180G lighting w/ LED, suggestions?

[masonv]

I am about ready to to get my 180G setup and running. I do not have lighting yet for my tank. I am almost positive I want LED lighting. My only concern with LED is if it is going to cover my whole tank front to back. The tank is 72x24x24. I am worried there will not be enough light either in the front or the back depending where I have the fixture sitting.
I am looking at a Beamworks 72" 3w ultra marine LED fixture.
Here are the specs:
Dimensions - 71.50" x 5.00" x 1.00"
Brackets add 0.65" in height
Includes 52 LEDs
14000 Lumen
3W watt LEDs
40x 10000K LEDs
12x Actinic 460nm LEDs
Slim and contemporary light design
2 mode on / off function for day and night use

Now 14,000 Lumens are a lot. So I was hoping that would be a pretty good fixture for this size tank.
Any suggestions on if the would like the whole tank up would be wonderful. I do not want to buy a fixture online and then have it not light my whole tank up. That would be horrible.
So feel free to comment on if this light will do the trick.

 

[masonv]

Not much experience with LED here I take it.

 

[juice79]

I have a 175g bowfront which is basically the same dimensions as your 180. I built a DIY led light and used 108 Bridgelux 3w leds and get good coverage. I can tell you that a fixture with 52 3w leds will definitely not be enough. I am not familiar with those units however with only 52 leds it seems you need at least 2 of those units at a bare minimum. Not sure if you plan to grow corals, but if you do I doubt 52 leds will provide enough lighting to do so.

E

 

[jason2459]

Do you have a canopy?

 

[Names Brucey]

I run a DIY LED fixture over my 180. Same dimensions as yours and I have 120 3W Cree's over mine. I have more than enough light and it is lit every direction more than adequately

 

[jason2459]

BTW, I have a 180 setup a few months ago setup with ReefBrite LEDs mounted up in my canopy and I couldn't be happier. Looks great to me. Corals have been doing great and a new Crocea clam seems to be healthy so far. I can't say it's perfect yet and wont know until it's been running for a lot longer but I can easily scale up and add another strip. PremiumAquatics.com carries them in all different sizes. I like that they can swivel and adjust where I want them to point in the tank.

Reefbrite LED lighting
Front to back 48" all blue, 2x36" 50/50 with optics, 72" xho 50/50, 48" 50/50
Ramp up and ramp down schedule controlled with ReefKeeper Light (RKL).
10am to 10pm for the 48" all blue
11am to 9pm for the 48" 50/50
12pm to 8pm for the 72" xho 50/50
2pm to 6pm for the 2x36" 50/50 with 90degree optics

then cheap blue moon lights on from 10pm to 10am.

This totals about 215 watts.

It's surprising how much spread these have and how much just the 48" strips cover.

Couple of my corals which I have a hard time getting a good picture of their colors that you would see in person. My camera tends to either wash the colors out a bit, makes things look darker, or pulls out a lot of blue from the LEDs. These are about the two best shots I've gotten so far... I'm a terrible picture taker.

This is the most accurate coloration shot I've gotten.

The pink is a lot more pink then I can capture by the camera.

 

[jason2459]

I run a DIY LED fixture over my 180. Same dimensions as yours and I have 120 3W Cree's over mine. I have more than enough light and it is lit every direction more than adequately

Do you have them on a dimmer and if so how much do you ramp up to and for how long?

 

[masonv]

I'm totally sorry guys, I forgot to mention this isn't for marine. It's for a mbuna cichlid tank.
Does that help!

 

[jason2459]

I'm totally sorry guys, I forgot to mention this isn't for marine. It's for a mbuna cichlid tank.
Does that help!

It could make a big difference and what you are looking at could be just fine. This really isn't a freshwater/brackish water forum but I'm sure there are some that are experienced with it. I would say it will depend on if you will have live plants or not and how much light they will need.