Switching FOWLR to Soft Corals LED Option

[wowatracy]

I've had a 55g 48"x24" FOWLR for about 14 years now. After a honeymoon in the Maldives my wife and I would like to start adding some soft corals. I was thinking of sticking to mushrooms, xenias, leathers, and would like to have an anemone.

My tank is built into a bar, the top is on a piano hinge to get access to the tank but it leaves very little room for lighting so I have to stick to thin strip lighting.

Current lighting is the 36" version of this
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GFTSV24/ref=ask_ql_qh_dp_hza?th=1

I'm thinking about adding another one of those same lights but the 48" version.

Or instead of adding another one of those I could add a 48" one of these
https://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+3733+10704+34953&pcatid=34953&r=558

I believe the second one IC LED is full spectrum and the first one is not.

Any opinions other than the fact that they're cheap and you get what you pay for?

Thanks,
Allen

 

[dantimdad]

You should be able to have quite a few softies with the 48" light. I would not recommend an anemone with just that light though.

 

[wowatracy]

Awesome, thanks. Would you recommend one of the 48" lights over the other? Also, if I add one of those 48" lights and keep the 36" one as well would it be enough for an anemone?

 

[dantimdad]

I would still keep both even though I am not so sure it would keep an anemone in that deep of a tank.

You could DIY an LED spot light that won't generate too much heat and, with lenses, reach that depth.

Just a thought.

Let me know if you need help with the DIY route I have a lot of experience building things like this.

 

[wowatracy]

I didn't even think about going the DIY route but that's a great idea. I've done a lot of DIY stuff in my other hobbies so I'm comfortable with that kind of stuff. Maybe I can DIY a whole new LED system? I can start going through the DIY part of the forum to see what I can find. Let me know if you have any great threads on LED builds. I'd like to stay around $200-$250 but could go up to $300.

 

[Dana Riddle]

I bought a used tank with a Current light you've described. In my opinion, it would not generate enough light. Look into some of the Chinese black boxes - you can get two for about the same amount of money as the Current unit. Or some strip LED lights such as Orphek.

 

[Dana Riddle]

One other thing. It's a misconception in the hobby that soft corals require less light than SPS or other stony corals, probably due to the fleshy nature of these corals that allows zooxanthellae to live deeper in the tissues (as opposed to paper-thin skin of many SPS corals that is stretched over a highly reflective skeleton.) Some PAM fluorometer tests we did when I was in Hawaii on Sinularia abrupta yielded these surprising results.