LED need to know

[KingOfPain86]

Hopefully in the next few weeks I'm going to be buying a 200gal tank. I need to know how many inched of LED fixtures I will need to have in order to not waste light. If the tank is 24" deep what will I need and so on. What's cost effective? P.s. I'm a fan of LEDs and will now switch to anything else. Sorry in advance for being hardheaded.

 

[mcgyvr]

The "generic" formula for the how many watts of LED's do I need is
Watts = 3 x (L" of tank x W" of tank/22) for non-sps tanks
or
Watts = 3 x (L" of tank x W" of tank/18) for sps tanks.

What to do is totally up to you really.. oodles of choices as far as the specifics.. Some run tons of small 3W LED's others run a few 10/20/30/50/100W multichip LED's
In general the more points of light (multiple 3W,etc..) the better the spread/consistency of the light

Some run larger AC input constant current drivers while others use regular power supplies with decicated "buckpucks" or meanwell LDD drivers. Just gotta run the numbers and see what works for you.

There are PLENTY of posts here to get a good feel for what you want or duplicate anothers setup.

 

[KingOfPain86]

Awesome thank you. I will defiantly look at the other post. My first tank was a "dive in head first" deal. My next tank I want to plan out and cover all the angles. Make sure it's done right the first time.

 

[hogfanreefer]

Newb here. Wouldn't tank depth also enter in to the equation some how?

My tank is a 72x20x21. Would three AI Vegas or three Kessil A360's do it for SPS?

 

[KingOfPain86]

I'm still learning but tank depth does come into the equation at some point. There are so many different things I have read.