lighting question for a newby

ccandtfear

New member
Hi everyone, i am looking at getting a 45 g (Aquarium: 13"L x 36"W x 24"H) tank that will house probably just live rock and fish but i would like to try coral down the road. Any suggestions on LED lights? Price range is up to 300 dollars

thanks
 
Hi everyone, i am looking at getting a 45 g (Aquarium: 13"L x 36"W x 24"H) tank that will house probably just live rock and fish but i would like to try coral down the road. Any suggestions on LED lights? Price range is up to 300 dollars

thanks

Don't you mean 36"L?
 
Any light will work for a FOWLR (Fish Only With Live Rock).

To grow coral you need intense light. Anything from Mars Aqua at $100 each (you'll need 2) up to Eco Tech Radions at $800 (you'll need 2) will work. There is some small differences in the quality of the light they produce, but most of the extra expence is for the features the humans like to play with like sunrise/sunset and 6 channel vs 2 channels of color control. The corals could hardly care less, be some humans like the extra features (including me). I use Reef Breeders as they offer the high end features and mid level prices and still have good quality. Look at a Reef Breeders Photon V2 32" if you want the extras. Or a Viparspectra or Euphotica if you want more basic and lower cost.

Just don't look at Current Orbit or Marineland fixtures that use 0.5 watt leds. They don't penetrate 24" of water well enough for anything but low light soft corals like mushrooms.
 
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