Good starting Light for a 30gallon

In Deep Water

In Deep Water

In Memoriam
Hi all. Im now deciding upon which lighting system to use for my new 30gallon long. Since Im new to the hobby I believe Im most likely going to start with FOWLR; however, I can def see myself moving up to corals. What is a good lighting system that I can use now, but will also have the staying power for the future?
 
I've seen the AquaTraders products. They're low quality, in my opinion, and I wouldn't buy one. There are retrofit kits, if you have or want to buy or make a canopy, or the Aquactinics fixtures have gotten good reviews.
 
I have a 30g long for my quarentine tank. I used the Coralife Lunar aqualight. Well built and can also handle some soft corals for the future.
 
I would probably go with PC's or T5's, watt for watt, T5's will give you more usable light...
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9520276#post9520276 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by xenon
I have a 30g long for my quarentine tank. I used the Coralife Lunar aqualight. Well built and can also handle some soft corals for the future.
Click to expand...

I have the same light in a 30 and I'm very happy with it.
 
Thanks for all the tips. My friend gave me his 2x24w t-5 as he just purchased a new 48"pc for his tank. I guess this save me some money for now, but I would like to go with something that will give me at least 3 watts a gallon in the near future. Thanks again!
 
I have a coralife 36" 192W PC lfixture that gives my 29G about 6 watts per gallon. It over hangs a little bit but it doesn't look bad really. it's $190 new but I got my used for $90 on the B/S/T forums.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9520276#post9520276 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by xenon
I have a 30g long for my quarentine tank. I used the Coralife Lunar aqualight. Well built and can also handle some soft corals for the future.
Click to expand...


i have the same light..love it
 
i don't know about that, i'm no expert...but if you have a smaller tank and some very powerful lights, i could see problems with maintaining stable water temps
 
watts per gallon is not a very good way to measure lighting on a marine tank. t5's with good reflectors will give you way more PAR than the same amt of watts using pc lighting. t5's will not raise the water temp as much as metal halide lighting.
on an aquarium with that depth you will be able to keep anything with t5's. keep in mind that too much lighting can be harmful for mushrooms and some coral.
 
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once you start in this hobby, it quickly becomes an obsession. NOBODY stays FOWLR. I would reccommend that you keep an eye out for a metal halide setup for sale... maybe something conservative like a 250w setup (one or two bulbs). If you go MH, you will never nee to look back. If you make the mistake lots of others make and under-do-it on the lights, when you decide in a few months that you want to keep some really nice specimins... you will need to upgrade. just mho!

-TJ
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9532056#post9532056 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by In Deep Water
Undercover do you have to use a chiller to keep the temps down?
Click to expand...

no i don't, the light is about 8 inches off the surface of the water. my house stays at 68-70 degrees

my water temp is 82-83
 
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