Lighting options for a 120g and a 30g cube, both mixed.

[RooR]

Anyone have recs on solid LED lighting configurations/manufactures and models. (Unless fundamentally I’d have better success with just T5s or halides or T5 MH mixed for coral colorization and growth)

I’m starting 2 new saltwater tanks. 120 in the living room and a 30 in my home office.
I’ve had several freshwaters but I’m looking to keep corals, cuz they kick *** and include reef safe fish into the tank.
I would like the lighting to be able to support SPS. I read that SPSs will not do well with subpar lighting.

I own plenty of T5s and can scarf a 6 or an 8 lamp 48” fixture either which can go over the 120.
An 8 lamp 24” which I’d use over the 30g cube.
Is an 8 lamp fixture really enough over a 120?

I’d obviously need to buy new lamps for these fixtures. A friend suggested to me mixing the fixture with 75% of the lamps being ATI Blue Plus and the rest white.
Should I just run the T5s since I own them? I can use the money for coral and fish instead.

I talked to Kessil and came to the determination of Kessil AP700 over the 120 and the Kessil A160 over the cube until I talked with my LFS. The LFS said no to both, APs being pricey in general and for the cube @ 20x20x20 inches you will need 2 160s unless I put it like two feet above the tank, which then the PAR would be “nonexistent”. He said just get black boxes for both tanks.
I was like, I want the shimmer man. So here I am at 3:30 AM reading forums.

I’m looking to have a successful run keeping corals and IMO the only way that is going to happen is with light. Assuming all my tanks parameters are in order which obviously is totally on me.

All in all I’m open for suggestions from people with real world experience.

Thank You
RooR

 

[jda]

Non-BS pure performance and shimmer is Metal Halide. It does not have to be expensive, high wattage or hot. 150w fixture for each 2x2 area is about the same wattage as a black box with the performance that everybody wants. They will not do any dusk/dawn. 150 halide is plenty for a 4x2x2 mixed reef with some acropora/SPS in it. If pure performance is what you are after, then look no farther - BRS starts every one of their comparison videos with a statement similar to "if performance is your main goal, then Metal Halide is for you."

8 bulb T5 is just fine for any tank, even acropora. Tried and true performance here as well - no shimmer, though.

Do not sweat bulb changes... fixture changes ever 4-5 years are just as much. Do not buy into the mostly-old-logic that you can buy a panel forever and amortize the cost over 20 years.

Lots of people do fine with black boxes. This is where things get tricky... You will read things like "do fine" and "can grow anything" but the nuance and detail that is getting left out is that "fine" is not the same as "thriving" and "grow anything" is not the same as "best growth," "best color," or "best health." They are not all the same. Some LEDs are better than others... and the details matter, but it is really hard to break them down without a lot of experience since you do not know for yourself what you are looking at and the recommendations often come from fanboys or paid-trolls for the LED manufacturers. I do not use LED, so take this with a few grains of salt. If I did, I would not use Kessils - they are like Microwave Bacon to me... sounds good with the ease, shimmer and nice package, but I have never seen a tank with acropora under them when I was not totally underwhelmed. Black boxes have a lot of the same build and LEDs, but have a wide array of price points based on features like channel control-ability, timers and phone apps. Your next step is the high-end stuff like EcoTech, AI, etc. - they are fine... lots of fanboys here and even posters paid to say good things about them. The can shimmer some, but have lots of shadowing issues... even with diffusers. Most of these end up with T5 supplments because they both usually need it and the form factor allows it since they are smaller. The last set is the large-panel European models. These have a lot of features, not a lot of shadowing, but also not the shimmer like a Kessil or MH would have... more discoball. The euro panels sometimes have wider spectrum with real UV and IR and more closely resemble a Metal Halide. IMO, a few Kessils, black boxes, high end or Euro panels would be probably just fine for a mixed reef - see, I just did it... I said "just fine" and while true, without knowing what might be in that mixed reef, I have no idea if you wanted a deepwater acropora, or mag anenome, for example, that would struggle to thrive under most all LEDs without T5 supplements. Most people would gloss right past the "just fine" commentary.

Aside from this, dusk/dawn and adding on additional T5s is up to you. You cannot really mess this up unless you focus on this more than the main light. I just use MH with no T5s or LEDs as supplements - no need for performance and I would rather save the energy for more MH bulbs.

Lastly, I would take a few minutes and figure out what kind of SPS that you want to keep. SPS is too broad of a term and you will get better results to your questions if you specify which kinds. Montis, Birdsnest, Poci and Stylophora (MBP&S) are really easy to keep and mostly thrive with 90% color under even the worst lighting. Acropora is more demanding and harder to grow, color and keep alive long-term (health).

 

[RooR]

I’m putting the 120 on hold, I’m going to focus on the 33g cube first. I went with T5s and a Kessil 360 for lights. This will give me the look that I want and hopefully the canopy that will benefit the reef. Plus more time to focus on coral selection, and learning one tank first. There is an overwhelmingly large amount of coral varieties to choose from, almost stiflingly so. A lot are gorgeous so outside of getting “generic” $10 frags I will have to make some hard decisions what I would really like to keep. What about getting them locally so I can see the specimens in person vs online? A lot of people sell them by me. Just weary of only doing a dip and not QTing so I can enjoy them. I was reading you should QT coral for months due to the dip not killing eggs and the black bugs on SPS. This summer is going to be busy and I’ll have more time to focus on a second tank in the winter. I appreciate your input @jda. Tank got painted and supplies are stocked this week. I’m just figuring out how I want to build the stand. The tank is 20x20, but I was debating on doing a rectangular or possibly an “L” shaped cabinet to hide the RODI(I’ll be able to plumb right to the cabinet if I want), top off containers, a bucket for water changes, power strips, all the essentials. I like keeping all the materials located in one space instead of lugging water possibly a flight of stairs or from the bathroom across the carpet. That will be this week’s project. I’ve just been playing around with the aquascape. I’ve only got 50 lbs to play with unless a grab some more so I can really chip and grind away and get more creative. I just found out this week I shouldn’t really keep seahorses in the reef. Neighbor had em when I was little and I think they are cool as heck but they can damage the corals with their tails, that was a letdown. I guess one last question, word of advice. Wild vs captive bred? LFS said he really doesn’t stock captive bred. He said I’ll be hard pressed to get any locally other than ordering online. I’d like to really not pull fish out of the ocean. Arguably they can have a longer, safer life in captivity, but is it enjoyable for them? Is that something I’d just have to get over? LFS said I can always even trade for a smaller fish of the same species if it gets to big for the tank. Or partial credit if I bought it somewhere else. One benefit of buying locally vs online I guess. I do appreciate the input.