Reef tank lighting

[Partsman41953]

Hello all,

I have a 28 gallon salt water aquarium with: live rock, sand substrate, orange mushroom coral, pulsing Xenia, and 2 clown fish. I have a Reef Octopus BH100 protein skimmer on the aquarium and the lighting which I am using is a Coralife 24" power compact fixture along with a Coralife 24" 2 bulb T5 fixture. I would like to replace the lighting fixtures and saw these two fixtures and would like to know what you think before I purchase either of them.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/EVO-Quad-24...375?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item43b45c1cb7

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Zetlight-10...751?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_2&hash=item416ae38c67

My only concern with the Zetlight is that it clips on the back of the aquarium and I am not sure it will be high enough to allow for my protein skimmer. I also do not know if either of these lights would be strong enough for my aquarium.

I would appreciate any information you could offer on either these lights or different lights.

Thanks,

Glenn

 

[SubRosa]

The second fixture will do the job you're asking of it, but not much more. The first would be powerful enough to allow you to keep anything you like in the way of corals, clams or anemones. If you're willing to spend the money on the first unit, and you're not stretching the budget doing so, you might want to consider one of the Taotronics dimmable units that are also all over ebay. I know of a non ebay seller who lets them go for $165 plus shipping. Luckily he's in PA not too far from me so I can forgo the shipping, but it can't be much. For the extra money you get the cooling fans and hanging kit as standard equipment, manual dimming capability so you can run them only as bright as you need (which right now isn't very high), and you would have the ability to upgrade to a larger system without the added expense of new lighting. I'm currently setting up a 65 gal reef that will house a mix of LPS and SPS along with clams, and a single one of these lights will do the job. Due to light dispersion charateristics of the fixture there will be an area of intense lighting which will extend all the way to the entire bottom and will taper in a cone shape as you get higher in the tank. The outer area will still be well enough lit to keep stonies which require moderate lighting like Hammers, Torches and even some SPS like Caps and Leptastrea. Unless of course you're completely satisfied with your 28 as it is, in which case spending more than the $100 on the Zetlite would be a waste. And in which case you're most likely deluding yourself!

 

[Partsman41953]

Thanks for the quick reply. The way the Xenia's are growing in my tank right now I think I will go to a bigger tank and then as I can afford it upgrade my equipment as I do want to add more coral and fish down the road.

Thanks again for the suggestions.

Glenn

 

[Partsman41953]

After thinking about it for a little bit and talking to my wife, I think we will stick with the aquarium that we have right now. I did look on EBAY at some of the Taotronic lights but I am not sure which one I would need as they have all different sizes of lights and different light intensities.

Please let me know which light I would need to purchase in order to keep the coral I have and other coral I would like to add down the road.

Thanks again,

Glenn

 

[SubRosa]

I'm referring to the 120W unit that runs 55 x 3W Bridgelux LEDs at 2W each. Here's the guy in my area who sells them for $165+ :
http://www.thereefhut.com/

 

[BoCoMo]

Look at some Par38's too

*it should be noted that I just took the plunge into saltwater so my advice should be taken with a 'grain of salt' if you will excuse the pun, but I have been researching the heck out of lighting and this is the direction I think I will be going.