Looking for help on lighting choice for first 65G Long Reef

[Glasswalker]

Hey, so I'm undertaking my first reef build, as is being documented here: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/first-build-some-questions-and-documenting-my-build.241255/

I'm shopping for LED lighting for the tank. I'm looking at both the "big brands" as well as ebay/amazon/aliexpress chinese stuff, to get an idea for the costing bands...

I seem to be seeing conflicting info in the forum threads I've searched on this, so looking for some clarification.

In some cases I see 1W of LED per gallon
Another says 50W/Square foot of tank footprint.
Another says 300W per 50g of tank
Seems an important factor is the right amount of actinic blue, but not sure how to identify that.

And so on...

Also lighting spectrum seems to be fairly "loose" in definition. (some lights are advertised as being good reef lights, but in the end don't have actinic blue, or whatever). Also some have 5-6 different spectrum LEDs in it, others have only basic White/Blue LEDs...

I'm planning on having both hard and soft coral, and some fish in the tank.

It's a 65G 47" long tank

The other problem I'm seeing is I can find either lights that are long to cover the whole tank but either lack in wattage, or spectrum (at least based on limited info I can find) OR lights that have wattage/spectrum but are small square/rectangle style lights, requiring most likely 2 of them to cover my tank... I can't seem to find less expensive/smaller ones in the latter form-factor...

Like one that I found on amazon, seemed good at first glance, but in the feedback others said it's useless for a reef tank: https://www.amazon.ca/Aquatic-Aquarium-Light-Fixture-48-Inch/dp/B00H3Y4YQ2

Another that looked good on wattage/specs is: https://www.amazon.ca/Roleadro-55x3w-Dimmable-Spectrum-Aquarium/dp/B00INM0J1M but it's small and I would need 2 for coverage reasons...

Also just considering small round bulb Edison Socket LED fixtures which are like 10-20 watt, and getting a handful of them, or going with a full DIY approach...

I don't much care if they have fancy programmable features, I can always do that externally by controlling power to the fixture, as long as there is a means to directly control the different lighting phases for day/night.

Thoughts/input?

Thanks!

 

[Diesel]

Tough question my friend.
If I say go run with the radions others are saying that of market Chinese stuff is good too.
Of course there are awesome results both ways.
My question is, why LED's?

 

[Glasswalker]

Mainly looking at LED due to:

• Lower power
• Longevity

The thing that has me confused a bit, is that LED should be approx twice as efficient as Fluorescent, and much more efficient than Halogen or Metal Halide and such. But it seems with marine lighting the fixtures are in the same ranges (ie: a 50Watt LED fixture, replaces a 50Watt Fluorescent fixture for example)

Seems odd to me.

Anyway, still investigating... I might even end up going with a DIY light... We'll see

Still very interested to hear everyone's input on how to calculate my needs, assume both soft, and SPS/LPS coral in my tank with 47" long tank, which is 20" deep.

 

[go29]

don't know if this will help you but I'm in the "equipment buying stage" for a new build I have coming and have a similar tank length as you. I ended up going with two AI hydra 52 HD. This way I have plenty of light (mounted with light pucks left to right, not front to back). Im a big proponent in "spread" and thus wanted more total available light pucks over the tank. Its not the cheap option but I have had nothing but success with AI hydra 52 lights and thus ended up going this route.

Another option I've been seeing good reviews/results with for our size tank though would be a kessil ap700..... hung high enough apparently gives off amazing spread for tanks right in your range. Let us know what you decide, but hopefully this helps some.

 

[michael.cser20]

Reefbreeders photon v2 48" would be nice for that tank