Need a lighting recommendation for a weird setup.

[Herides]

Hey guys,

New to the hobby, had my tank active for a little over a month now, and I'm ready to add a light to get it ready for corals. However my setup/location makes choosing a light difficult. To start I want to stress that because I'm new, I will likely not be interested in any difficult to care for corals, like SPS corals, for a while. The closest I might get to an SPS coral may be a Montipora or a Gorgonian, but not after a really long while, but other than that, some nice basic beginner corals. As for the weird setup, allow me to direct you to this photo:

...yeah. So unless I want to block the TV with a traditional lighting mount, which would be very unpreferred, my only plan, other than have a light that sits on the tank (which is also just inconvenient), is to secure the light to the white shelving seen at the top of the photo. The distance between the top of the tank, and the bottom of the shelving is approximately 25 inches. So, any of you guys have any recomendations for lighting that fills the tank properly and can be cast with enough good PAR the distance of 25+ inches? Preferable not bank breaking, I would prefer the 200 buck range but worse comes to worse I'll do $1000.

ps/edit*** I don't actually use the tv in this room like a tv, off camera to the right is my desktop computer and I use it like a secondary monitor

 

[xxkenny90xx]

@danlu_gt sells the reefi lights which are designed to be hung higher than most lights and look amazing.

Or you could just go with a black box and switch the lenses to a more narrow beam

 

[Herides]

@danlu_gt sells the reefi lights which are designed to be hung higher than most lights and look amazing.

Or you could just go with a black box and switch the lenses to a more narrow beam

I'll look into his stuff, also what do you mean by black box? (also I imagine your second suggestion involves I find lights with swappable lenses or lenses at all?)

 

[xxkenny90xx]

Also even though your not looking to keep sps right now it is always good to get the right equiptment for it now so that you don't have to spend the extra money upgrading later

 

[Reefing_addiction]

Hey guys,

New to the hobby, had my tank active for a little over a month now, and I'm ready to add a light to get it ready for corals. However my setup/location makes choosing a light difficult. To start I want to stress that because I'm new, I will likely not be interested in any difficult to care for corals, like SPS corals, for a while. The closest I might get to an SPS coral may be a Montipora or a Gorgonian, but not after a really long while, but other than that, some nice basic beginner corals. As for the weird setup, allow me to direct you to this photo:

...yeah. So unless I want to block the TV with a traditional lighting mount, which would be very unpreferred, my only plan, other than have a light that sits on the tank (which is also just inconvenient), is to secure the light to the white shelving seen at the top of the photo. The distance between the top of the tank, and the bottom of the shelving is approximately 25 inches. So, any of you guys have any recomendations for lighting that fills the tank properly and can be cast with enough good PAR the distance of 25+ inches? Preferable not bank breaking, I would prefer the 200 buck range but worse comes to worse I'll do $1000.

Can I ask why ? I don’t understand the set up.

 

[xxkenny90xx]

Something like this

 

[xxkenny90xx]

If you pull all of the Philips screws around the light you can take it apart and pull the lenses off of each bulb and replace them with better ones for your height

 

[Herides]

Can I ask why ? I don’t understand the set up.

This just happened to be the best location in the house regarding desired location and acceptable location between me and my mother.

 

[JoshH]

Honestly if it was me, I'd lower the shelf on the wall put the TV ontop of the shelf and hang a couple of AI primes from the shelf underneath....

 

[Herides]

Something like this

aah got it, thanks!

 

[Herides]

Honestly if it was me, I'd lower the shelf on the wall put the TV ontop of the shelf and hang a couple of AI primes from the shelf underneath....

I'll make a note that I use the tv more like a secondary monitor (my desktop is off camera on the right) so any higher and having it there at all is just impractical and yet that idea might work, I'll think on that one.

 

[TvanB1]

What kind of stand do you have the tank on? I dont see any support legs on the left side.

 

[Zeal]

That TV about the tank is just asking for something bad to happen.

id move it. Trust me **** goes south at the worst possible moment in this hobby..


for example. my ATO randomly stopped working last year when I was in Europe.. out of nowhere.. up until that very day it was perfectly fine

 

[Herides]

What kind of stand do you have the tank on? I dont see any support legs on the left side.

It's just on a table, those thick white metal bars are the legs to the table, no fear its perfectly stable and strong enough to hold.

 

[Herides]

That TV about the tank is just asking for something bad to happen.

id move it. Trust me **** goes south at the worst possible moment in this hobby..


for example. my ATO randomly stopped working last year when I was in Europe.. out of nowhere.. up until that very day it was perfectly fine

So far no issues, the tv has been on that wall for years and still rock solid, I'm very clean and gentle when it comes to messing with the water in the tank, and there is a small space between the tv and the tank so water cannot touch the tv unless water is forcibly shot out of the tank at the tv.

 

[JoshH]

I'll make a note that I use the tv more like a secondary monitor (my desktop is off camera on the left) so any higher and having it there at all is just impractical and yet that idea might work, I'll think on that one.

The lights only need to be 8-10"above the water so you're only raising the TV a foot orso, definitely worth it as it will keep the light in your tank and a lot of water further away from the TV

 

[Herides]

The lights only need to be 8-10"above the water so you're only raising the TV a foot orso, definitely worth it as it will keep the light in your tank and a lot of water further away from the TV

well if its only a foot then I'll definitely give that idea a lot more consideration, like the white shelf being a long continuous to the right off camera piece so I would have to put work into sawing it and moving that section up for the TV, and having to move the wall mounts which I don't actually know how to do and make sure it still has the same structural integrity.

 

[Herides]

If you pull all of the Philips screws around the light you can take it apart and pull the lenses off of each bulb and replace them with better ones for your height

i see! thanks for the info!!!

 

[Herides]

Also even though your not looking to keep sps right now it is always good to get the right equiptment for it now so that you don't have to spend the extra money upgrading later

That is a fair assessment and definitely something I'm keeping in mind, I just wanted to answer the what was inevitable question of "what corals are you planning on keeping"?

 

[Zeal]

I’m just saying just assuming everything bad can happen at any time in this hobby