://sbreeflights.com/sbox-reef-lights/2-sbox-pro-timer.html
They're inexpensive and will grow pretty much any coral you throw under it down the road

 

[RikardJ]

If you're looking for something simple, you could always get the sb reef lights
The basic, which has no timer, just on, off, and can be ran by wall timers
https://sbreeflights.com/sbox-reef-lights/1-sbox-basic.html
or the one with a build in timer
https://sbreeflights.com/sbox-reef-lights/2-sbox-pro-timer.html
They're inexpensive and will grow pretty much any coral you throw under it down the road

I did actually look at the SB reef light basic, but I will probably do all the cycling with the simple light I got and then replace it sometime during the spring with a better one.