Lights for a 45g or 60g cube

[Tyler Bullock]

I am looking at getting some LED's for my current tank. It is a 13.5 fluval evo. I see myself upgrading to either a 45g cube or a 60g cube. For the cube I will mainley want LPS and SPS corals. How much light do you all think I will need? What have you had sucess with?

Thank you!!

 

[Crabs McJones]

I am looking at getting some LED's for my current tank. It is a 13.5 fluval evo. I see myself upgrading to either a 45g cube or a 60g cube. For the cube I will mainley want LPS and SPS corals. How much light do you all think I will need? What have you had sucess with?

Thank you!!

What kind of budget are we talking about?

 

[mcarroll]

Most corals seem to do well with 200-400 PAR or around 15000-20000 lux.

Do you have any lighting preferences to begin with?

There are so many good options these days you really need someplace to start with recommendations.

Kessil, Current USA, AI, etc...

Remember that there's a difference between spotlights (Kessil, AI, ...) and floodlights (Current USA, ...). Remembering that during the selection process seems like it would eliminate a lot of dissatisfied lighting customers.

Some folks like a more dramatic, dynamic look with shadows and wave lines, shimmer, et al like you get with spotlights. Metal halide lights were/are also spotlights.

Some folks like a more homogenous look where there's a lack of shadows or dynamism, like you get with floodlights. T5's were/are also floodlights.

Neither is better per se.

Both are natural for coral, depending on the environment you're trying to recreate.

Oh, I should also add that there are A LOT of folks that are A LOT less picky about lights who are fine with both "looks" and still grow awesome corals.

So if you feel indifferent about it – that's OK too.

 

[Tyler Bullock]

I am looking at AI, Ecotech and Kessil's. I am wanting a wireless setup so I can have them turn on automaticaly in the morning and turn off at night.

 

[Crabs McJones]

Personally I'm a huge kessil fan, and i'll love them ti'll i'm blue in the face. However, that's not to say that they don't have their faults. The biggest one is that out of the box they are not controllable other than to turn the knobs on the lights themself. If you want to control them you have to purchase an external controller such as the Apex, Reef Keeper, or the Kessil Spectral controller. You can also get a cheap digital timer to simply turn the lights on and off. The controllers are if you want to get more advance with dimming, sunrise, sunset, and weather patterns. But to me the shimmer, color blending, and ease of use are what draws them to me most. Plus the simple pendant look of the 160 and 360 or the streamline look of the AP700 look amazing. The AI are WiFi controllable right out of the box, and have proven time and time again that they can grow coral and promote good colors, but with them (and the ecotechs) they tend to have color blending issues if you don't purchase additional diffuser panels and don't create the shimmer that I like.. And the Ecotechs are not WiFi controllable without purchasing the Ecotech Reef Link, however they have been proven to be one of the best in the business when it comes to growing coral. Its really a horse a piece and all breaks down to personal preference.

 

[Tyler Bullock]

Out of AI and Kessel how much light should I get for a 45-60 cube? Hydra? Kessel 160 or 360?

 

[Crabs McJones]

Out of AI and Kessel how much light should I get for a 45-60 cube?

Depended on the corals you want to keep, a 60 cube I believe is a 24x24x24, which you can do either a single A360we or a pair of A160's. The AI you'd probably want to do a pair of AI Prime HD's or a single AI Hydra 26

 

[Tyler Bullock]

LPS and SPS corals

 

[mcarroll]

I am looking at AI, Ecotech and Kessil's. I am wanting a wireless setup so I can have them turn on automaticaly in the morning and turn off at night.

A simple appliance timer will take care of that and is all that's required, functionally speaking. Everything else is "extras".

So if you want dimming and thunderstorms with cloud-cover and a disco ball dance halftime show with per-wavelength tuning – cool, those are all potentially great features, but not required. (Some of the best reef tanks ever grown had no extras.)

Kessil w/Spectral controller and AI w/Director are the options I've heard the best feedback about as far as wireless control goes.

It might feel less jazzy, but there'd be nothing wrong with a Kessil setup on lamp timers - corals would still love it.