So how much light do I actually need? (1 Viewer)

[PorpoiseHork]

OK so my second Current Orbit Pro malfunctioned on me last night. The first had some LED's fail after a few days running. The replacement was working great and looked like it was actually a little brighter than the first one. Then out of no where the light shuts off instead of following the program I had set. I turn it back on and it decides to start randomly cycling through its modes. So I'm running on a modded LED fixture that I got as an emergency backup and the Orbit Pro is now sitting in a box waiting to be shipped back.

So now I am faced with the fun task of picking out a new light. I was leaning towards a pair of AI Prime HD's or a single Hydra 26 HD, however I am also thinking of going T5 HO LED hybrid. My tank at least for now is a 37g 30X12X24 and currently has soft, leathers, Fungiidae, and LPS corals in it. I do plan on running a few SPS later on so I will need lighting that will support them, and be something I can scale when I get my 120 (48x24x24). If I do go T5 I was thinking of making my my own LED strip with 6 CREE XT-E royals, 6 XP-E2 Blue, 8 SemiLED 400 and 415nm emitters on it and mounting it in the middle of the t5 fixture that i'll likely wire them up to a dimmer module of some sort to control overall output and color intensity.

Now that my dissertation on my setup is over, here is my question If I go straight T5Ho (for now) will I need a dual or quad lamp fixture? I want to make sure that it will be powerful enough to penetrate to 24" and can scale to accommodate the larger tank later on.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Diesel]

Go with a single Hydra 26 HD.
I have one over my 60 cube (2x2x2) in the frag room and even SPS was growing in there, now it's slowly turning as a experiment into a nem paradise with tons of rare nems in there.

 

[PorpoiseHork]

Thanks for the input. That's the direction I am leaning but will the 26 provide ample coverage for a 30" wide tank if I mount it 7-8" above the tank?

Oh and your setup is gorgeous.

 

[saltyanimals]

The Hydra should cover the 30 just fine if you raise it a bit higher than your 7-8 otherwise you'll have shadows. However it won't scale to the 120 gallon without adding at least another one.

Example: I had a pair of Primes over a 36in 20L and it was great. When I moved to a 40B which was also 36 I felt like I didn't have enough light to cover the added depth so I picked up a pair of used Hydra 26s which are running great now with a good spread. Have them on about 70% now and slowly moving higher now that I've added some SPSs colonies.