40b lighting question

[TxAggie08]

After a long hiatus without a tank, and a.....forced remodel thanks to Hurricane Harvey, I've got the room and the desire to set up another tank. Previously it had been all FOWLR, with the exception of a short lived zoa colony....

I am in possession of a 75 and a 240 4ft tank, but those will wait until a slightly later late and time to be set up(mainly when we have , you know, all the walls and floor finished!), but my 40b's made it through the flooding, and I'll be setting one of them up, with the other as a sump, in my upstairs bedroom.

So, to the question- found a corallife 2 bulb 36" t5 HO fixture on sale at petco for 50$. couldn't really pass that up, even if it just ended up FOWLR. I do have some interest in keeping a reef this time, thinking mainly zoa or soft corals, but also have taken a small interest in clams( my understanding is, these require a lot more light and are not the easiest creatures to keep).

I know the 2 bulb fixture will not be enough, would another 2 bulb fixture be sufficient ( i can likely locate one for another 80$ or so)? Should I find a 4 bulb fixture , then add the two bulb in front or behind? Maybe add LED's in combo with what I already have?

If it matters, Aquascaping will be a foam wall with some arching out. I very much like the look of that style, and I understand it makes placing frags much easier.

 

[RobZilla04]

Corals and clams have much more to consider than lighting alone. Water quality is imperative. I just added my first clam a week ago. Tank is 20 months old. Dosing is a must! You could add LED for some variety or even another two bulb fixture with LED. Keep in mind ghe deeper the tank the higher lighting required to get good par at the sand.

Tank maturity comes into play as well. With maturity comes stability thus making husbandry easier and more routine. This plays a big role in the sucess of a reef tank. FOWLR tanks are much simpler requiring little attention to alk, cal, mag, and other minerals.

 

[TxAggie08]

The tank will be setup with a 40b sump, bubble magus curve 7, and the Apex kit I'm about to order. I'm unsure if I'm going to invest in a reactor now, or wait a bit and just dose. I have a tunze osmolator for an ATO.

Once the sump setup fro the 240 goes into place in the fishroom, I'm planning to have something in the neighborhood of 150gallons of refugium, and another 100 or so worth of sump. I will have a reactor at that point, and will discontinue this undertank sump in favor of the much larger volume system(the tanks will share a common wall on separate stories).

I always prided myself on the water quality in my FOWLR tanks, and have significant plans for this tank, I'm just a little unsure on the lighting side of things at this point, it's not something I've ever dealt with. my 75 always had a 48in 4x pc fixture on it, which I hated, but that was 5 years ago

 

[DesertReefT4r]

Radion XR30, or Reef Breeders if on a budget. A 150W MH would do ok but a 250w would be better. Clams need a lot of light and do best in a sps type tank since they need the same conditions, lots of light, high flow and good water quality. A high quality 4 bulb T5 would work well also but the reflectors need to be good.

 

[ecam]

Those lights would be fine on a FOWLR.. but i dont think they will cut it on a reef... PAR may bw too low... as desert suggested look into LEDs (black box) or try to get a used ATI fixture.... you wont regret it

 

[TxAggie08]

Thank yall for the help. I ended up with a 36" long 75gallon acrylic tank kind of falling in to my lap, and currently have a bigger black box LED over it, and more lights coming in I picked up off here. I got this as a tank that had been torn down, and am scrambling to get things set up and water parameters better