lighting for a 55...

[Cheeser]

right now i have a 48" marineland reef capable led fixture...
its a decent light fixture...i would probably reccomend it for like a 40 gallon i think a 55 is too deep...
i recently have been using both my marineland led fixture AND my 48" hagen glo t5 ho...
i get alot better lighting in my tank now but im wondering if the corals are getting the light they need...
i wanna get a fixture in which i can grow all kinds of sps and hard corals...
what fixture do u guys reccomend?

preferably programmable leds with dusk and dawn...
but ill go metal halides or t5s also i just want the best!

 

[Northstar24]

What kind of budget do you have? Two of the AI Sol's or the EcoTech Radions would let you keep whatever you wanted. Both have programmable capabilities for dawn / dusk

 

[Cheeser]

how much are they? where can i get them?
i dont have a budget...i would have to sell my current fixtures im using to help out.

 

[kbuser92]

AI Sols are around $400 and Radions are about $750. Ecoxotic and Innovative Marine also make really nice fixtures, but I dont think theyre programmable.

 

[Northstar24]

These fixtures can be purchased all over the place. I would recommend either reefgeek or BRS though

Keep in mind if you buy the AI sols, you'll need the 4 foot rails, the 24" system (two modules) comes with only 2 foot rails because the first gen units were designed to be run one unit per foot. The new generation fixtures can cover a 2x2 area if you can hang them about 10 inches above the tank. It's $400 a fixture, so you'd be looking at $800 for the lights, and something like $75 for the controller

 

[Sir Alex]

Or you could look in to the finsanity LEDs... They don't have all the cool features of the name brand LEDs but are very bright and a heck of a lot cheaper.

 

[Cheeser]

are the finsanity dusk and dawn controllable??

 

[Sir Alex]

are the finsanity dusk and dawn controllable??

No, but the whites and blues are independently dimable. They're pretty much just DIY LEDs...

 

[Cheeser]

my 55 is 48" long can i just have one ecotech radion fixture or do i have to get 2?
its like 12" itself...
if i had to get 2 i might just have to go with the ai sols but i really dig the radions.
and it would be nice to just have one fixture instead of 2.

 

[Northstar24]

You will need two of either the Radion or the Sol fixtures, they are both designed to cover a 2x2 area

 

[Sir Alex]

Yah one wouldn't be nearly enough. But from what I've heard the radions are a bit more powerful output wise than SOLs so you'd be getting more from two radions.

 

[Cheeser]

could i sync the 2 ai sols together for dusk and dawn and stuff like that?
wheres the best place to order them?

 

[Northstar24]

Yes, but you would need the AI controller ( or some other tank controller several of them can control the AI lights)