Lighting for column tank?

mermaidKaty

mermaidKaty

Reefing newb
Good afternoon everyone!

I've posted about my lighting situation on a different thread but I thought I'd start it again here.

I have a 47 column aquarium I recently acquired off of my local craigslist.
I want to have all kinds of corals and anemone but am having trouble finding decently priced LED lighting for my aquarium because of the depth. The tank has a Zoo Med light on it at the moment that are T5's I think? It has blue/normal light settings.

The dimensions are 20Wx29Hx18D.
I'm just looking for something that is strong enough to sustain coral/anemone until I can get a really nice LED in the future.

Any/all info would be great!
 
Right now, I'd like to stay under $200. I know that in this hobby cheaper is not better and I fully understand that lighting is essential to the growth of the corals & anemones. I just want something to get me started until I can spend $300-$500 on a good lighting system.
 
Lighting is one of, if not the most essential decisions and purchases you will make. My opinion, save for the lighting you really, really want. You could probably pick up a gently used Kessil A350 for about 300. You will be able to grow and house anythi.g and not have to worry about an upgrade later on down the road.
 
The A150 comes in different kelvin ratings. One would not be enough. The A350 istunable both in color and intensity and is a much stronger light.
 
Do you have any corals or an anemone yet? If not, keep the light you have and save up that would-be coral money for a few weeks or whatever and buy a good light. I think an A350 would do you very well as was suggested.

P.S. An anemone needs really stable parameters and the rule of thumb is to wait until your tank has been established 9-12 months with very stable conditions.
 
I have some leather frags that my step mom brought over with some more LR today.
The LR that was already in the tank when I got it has some growth on it.
2 different LFS have said it looks like Yuma, but only time will tell.

The tank has been established for 2 years before I acquired it.
As of yesterday my levels were perfect.

And I definitely am going to save up for the A350w lighting.
 
Don't get the A350 W, you want tbe standard. The W denotes "wide" so it will not penetrate as deep as the standard A350.
 
I do love the programming of the a360's to make the tank full automation, the only thing that i didnt like is that they dont offer "lighting storm" mode. You can program in storms to go in your tank ie, maks you wavermaker kick it up to 100% to get rid of detritus turn up your main pump to kick up filtration and make cool different setting of color for storms and not rely on always testing to make sure everything is good, now the apex emails me if somethings wrong and goes into fail safe.
Long story short, no lighting storm boooooooooooooo!
 
mariobrothersleeve said:
I do love the programming of the a360's to make the tank full automation, the only thing that i didnt like is that they dont offer "lighting storm" mode. You can program in storms to go in your tank ie, maks you wavermaker kick it up to 100% to get rid of detritus turn up your main pump to kick up filtration and make cool different setting of color for storms and not rely on always testing to make sure everything is good, now the apex emails me if somethings wrong and goes into fail safe.
Long story short, no lighting storm boooooooooooooo!
Click to expand...

'Storm' mode on LED fixtures is pointless, all it does is blink the lights and scare the fish - and you don't need to do anything with the lights to crank up powerheads and move deitrus around
 
Northstar24 said:
'Storm' mode on LED fixtures is pointless, all it does is blink the lights and scare the fish - and you don't need to do anything with the lights to crank up powerheads and move deitrus around
Click to expand...

Its preferance on what you want out of lighting, correct? If i want a lightening storm to impress me, thats what i want besides there fun. Best fish in milwaukee have some pretty sweet one and it shows awesome coloration to the eye.
Second, i run a mixed reef, so if i run to hard with the mp40(which blasts in my tank) it is very hard on the lps and nems but the lps loves it. So when the storm runs threw the tank and i pump up my system, it help stir everything up. I run an overflow system to my sump( wish i had a reef ready) and its more of a chance that more water is getting filtered. As most of the folks here work besides post on this forum, i prefer the assistance of the automation vs. doing 100% hands on.
Do i need to do all of this or over think it? Nope, still just personal preference as what uv lights are worth on a s/w sytem. Thank you anyways southern northstar24
 

Similar threads

Tetra1
Nano Lighting
Replies
1
Views
1K
AnotherReefHobbysit
A
Sashimi
75 gallon LPS 2.0 suggestions
Replies
0
Views
2K
Sashimi
Sashimi
Sashimi
75G LPS 2.0
Replies
2
Views
2K
Sashimi
Sashimi
Mike
We're Back!
Replies
0
Views
656
Mike
Mike
Stellabl3u
Just looking for some pointers or advice
Replies
0
Views
2K
Stellabl3u
Stellabl3u
Back
Top