RB Photon 32" or 48"

[kottok.motors]

Trying to decide if the light spread from the 32" ReefBreeders Photon will be enough to cover the ends of my 48" 55g, or should I just hash out the extra $50 for the 48"?

 

[Dmorty217]

Typically the 32" would work fine, that way you have lower light areas toward the edges of the tank for LPS and other corals that benefit from lower light

 

[Stackemdeep]

I run the 48 on my 48" 120 gallon and quite honestly wish I had two of them. I keep it 16" off the water and the ends still are a little lower light than the middle. 90 optics. Great light. Good Luck!

 

[madweazl]

I was running the Photon24 on a 36x18 aquarium and was pretty happy because I needed some lower light areas (all optics removed). Pretty sure I was running it 8-10". I think you'll be disappointed with the 32 on a 48" tank though.

 

[alf1096]

I own reefbreeders and love them I would go with the 48. Minimal more investment and you will be able to keep any coral anywhere.

 

[whosurcaddie]

Ive seen a 24" maxspect give almost full coverage on a 48" tank with just a little shading on the edges. So the 32" will be fine.

 

[whosurcaddie]

I run the 48 on my 48" 120 gallon and quite honestly wish I had two of them. I keep it 16" off the water and the ends still are a little lower light than the middle. 90 optics. Great light. Good Luck!

120 degree optics would prevent that.

 

[kottok.motors]

Thanks guys, I'll pick up the 48" version. Got some other stuffs coming in from amazon to play with today. Hopefully IRS gets me some monies here soon, want to start getting this tank cycled, and gotta get a QT tank too.

 

[Stackemdeep]

120 degree optics would prevent that.

Agreed but I like growing sps all the way through the column, including right off the sand bed of a 24" deep tank. The reason I would have two, if possible is simply more saturation to eliminate some of the base shadowing issues that are common with LED. I saw an sps tank that ran a pair and it had excellent blending and coverage.