New member here, light question

[bayousalty]

Hi everyone! New to the forum. I’ve kept salt tanks since age 13 till 27, now getting back in it at 47 lol. Starting a 20 long and just purchased an AI prime 16hd on backorder. Question is will this be enough light to grow a new reef? Have a donated aquaclear 50 filter and was advised by LFS to not use the media it came with. Haven’t bought substrate yet, crossing that bridge when I get there

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Welcome to your new home for saltwater reef aquarium resources and fun! Welcome to the family!

 

[vetteguy53081]

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hi everyone! New to the forum. I’ve kept salt tanks since age 13 till 27, now getting back in it at 47 lol. Starting a 20 long and just purchased an AI prime 16hd on backorder. Question is will this be enough light to grow a new reef? Have a donated aquaclear 50 filter and was advised by LFS to not use the media it came with. Haven’t bought substrate yet, crossing that bridge when I get there

The Ai Prime- you will need two OR one hydra 26 or 32hd.
AQua clear until is a mechanical filter for polishing water and youre better off with a hang on refugium as you want added biological and chemical filtration. Adding a nano skimmer will also be of help

 

[phillyb614]

 

[Ocean_Queenie]

Hello & Welcome!

 

[WalkerLovesTheOcean]

Welcome!

 

[1112-425XL]

My 20 has been running for 2 and a half years with Aqua clear 50 with stock media. Also use a couple small powerheads.

 

[Dread Pirate Dave]

Welcome back on board!

 

[shakacuz]

welcome aboard the r2r board. hello from PA!

 

[Brisk]

Welcome!

 

[west co reefer]

Hi everyone! New to the forum. I’ve kept salt tanks since age 13 till 27, now getting back in it at 47 lol. Starting a 20 long and just purchased an AI prime 16hd on backorder. Question is will this be enough light to grow a new reef? Have a donated aquaclear 50 filter and was advised by LFS to not use the media it came with. Haven’t bought substrate yet, crossing that bridge when I get there

Welcome! It depends on how you'd like to set up your filtration. There are so many ways to approach filtration and it depends on your livestock plans. It sounds like you're not planning on drilling and adding a sump (which would be ideal), so you can consider HOB skimmer options and possibly do the aquaclear refugium modification. It's okay to use the included media, but proper amount of live rock should suffice instead of the included bio media. There's a lot of info on the forums and more than we can post here. Time to dig through and read up

 

[timmyrules]

Welcome to R2R!!!

 

[Bruttall]

 

[bayousalty]

The Ai Prime- you will need two OR one hydra 26 or 32hd.
AQua clear until is a mechanical filter for polishing water and youre better off with a hang on refugium as you want added biological and chemical filtration. Adding a nano skimmer will also be of help

Thanks. The tank is 30.5” long and 12” deep if that helps. LFS said the dual hydra would be too bright/hot and all I would need is a HOB I’ve never done coral just fish and live rock

 

[VintageReefer]

Thanks. The tank is 30.5” long and 12” deep if that helps. LFS said the dual hydra would be too bright/hot and all I would need is a HOB I’ve never done coral just fish and live rock

Are you intending to do coral ?

A single AI prime will illuminate the tank if you mount it high enough but your par values will be extremely low, and you’ll have ton of overspill into the room. It will work for fish and maybe the most basic of corals with very low light demand

If you want more coral freedom you would need a second ai prime, then you can mount lower and contain more light in the tank and have better coverage

 

[vetteguy53081]

Thanks. The tank is 30.5” long and 12” deep if that helps. LFS said the dual hydra would be too bright/hot and all I would need is a HOB I’ve never done coral just fish and live rock

I actually would go with a pair of noopsyche K7 pros or two Orphek OR3 -90 light bars (one sky blue and other Blue Plus)

 

[bayousalty]

Are you intending to do coral ?

A single AI prime will illuminate the tank if you mount it high enough but your par values will be extremely low, and you’ll have ton of overspill into the room. It will work for fish and maybe the most basic of corals with very low light demand

If you want more coral freedom you would need a second ai prime, then you can mount lower and contain more light in the tank and have better coverage

I knew it, I knew it! That wasn’t enough by itself. I planned to put that add-on diffuser to prevent overspill. I’ll look in the classifieds for a used 2nd

 

[anything prints]

Hi everyone! New to the forum. I’ve kept salt tanks since age 13 till 27, now getting back in it at 47 lol. Starting a 20 long and just purchased an AI prime 16hd on backorder. Question is will this be enough light to grow a new reef? Have a donated aquaclear 50 filter and was advised by LFS to not use the media it came with. Haven’t bought substrate yet, crossing that bridge when I get there

welcome!

 

[VintageReefer]

I have a single ai prime 16 hd over a 15g peninsula, it’s around 14” long and the display is around 13g. if I was to guess and one prime definitly wouldn’t be able to handle a tank twice as wide. Two would be needed.