What lights are you using for your frag tank?

Flippers4pups

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T5's?
LED's?
Other?

Bonus question:

Are you using the same lights as your Display tank? Or something completely different?

Extra bonus question:

If you fragged coral from your DT and have that in your frag tank, does it look the same, grow the same?
 
As of a few days ago now, a reef breeders 24” photon v2+ On the frag tank

My 3 display tanks all use a different light setup. A metal halide, prime hd, and an Orphek Atlantik v4. If I had more money I would have bought another orphek for my frag tank. Imo it’s the best looking led light I’ve ever seen. If my metal halide ever burns out I will be upgrading it to an orphek compact.
 
I use kessil 360we on my frag tank
And reefbrite XHO led and kessil 360x
 
T5's?
LED's?
Other?

Bonus question:

Are you using the same lights as your Display tank? Or something completely different?

Extra bonus question:

If you fragged coral from your DT and have that in your frag tank, does it look the same, grow the same?
I run T5’s using all ATI Bulbs. B+, B+, C+, B+ with Reef Bright XHO’s to supplement.

I’m convinced my growth comes from the T5’s and the colors come from the XHO’s.

I do use the same set up with both DT and FT.

I don’t see any changes to color in the corals when I move them from FT to display or display to Frag Tank. I do see growth differences between the two, that’s because of flow differences. My Display gets a lot more flow so my SPS thrive better where my FT has lower flow allowing my shrooms and LPS to get as plump as they want.
 
G5 Blues over my DT and Aquatic life T5 Hybrid on my frag tank. 3 Blue plus and 1 Coral plus with a Prime 16hd.
 
I used Hydra 52 HD x 2 for 165x30x60 frag tank LPS only
 
I use a personal customized Coral Grow LED that I ordered from China, so much better than classic black box, and with great BT control, so far coral are growing without problems DSC_0606.JPG _20200519_120249.JPG
 
I am in the process of setting up 2 50 gallon low boys. I currently have 2 hydra 26 for one of the frag tanks. My main tank is 120 gallon, predominantly sps and I have a 48 inch giesmann infiniti halide/t5 with Orphek led bars. Trying to decide on lights for the second frag tank
 
LEDs. One lowboy under an orphek atlantik, and a second under a Kessil ap700.

I don't have a traditional display at the moment so I can't speak to the bonus questions.
 
LEDs. One lowboy under an orphek atlantik, and a second under a Kessil ap700.

I don't have a traditional display at the moment so I can't speak to the bonus questions.
Which of these 2 lights do you prefer for your lowboy? What type of coral are you growing?
 
Which of these 2 lights do you prefer for your lowboy? What type of coral are you growing?

That's a great question that I ask myself often. The even par blanket from the orphek is awesome, but I prefer the look of the kessil. Mounted pretty high I get even enough par with the kessil but not quite. I had one led on the orphek burn out which seems to be a somewhat common issue from what I can tell. Ultimately I think I could accomplish the same results cheaper with something like a reef breeders photon though.

I have zoas, acans, favia, hammer, gsp, cloves, and similar "easy" stuff. I'm still figuring out my best approach. The corals get moved from one lowboy to another somewhat often, so I can't compare how they do under one light or the other unfortunately. I've noticed no difference though. PAR is matched with a meter and spectrum as close as possible visually.
 
Before I moved and shut it down, I had just a single Orphek OR bar over my 24x12x12 tank and it grew and colored up my Acro frags I was selling very well. I hung it about 4-5” above the water. Probably worked with the tank being so shallow and narrow. I could imagine that a couple of those, close to the water line, would do well on larger tanks too.
 

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