New light for 34 gallon Solana rimless

Bee0877 · Jul 20, 2018

I recently acquired a 34 gallon Solana rimless tank. I love the look but was wondering what would be the best light for it? It came with a black box but I don’t really want to hang anything from the ceiling. Would one clamp on AI prime be enough? Trying to find something used under $200.00

WV Reefer · Jul 20, 2018

Bee0877 said:
I recently acquired a 34 gallon Solana rimless tank. I love the look but was wondering what would be the best light for it? It came with a black box but I don’t really want to hang anything from the ceiling. Would one clamp on AI prime be enough? Trying to find something used under $200.00

Hi!

That’s a 20” cube, am I right? If so, the spread on a prime is 18” so depending on what you want in there I would say that would be perfect.

tdileo · Jul 20, 2018

Bee0877 said:
I recently acquired a 34 gallon Solana rimless tank. I love the look but was wondering what would be the best light for it? It came with a black box but I don’t really want to hang anything from the ceiling. Would one clamp on AI prime be enough? Trying to find something used under $200.00

The tank is 20x20x20 so I think that with one Prime you’d have light penetration issues at the bottom unless you want all lower light corals. You definitely could use one, but I think you’d be better off spending a little more to get a Hydra 26 or even a used Radion. A G4 XR15 would be perfect in my opinion and could grow anything, although it’s more than you wanted to spend. However if you can find a used one in good shape it would be a really great investment.

Bee0877 · Jul 20, 2018

So a clam would be out of the question with one prime then? I will keep an eye out for a deal on a xr15. I am unfamiliar with the light anything in particular I need to keep a look out for on them?

tdileo · Jul 21, 2018

Bee0877 said:
So a clam would be out of the question with one prime then? I will keep an eye out for a deal on a xr15. I am unfamiliar with the light anything in particular I need to keep a look out for on them?

One may work at the top of the rocks, but you’d need to test your PAR first using a meter. Definitely wouldn’t work in the sand though. Recommended minimum PAR for most species of clams is 200-250.
As far as the XR15 goes, just make sure it works and looks to be in good condition. You can also use the older generation models just fine. My LFS recently got in a bunch of old XR30 G3s and sold them for 3 or 4 hundred each, I imagine XR15s would only be 2 or 3 hundred versus that.