Is this light powerful enough for a beginning soft and easy coral aquarium?

M

miogpsrocks

New member
I am looking for a good light for a 29 gallon beginner reef aquarium.

Does this seem like an ok light?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/LED-Quad-30-3W-Timer-Aquarium-Light-Marine-Coral-Reef-40x-3-watt-75cm-5500-lumen-/301685086172?hash=item463dd517dc:g:njcAAOSwHnFVn-fZ


Includes 40 LEDs
3 watt LEDs
30x 10000K
10x Actinic 460nm
5500 lumens.
1x manual two mode on/off switch
Mode 1 turns on all LEDs.
Mode 2 turns on the two middle rows
Timer ready. Fixture pre-wired for add on timer module.
Timer module can control Mode 1 and Mode 2 separately.
Timer modules are not included.
1x timer modules supported for this model.
External LED driver
Extendable wire brackets
Splash guard.
Slim and contemporary design
5500-lumen-/301685086172?hash=item463dd517dc:g:njcAAOSwHnFVn-fZ
 
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this would work fine for softies...but you could also get a full spectrum chinese light that has better colors..on ebay as well...pretty cheap too...one 165 watt fixture would work too
 
This one http://m.ebay.com/itm/165W-Dimmable...eef-Marine-Fish-Lamp-/251495773757?nav=SEARCH
Is same price, since a lot of reefers use it there is tons of info available in the forum for how to set them up and modify it if you want to change the colors etc. You can search for "black box led" or "Chinese led" and there's a long "marsaqua review" thread in the lighting/equipment subforum.
you'd have to hang it yourself, and it doesn't have its own timer like the linked one. I use the $6 timers that you get from the hardware store to turn the lights on while you are on vacation. Same result. Neither unit will ramp up slowly like fancier models, you just set the blues to come on a little before the lights for a gradual wake up.
 
PS it doesn't look like the one you asked about is dimmable? That'd be a deal breaker for me, you want to be able to control how strong the lights are for sure. I like doing blues and whites separately.
I saw your other thread about measuring lights too. PAR is the standard. You can find "par maps" for diff lights, some examples here
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1869901
Or this goggle doc I like for my marsaquas
https://m.*spammy*/r/ReefTank/comments/2whsp2/400_par_measurements_of_mars_aqua_165_watt_led/

Eta I guess links to Reddit are blocked. You can google "Reddit par marsaqua 165" it's the thread that has a Google doc that is a spreadsheet of diff pars at diff depths for the light I linked to
 
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CStrickland said:
This one http://m.ebay.com/itm/165W-Dimmable...eef-Marine-Fish-Lamp-/251495773757?nav=SEARCH
Is same price, since a lot of reefers use it there is tons of info available in the forum for how to set them up and modify it if you want to change the colors etc. You can search for "black box led" or "Chinese led" and there's a long "marsaqua review" thread in the lighting/equipment subforum.
you'd have to hang it yourself, and it doesn't have its own timer like the linked one. I use the $6 timers that you get from the hardware store to turn the lights on while you are on vacation. Same result. Neither unit will ramp up slowly like fancier models, you just set the blues to come on a little before the lights for a gradual wake up.
Click to expand...

You have to hang those by a cable or something?

I was really looking for something simple that I could just put on top of the Aquarium.
I guess you would have to put a piece of acrylic on top of the aquarium and rest this over it?

My 29 gallon tank is like 30 inches long and this light is like 16 inches long. would that still work?

Thanks.
 
Just my opinion here. I did nothing more than read the specs. 3w lights with no dimming sounds a lot like first generation lights. I remember lots of folks struggling to aclimate & keep corals from bleaching with lights with similar specifications. If you get them you may need to be ready to raise them high above the water line or shade them with plastic screen cloth in order to control intensity. The color temp may also appear flat even with the blues on.

Prices on controllable multi wavelength units have come down. There are other alternatives. Is look into them before pulling the trigger. Best of luck with your decision.
 
Reef Frog said:
Just my opinion here. I did nothing more than read the specs. 3w lights with no dimming sounds a lot like first generation lights. I remember lots of folks struggling to aclimate & keep corals from bleaching with lights with similar specifications. If you get them you may need to be ready to raise them high above the water line or shade them with plastic screen cloth in order to control intensity. The color temp may also appear flat even with the blues on.

Prices on controllable multi wavelength units have come down. There are other alternatives. Is look into them before pulling the trigger. Best of luck with your decision.
Click to expand...


The ones in the link don't have the correct wavelength?
Is this just for viewing or for coral growth?

It does have
30x 10000K
10x Actinic 460nm
5500 lumens.
120 watts.

I could put the coral requiring intense light right under it and ones that need less light away from the light. Maybe maybe towards the front of the tank(if the lights are over the back of the tank)

My concern about the other one is that I don't have a place to hang them. Maybe if I have an acrylic top, I could just placed them over the top?

Could I also adjust the hours to prevent the coral from bleaching?

