Supplemental lighting

[jaxteller007]

So I have a 75 gallon set up. Right now I have the 48" Aquatic Life Reef Edge light on it.

https://www.aquaticlife.com/aquatic-life-edge-reef-led-light-fixture.html

I talked to their tech support about using it over open water (was thinking about replacing the glass canopies with mesh tops) and the person said that light is not really designed for the width of a 75g tank. And I can tell it's not as bright as the light that came with the tank, but that light was not designed for reefs so I wanted one with a fuller spectrum.

So my question is, what are some options for adding supplemental lighting to the current set up (without breaking the bank). Right now other than some coral that was on the live rock, it is a fish only set up. The gf may want to add some coral frags but we don't want to do serious coral until after we move. At the same time I'd rather not spend a bunch on lighting now, and then just have to replace it again. And honestly once we move in a few months, I'm hoping to talk her into making this a fish only tank ( I really want some angels or angel like fish) and doing a smaller coral setup where we'd put more serious lighting.

So I guess the question boils down to, what are some budget friendly options to increase our lighting that would allow some small coral frag types to live while we save the high end lighting for a future upgrade/additional tank.

 

[jaxteller007]

This seems like too cheap a price to be decent lighting for a reef tank...
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0727V8C5...pLUZ8WARhJ65A&slotNum=14&tag=aqualedlights-20

 

[jaxteller007]

oh yea #reefsquad lol

 

[Brew12]

I feel the light you have now will be fine. Just keep the any coral frags you get higher in the tank and under the light. You can upgrade the lighting to something that will support coral across your entire tank after you move.

 

[jaxteller007]

I feel the light you have now will be fine. Just keep the any coral frags you get higher in the tank and under the light. You can upgrade the lighting to something that will support coral across your entire tank after you move.

It just seems not very bright even with it's "daylight" settings. I'll try and get pictures of it today after work. Although with the new protein skimmer running there are a lot of bubbles in the tank.

I was reading an article that said for hard coral a rule of thumb is 4.5 watts per gallon of saltwater. That comes out to just over 300 watts for a 75g tank and my current light is like 71 watts lol.

 

[Anirban]

If you really want to keep it a fish only system with some easy to care softy then just continue with this one and save some money for a used ATI T5 setup.

 

[Brew12]

It just seems not very bright even with it's "daylight" settings. I'll try and get pictures of it today after work. Although with the new protein skimmer running there are a lot of bubbles in the tank.

The human eye is a very poor device for measuring PAR. Blue lighting appears to not be "bright" but provides much more PAR for coral than white lighting, even though the white lights may look brighter.

 

[jaxteller007]

If you really want to keep it a fish only system with some easy to care softy then just continue with this one and save some money for a used ATI T5 setup.

That's what I want, what the gf agrees to down the road is another question lol. She's already a little peeved that our "heck of a steal, complete set up" has wound up costing way more due to changing the filter, light, adding a protein skimmer and my wonderful experience with adding live rock that I did not cure.

Of course she's also going to the LFS like every couple days to check on our fish so I have that going for me.

 

[Brew12]

I was reading an article that said for hard coral a rule of thumb is 4.5 watts per gallon of saltwater. That comes out to just over 300 watts for a 75g tank and my current light is like 71 watts lol.

I probably should have addressed this directly, too. Your entire tank won't be appropriate for coral. The area directly under the light will be just fine. It isn't a good long term solution but you should have no issue making it work until you are ready to upgrade.

And from your next comment, saving the extra tank expense may be a very wise thing at this point!

 

[jda]

If you have a local reef club, or Craigslist, you will get cheap/reliable options if you oft look and have some patience. I saw a multi-bulb Aquamedic T5 go the other day for $40 with 6 month old bulbs... while not ATI Sunpower, they are close and good enough for nearly all tanks short of the most light demanding.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Grab one of these. A poor mans (married) par meter. It’ll tell you what you have and go from there.

That fixture is a pretty good candidate for a 2 tube t5 , or even a second one of the same.

Marine land current and a couple other off brands make a similar models too.

 

[Montiman]

The edge fixture was designed to replace the 2 bulb t5 fixtures aquatic life used to make. I would either add a second one or put the edge in the aquatic life hybrid.

 

[jaxteller007]

I probably should have addressed this directly, too. Your entire tank won't be appropriate for coral. The area directly under the light will be just fine. It isn't a good long term solution but you should have no issue making it work until you are ready to upgrade.

And from your next comment, saving the extra tank expense may be a very wise thing at this point!

If you have a local reef club, or Craigslist, you will get cheap/reliable options if you oft look and have some patience. I saw a multi-bulb Aquamedic T5 go the other day for $40 with 6 month old bulbs... while not ATI Sunpower, they are close and good enough for nearly all tanks short of the most light demanding.

I'll check those out. My family owns a small home security/home automation/home theater company as well so I sent some examples of LED lights to my brother to see if any of his vendors sell them and if so what he can order them for price wise.

 

[Bpb]

Unfortunately you’re being hit from two directions here. You have a significant other than just wants pretty fish but sounds like she’s not as understanding or accepting that a healthy coral environment is different from an off the shelf starter setup. A healthy coral tank doesn’t have to be very expensive or high tech. Unfortunately the state of the hobby has driven people to believing they need fully controllable and dimmable LEDs to be successful. It’s unfortunate but a lot of new hobbyists just aren’t able to connect that a thriving reef tank is very different from an easy FW fish tank. The two hobbies are so different they’re virtually unrelated. So even if you don’t spend a ton of money you’ll still be looking at some advanced chemistry understanding and a lot of patience in waiting for a tank to really mature and process nutrients efficiently.

 

[Maritimer]

You mentioned

I can tell it's not as bright as the light that came with the tank,

It seems to me that you could bump the overall light levels up a bit by running both lights . . .

(Granted - "the light that came with the tank" is almost _never_ appropriate for corals - or even plants - on its own...)

~Bruce

 

[jaxteller007]

You mentioned



It seems to me that you could bump the overall light levels up a bit by running both lights . . .

(Granted - "the light that came with the tank" is almost _never_ appropriate for corals - or even plants - on its own...)

~Bruce

Well I kind of already sold the original one that came with the tank lol. I may just roll with it for now if I can't find a good deal on some kind of add on lights.