New to the reefing world

[Rafael nyc]

Hi all I’ve had a salt water tank for over 10 year with fish, and now I want to try building a reef. I would like lps and sps corals so I’m getting the tans ready. I have a 90gl reef ready tank, skimmer, 2 mp40, and ato. My question is lighting I have a USA current led now that is great for fish but I know I have to step it up. I was looking at the Radion pros or the hydra 32. My question is should I pend the money on the Radion or will the hydra be sufficient? of course there will be more question to come but I’m gathering my equipment firs.

 

[Mr Fishface]

First - welcome to the forums!
Second - I think the hydra would work but you might want to wait for other responses here too. I used the current marine LED for soft corals and it was nice for that but for SPS you are correct in wanting to upgrade. The hydra looks like I would place it in the same category as my kessil 360. I grow lps and sps now with my kessils and have some good growth rate happening so far.

 

[UCF Alum]

Welcome to R2R!
Lots of great people and advice on here.

 

[Silent]

Lighting is debated quite a bit. Many different lights will work fine. Whatever is in your budget. Some obviously better than others but I know many who use cheap black box leds and grow sps that look great.
Welcome to R2R.

 

[Redfoxtang]

Welcome to R2R!! To be honest your gonna get a bunch of different responses about lighting. So with that said I would go with what your budget allows. If Radions fall into that category go for it, if not hydras will work as well. But do keep in mind Radions are 190w and Hydras are 90w. Good luck!!

 

[CasaReefer]

Welcome to R2R.... I have Radion Pro15's four of them and I like the Reeflink interface on them... a lot of adjustability... Plus you can run their programs that they have tested in their Coral lab.

 

[Peace River]

If you have a standard dimension 90g then that is a taller tank (30in ?), so you may want to strongly consider a more powerful light. See if you can get PAR estimates at various depths for the lights you are considering and then match that to the needs of the corals that you may keep in the future.

#WelcometoR2R

 

[lapin]

Howdy

 

[MrWheelock]

Welcome to R2R! There are a bunch of par videos on brstv on YouTube that might assist you on deciding on a lighting choice based on your tank depth.

 

[Ruben's Reef]

!!! Welcome to R2R !!! Like our fellow reefers already said, reef light is a hard topic because all depends on first, your budget and more important what type of corals you will place on your tank and your tank dimensions.

 

[Jeto2004]

Welcome to R2R! Do you know what corals do you want to house? This may impact your lighting decision.

 

[Rafael nyc]

First - welcome to the forums!
Second - I think the hydra would work but you might want to wait for other responses here too. I used the current marine LED for soft corals and it was nice for that but for SPS you are correct in wanting to upgrade. The hydra looks like I would place it in the same category as my kessil 360. I grow lps and sps now with my kessils and have some good growth rate happening so far.

Thanks

 

[Rafael nyc]

Lighting is debated quite a bit. Many different lights will work fine. Whatever is in your budget. Some obviously better than others but I know many who use cheap black box leds and grow sps that look great.
Welcome to R2R.

in the past I have purchased inexpensive equipment that has worked fine but don’t last long. So I would always end up spending more.

 

[Rafael nyc]

If you have a standard dimension 90g then that is a taller tank (30in ?), so you may want to strongly consider a more powerful light. See if you can get PAR estimates at various depths for the lights you are considering and then match that to the needs of the corals that you may keep in the future.

#WelcometoR2R

It 48Lx18Dx23H i

 

[Rafael nyc]

Welcome to R2R! There are a bunch of par videos on brstv on YouTube that might assist you on deciding on a lighting choice based on your tank depth.

Yea I have been doing a lot of research but it’s getting more confusing lol. Bet the theme seems to be that there are a lot of good lights out there ,it all be pends on your budget and the functionality that you what.

 

[Peace River]

It 48Lx18Dx23H i

With those tank dimensions the good news is that the lighting may not need to be as powerful, the less-than-good news is that you may need more lights for full coverage.

 

[BayouReefer]

 

[Rafael nyc]

Welcome to R2R! Do you know what corals do you want to house? This may impact your lighting decision.

Lps and sps

 

[Rafael nyc]

With those tank dimensions the good news is that the lighting may not need to be as powerful, the less-than-good news is that you may need more lights for full coverage.

I was thinking I have to get two and see from there

 

[Dragon52]