What lighting system would work best for my aquarium?

[Lance Basslet]

I know everyone wants another question about what light to buy and I refuse to disappoint!! I have the lights shown below: (or above?) a brand new ATI 36" 8 bulb T5 thing and a used Ecotech xr30w led deal. My tank is a 48" 90 gallon that I would like to house aquacultured sps and a clam. Should I go with the used xr30 and buy another xr30? Should I use the new T5s and supplement the 12 inches of missing light with a pendent led light?
Are the Ecotech lights as great as the hype?? Will the ATI lights make my tank look fat??

 

[nex64]

T5s with reefbrite stunner strips

 

[AdamNC]

If you have the funds available I'd get another Radion and supplement with t5s the length of the tank. With LEDs you will get shadowing if you are ok with that. By supplementing with t5s it will help aliviate the shadowing.

 

[Lance Basslet]

So 2 Ecotech lights and something like this??

 

[ReefJunky]

I agree with nex64. Using T5s with ReefBrite LED strips is a well proven lighting method!

I like a tank that gives the impression of being a deep reef. I have an 8x54watt 48" ATI fixture running an actinic and blue+ (8am to 11:30am) then an actinic, a purple+ and four blue+ (11:30am to 5:30pm) then the actinic and Blue+ (5:30pm to 9pm). When I have the money, I plan on adding two all blue 48" ReefBrite LED strips with a dimming module.

For an SPS dominated tank you'd probably need to substitute two or three "daylight" bulbs. Your preference.

One piece of advice I would like to add is this... I have a crocea clam (one of three different crocea clams, all 8+ years old) that started out with a gorgeous gold and purple/blue tiger stripe pattern. These are in a shallow reef aquarium BTW not my deep reef aquarium. When I switched from 250watt HQI lighting to all LEDs its color faded... a lot! Then after two and a half years when the individual LEDs started burning out (literally a few weeks before the warranty expired and the company had already went out of business) I got out the old HQI lighting. The crocea clam did color up a little... and I want to stress LITTLE! Now it is not even close to being the gem it once was even after almost one and a half years under the HQI lighting. So with this being said, IMHO... if you can some how use the Ecotech XR30W to provide more intense lighting for your clam... I'd certainly recommend it. Just be careful and not burn your clam since Ecotech LEDs can be extremely bright when turned up from what I have heard, maybe others can comment on this. I have never used Ecotech LED lighting so I cannot give any advise on where to start, sorry. Also bear in mind that the different types of Tridacna clams require different intensities and also quality of light (more blue or more daylight). So you'd have to tailor the Ecotech color channels to mimic the relative average depth from where your particular species of Tridacna clam normally occurs.

Hope this helps!

 

[Lance Basslet]

I agree with nex64. Using T5s with ReefBrite LED strips is a well proven lighting method!

I like a tank that gives the impression of being a deep reef. I have an 8x54watt 48" ATI fixture running an actinic and blue+ (8am to 11:30am) then an actinic, a purple+ and four blue+ (11:30am to 5:30pm) then the actinic and Blue+ (5:30pm to 9pm). When I have the money, I plan on adding two all blue 48" ReefBrite LED strips with a dimming module.

For an SPS dominated tank you'd probably need to substitute two or three "daylight" bulbs. Your preference.

One piece of advice I would like to add is this... I have a crocea clam (one of three different crocea clams, all 8+ years old) that started out with a gorgeous gold and purple/blue tiger stripe pattern. These are in a shallow reef aquarium BTW not my deep reef aquarium. When I switched from 250watt HQI lighting to all LEDs its color faded... a lot! Then after two and a half years when the individual LEDs started burning out (literally a few weeks before the warranty expired and the company had already went out of business) I got out the old HQI lighting. The crocea clam did color up a little... and I want to stress LITTLE! Now it is not even close to being the gem it once was even after almost one and a half years under the HQI lighting. So with this being said, IMHO... if you can some how use the Ecotech XR30W to provide more intense lighting for your clam... I'd certainly recommend it. Just be careful and not burn your clam since Ecotech LEDs can be extremely bright when turned up from what I have heard, maybe others can comment on this. I have never used Ecotech LED lighting so I cannot give any advise on where to start, sorry. Also bear in mind that the different types of Tridacna clams require different intensities and also quality of light (more blue or more daylight). So you'd have to tailor the Ecotech color channels to mimic the relative average depth from where your particular species of Tridacna clam normally occurs.

Hope this helps!

I just saw this as my phone pooped the bed on Saturday morning. Thanks so much for the advice. I think I am going to move my 36" ati lights all the way to one side and then put my Ecotech in the empty 12" of space. Thanks again.