Keep in mind that I am going for the easy to keep stuff like the soft corals and beginner type stuff. Do I still need the full spectrum vs 30x 10000K
10x Actinic 460nm

Thanks.
 
miogpsrocks said:
The ones in the link don't have the correct wavelength?
Is this just for viewing or for coral growth?

It does have
30x 10000K
10x Actinic 460nm
5500 lumens.
120 watts.

I could put the coral requiring intense light right under it and ones that need less light away from the light. Maybe maybe towards the front of the tank(if the lights are over the back of the tank)

My concern about the other one is that I don't have a place to hang them. Maybe if I have an acrylic top, I could just placed them over the top?

Could I also adjust the hours to prevent the coral from bleaching?

Keep in mind that I am going for the easy to keep stuff like the soft corals and beginner type stuff. Do I still need the full spectrum vs 30x 10000K
10x Actinic 460nm

Thanks.
Click to expand...

Your tank will look extremely yellow with this color combination. You want more blue than white or atleast the ability to dim the white. You will end up hating it. Corals wont pop with this color combination either.

You're better off spending a few more dollars and getting a proper light. Buy it once, buy it right is a good motto to live by in this hobby.
 
If I get an acrylic top to the Aquarium, can I just set this on top of the Aquarium.

I am really trying to start out simple and not going too crazy.

My biggest issue with this light is how to put it on top of the aquarium.

Also, how loud are those fans?

Thanks.
 
miogpsrocks said:
The ones in the link don't have the correct wavelength?
Is this just for viewing or for coral growth?

It does have
30x 10000K
10x Actinic 460nm
5500 lumens.
120 watts.

I could put the coral requiring intense light right under it and ones that need less light away from the light. Maybe maybe towards the front of the tank(if the lights are over the back of the tank)

My concern about the other one is that I don't have a place to hang them. Maybe if I have an acrylic top, I could just placed them over the top?

Could I also adjust the hours to prevent the coral from bleaching?

Keep in mind that I am going for the easy to keep stuff like the soft corals and beginner type stuff. Do I still need the full spectrum vs 30x 10000K
10x Actinic 460nm

Thanks.
Click to expand...

10K & actinic can grow coral just fine. New generation fixtures use a few red diodes and more importantly blue diodes in the violet range in the 460nm range. These lights may or may not be producing any of these wave lengths. So the light produced may not be pleasing to the eye as well and it looks like there is no way to adjust coloration. These wavelengths are also used in photosynthesis.

The lack of dimming is the worrisome part IMO. Without this feature, the only way to give bleaching corals less light is to move the fixture higher, or use a light blocker or diffuser. Since a 29g isn't deep you may have limited options in moving corals to less intense location. Even "easy" corals can bleach. And if you ever want to get into LPS corals like chalices, acans, candy cane & many others, that light at full strength could be hard to deal with.

People do seem to grow corals with these kind of lights. But they are far from ideal IMO. For some the learning curve is steep.

I'm just saying explore your options with more flexible features, namely intensity control & an expanded spectrum. I understand the allure of saving some cash. But if you end up nuking a bunch of corals while trying to figure out how to deal with a too intense light, you might not be saving much in the end.
JMO.
 
I found out that even though its not technically Dimmable, it does have the ability to turn off 50% of the lights on the switch.

So it can effectively be adjusted by half if the lights turn out to be too strong.
 
miogpsrocks said:
I found out that even though its not technically Dimmable, it does have the ability to turn off 50% of the lights on the switch.

So it can effectively be adjusted by half if the lights turn out to be too strong.
Click to expand...

A lot of very experienced reefers in here gave you good advice. If you want to go against it that's your choice. In the end you will spend more money than you would have originally, because you will have to buy a new light.

By turning off one set of lights you are killing the spectrum needed for healthy corals.
 
I'd just relax on the lights for a bit. The ones you are looking at are not a good choice, with shipping you are going to spend a hundred bucks on something that won't do what you are asking of it. If I'm correct that your tank is not wet yet, you have plenty of time to research lights and find the right one for you. Lights are complicated, that's why I just bought the ones a lot of reefers like instead of becoming an LED expert. If you are really interested in understanding like why turning off some lights is not the same as dimming all the lights, rather than just taking experts word for it, that's cool. I'm like that about water filtration. But if you want to go that way you have a lot of reading ahead of you because you need to understand basic stuff like how the zooxanthellae interacts with the coral, what both eat, and how they also get energy from light. It's not like growing a tomato plant under a sun lamp. Without that base knowledge answers don't make a lot of sense and just lead to more questions.

In the meantime you can keep an eye on Craigslist for your area and connect with a local club, maybe something cheap / free will come along. It's not like zoa and gsp are going to evaporate under a $12 fluorescent from petco, they just won't thrive. Also, there's lots of ways to hang the marsaquas, like a shelf over your tank that the light hangs from, or bars that attach to the stand etc.

personally I'd rather have a decent light with dim ends than bad light all over with the ones you are trying to make work.
 
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