40 long sps lighting

P

prosper

New member
I am trying to figure out the most cost effective way to upgrade my 40 longs lighting to something capable of supporting an sps dominant reef. now I have a single 165w blackbox 15" above the water so that I can get the most spread possible, but the sides are still far too dim... I am able to grow sps in the middle 2 feet of the tank, and its coloring up a browned out misc acro I got very nicely, but Its not gonna cut it forever. my plan is to take off the black box, and run only the white channel on 100 percent on my refugim but I'm not sure what to put on the main display. dimensions are (48"x13"x16") I think I may be able to get 4 2 foot 2 bulb t5 fixtures for free, should I just buy a 4 bulb t5? would that be capable of effectively lighting my tank to grow mostly acros? I am open to pretty much all lighting systems (except metal halides)

p.s. are there any diy led fixtures anyone recommends? I am competent doing some soldering and I recently shattered my femur skiing so I have lots of free time to devote to tasks, thanks for your time!
 
also features are not important all I care about is that it grows corals and colors them up well I don't need any controllability.
 
I just looked up the dimensions of a 40 gallon long... 48x13x16, correct? If that's the case and you want foolproof SPS lighting, then get a 48" 4x54w ATI Sunpower fixture. As far as bulbs go, I'd get 2 Blue+ and 2 Coral+.

Shattered femur!?! :eek2: Hope you have a speedy recovery! :D
 
LQT said:
I just looked up the dimensions of a 40 gallon long... 48x13x16, correct? If that's the case and you want foolproof SPS lighting, then get a 48" 4x54w ATI Sunpower fixture. As far as bulbs go, I'd get 2 Blue+ and 2 Coral+.

Shattered femur!?! :eek2: Hope you have a speedy recovery! :D
Click to expand...

thank you, I don't have the $500 for the ATI would a sun blaze be adequate?
 
prosper said:
That's weird it said 12.67 on the Brs website, but I want to build a canopy and I guess I have a good reason to now 🤷*♂️


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Click to expand...

I would trust the BRS dimensions over the Amazon one. The Amazon one could be the dimensions of the box it comes in.
 
4x54w T5 would be my choice for best-of-breed light for this tank. I would use 2 B+, 6500K and a True Actinic.

Individual reflectors and Advance ballast will yield almost identical results to ATI Sunpower. Workhorse ballasts are OK, but lower output.
 
jda said:
4x54w T5 would be my choice for best-of-breed light for this tank. I would use 2 B+, 6500K and a True Actinic.

Individual reflectors and Advance ballast will yield almost identical results to ATI Sunpower. Workhorse ballasts are OK, but lower output.
Click to expand...

Can the output difference b e quantified. Is it relative to par? lumens? noticeable to the eye? better performance relative to coral growth?
 
I just read something that stated because of the instant on jolt they give bulbs the bulb life is significantly shortened.
 
Maybe... but I dunno for sure. A lot of this "cooling" and "soft start" came from ATI. It could totally be right... but I would be even more of a hypocrite for not pointing out that I believe nearly nothing that EcoTech says about their stuff, so I kinda have to apply this same logic to other manufactures as well, right?

Lots of people use bulbs for 12 months with no issue on all kinds of fixtures. I would not worry about this too much and would consider output much more.
 
Every bulb and ballast have a match for best perfomance...spectrum & par. For heavy acropora systems spectrum shift is the most important aspect in the life of the bulb.

If you don't use the correct design ballast you aren't going to be able to match the performance of an ATI fixture or similar DIY setup

The ATI-HEP ballast and the spec'd correct Advance ballast are two that match up to drive a T5 HO bulb correctly that are readily available.

If color matters to you use the ballasts that are proven over reefs.
 
Why would you run only the white channel over the refugium? If i ran a fuge I'd turn all channels up to 100. Macros grow best with an absurd amount of light. Don't be afraid to give them 700-1000 par. They'll just grow better. Even plants and algae use predominantly
Blue light for photosynthesis.


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