Lighting

[westiemarble]

Hi all,

Having had an Orca 450 for nearly a year now I've been given permission by the good lady boss to upgrade.

My new tank will be 39inch long by 24 inch high by 18 inch front to back.

My set up will be basically FOWLR with the intention of getting a few basic polyps, zoas, mushrooms etc.

Whilst I've read lots about types of lighting I am struggling to identify what would be adequate for my new tank and the basic 'beginner' corals I'd like.

I've got T8, T5, Aquaray LED, Luminaire, actinic etc bouncing around the inside of my head and no way of working out what it is I actually need.

Some plain English advice would be greatly appreciated

Cheers.

 

[Buddyboy67]

These easier corals need less light than most and a combination of two white and one actinic blue tubes should do your job fine...however if you wanted to try other corals later, at your 24" depth a 150 watt halide in combination with 2 actinic blues would make your choice of corals a lot wider.

 

[ben1987]

ive had aqua rays and wasnt impressed tbh, wouldnt trust them to be the only lighting on a 2' deep tank. The blue ones do make very nice actinics though.

Id maybe go for T5s with individual reflectors, if going tubes. But you will more than likely get into corals as much as the fish. Most people do. 150W halide would be good if you think there is a chance of this happening.

 

[westiemarble]

Many thanks