90 Gallon Reef lighting question

[afish70]

I am trying to get everything together for setting up my new reef. I am trying to make sure on lighting rigth now, i was going to go with the Current USA Orbit Marine Aquarium LED Light 48 - 60 model #4103 but i was told today that it would not be strong enough for my 90 when everything i read says it would be. i am going to go with Hammers, Frogspawn, Shrooms and some Ric's for corals and do not plan on going with any SPS corals. So what do y'all think of the fixture i was going to go with? Will it be enough? is there something else? LED's or T5? i am on kind of a budget and cannot afford to spend like $1,000.00 on lighting.

 

[oblio]

The things you are talking about growing did fine in my 90 with the standard ebay d120 or "black box" type lights. They don't refer to them as d120's anymore but there are lots of options. The new ones out there are far better than the ones I had, better colors, dim able. I honestly think if you run 2 of those lights you will be more than happy with your set up. Here is a link so you get the idea of what im talking about.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dimmable-Full-Spectrum-165W-LED-Aquarium-Grow-Light-FishTank-Reef-Coral-LPS-SPS-/291367360195?hash=item43d6d916c3:g:vdwAAOSwsB9V-OoO

 

[IrishTang]

I started with the orbit 48-60 on my 90 and it did good growing zoas, lps, even a beautiful montipora from a frag to large colony. After about 6 months I added T5 fixture as main fixture with orbit as secondary/moonlight. The orbits have great color spectrum but are underpowered. My 200 at work we bought 2 of the d120 type led fixtures and I noticed the difference right away. The growth was much better, colors were better. Shortly after I bought a used reefbreeder photon 48 from another member and couldn't be happier. Don't be afraid to get something with more power, it can be dimmed in most cases and you WILL want some SPS or a calm etc...

 

[afish70]

I keep seeing people talk about the ebay led's and want to get more info on them. I am not a genius nor am I an idiot but i cannot figure out how i will be able to make those type of lights do what the Current Orbit does with the built in controller. Can someone please show me how i can do this? I want to be able to have the lights go sunrise to sunset and moonlights for awhile at night as well. you can PM me or whatever you feel best with because i really want to get the correct information but do not have like $1,000.00 to spend on lighting. Thanks in advance.

 

[oblio]

Well now you have added requirements not originally stated. The ebay lights would require timers/controllers and I'm not entirely certain you could even make all that happen.
You would probably be looking for a light with controller built in. However now your getting into much more money unless you wait for someone to sell one used. (this happens pretty often so it could be a viable route) The lights you said you were looking at will not sustain any type of coral in a 90 gallon tank. The depth is going to negate those lights.
If you looking for cheap, my original idea is your best deal, you could put them on timers and and have them create a dawn/dusk effect but it wont be a gentle ramp up and down like it sounds like your looking for. To be honest gentle ramping thing is more important to you then the corals. Tons of super nice tanks out there that don't have realistic dawn dusk effects.

 

[tigger2577]

if you want the fill sunrise / sunset / moonlight you need to look at the wifi version of the ebay lights

here is one version there are many out there

http://www.ebay.com/itm/WIFI-Dimmab...405274?hash=item2ee058b41a:g:t0MAAOSwjVVVyZry

you would probably need 2 at a min for you tank

 

[IrishTang]

You could still use the Ebay type fixtures, they have dimmer knobs for Whites and blues. You would then have to use a timer, to have it shut on and off morning and night. So say before leaving for work you turn on the whites and some blues, get home manually ramp down the whites until just the blues are on. Let the timer turn them off. Then in the morning repeat the process.

Those were just suggestions for the cheap route now too. The fixtures like the Ocean Revives all have ramp up and down features for a bit more. You could probably get away with a 36 inch fixture to cover if you don't mind maybe some slightly darker areas on the ends.

If you can spend the money and I think most would recommend you do on lights ( Few areas you don't want to skimp on in this hobby are lights, skimmer maybe good return pump) I would go with a Reefbreeder or something similar right out the gate. You'll have the features you want and more power down the road. There have even been a few for sale locally. The Mars brand lights are nice too, ocean revive like I said and of course high end stuff like Radions, Kessils, AI primes.

 

[MJNTWise]

Just my thoughts, Go with T 5's until you get your tank up and running. There are so many things can go wrong with your tank. starting off with leds is just one more thing that can go wrong...Too bright, being on to long. The leds are so intense you can cause more problems. You cant go wrong with t 5s.....

 

[BryanS4]

Just my thoughts, Go with T 5's until you get your tank up and running. There are so many things can go wrong with your tank. starting off with leds is just one more thing that can go wrong...Too bright, being on to long. The leds are so intense you can cause more problems. You cant go wrong with t 5s.....

Agree 100%. In the past few months I've switch my tanks over from Led's to T5s and couldn't be more happy with the result.

Op- I have a 48" 4 bulb Aquatic Life I could part with if youre interested. Just fire me over a pm, on the cheap as well.

 

[afish70]

what is a good bulb selection to use for a 6-lamp fixture? Looking at going with ATI lamps.

 

[jdantunes]

Do you have a canopy over your tank?

You can start your tank with two 2xT5 retrofits, place one in front and the other back. In the middle you can start with a third T5 retrofit that you can sell and upgrade later into two Kessils 360s. I seen amazing results using Kessils. And I'm not saying that T5 can't grow corals, they are great lights but there is no shimmering.

I feel this could be a great approach to your current budget and it will be easy to upgrade when the money is available.