Lighting Suggestions

[mono19]

I upgraded my 55 to a 90 over the weekend an am in need of some new lighting. The lighting on my 55 doesn't quite fit over the new 90 obviously and I had to remove the halides that were in the hood because they push the tank over the 84 degree limit. Right now all I have is a couple LED strips that really aren't doing anything other than providing light. There isn't much coral in there right now because the people I bought the tank from failed to mention that the water they had running in it was just RO and not salt like they said.:frustrat: I didn't get a chance to test the water till that night and by then most of the coral was either dead or dying. I tried saving what I could. I will be having a conversation with the store this evening.

What I would like to know from everyone is your opinions on LED lights verse halides or compacts? I have loved the reviews and such on the par38 bulbs, but am curious to see how many I would need for this tank. It's 48" x 24 x 24 i believe. I'm thinking removing the hood and mounting to the ceiling or making a rack or something. What's the best kind of light for minimal heat put out and things like that? The light I had on my 55 was a compact light that had a halide and 4 t5s great light but got a little to hot at times. I would like to move over to LED's but they seem really expensive to jump into when I know nothing lol.

 

[RockStacker]

You will probably be OK with a minimum of 4 good quality Par38 reef LEDs spread out along the length of the tank.

There isn't much coral in there right now because the people I bought the tank from failed to mention that the water they had running in it was just RO and not salt like they said.

I'm not sure I get this part... but that's not the main topic :)

 

[fastrd400]

Personally, I'd steer away from Par 38 bulbs on a tank of this size, coming from experience. I would do a 6 or 8 bulb retro-fit T5 built into your hood.

 

[salt_for_brains]

I went from 2-T5 bulbs with 2- 400w MH's to 2- Reefbreeder LEDs on my 90g. My corals (LPS and SPS), clam and anemones are all thriving. They are not top of the line LEDs but have a lot of bang for the buck. I also wouldn't hesitate to use the setup fastrd400 has described.