180gl best reef lights?...greenhorn

[fishnhard]

First time poster I have 180gl reef tank kinda just started past year previously freshwater for 5yrs it got boring so I wanna change out my lights to led,the Lfs guy says I need 600 Watts. Been looking awhile not too sure but what I've gathered is I want a built in timer remote dimmer.don't like the strip lights. Not too sure what a good brand is.I wanna be able to have everything do everything the dimensions of tank are 6by2by2 thank u all for your help I've been reading every post before starting this tank and it has came out awesome no problems at all

 

[DaveK]

Before we get too far into this, what do you plan to keep in the tank? While it sounds great that you want to "be able to have everything do everything", this really doesn't help us define the system. Some equipment you may want or livestock you want to keep may be mutually exclusive with other livestock or equipment.

LED lighting can get expensive fast, so there is no point in getting more than you need. On the plus side, it's usually easy to add additional fixtures if you you need them.

Your going to find that with LED lighting, that it tends to light up directly what is under them. You can expect to get a span of about 18 to 24 inches per typical LED fixtures such as the EcoTech Radions or the AI Hydras. I'd figure you'll end up getting 4 to 6 of these type of fixtures, but that's something of a guess, because I don't know your entire setup.

There are also plenty of other good LED fixtures out there, but beware of any bargain ones. There is also a lot of junk being sold, and regretfully by some major manufacturers.

 

[sirrealism]

First off Welcome to RS and to the addiction. DaveK is on point. Please give us more info as to your set up and what you plan to keep. If you dont know what corals you want to keep then let us know. The corals you plan to keep make a huge difference. If your wanting to keep SPS then you need high quality LEDs. If your ok with softies then you can come down in quality and price. So It makes a big difference. Since your new if you dont know the different kind of corals let us know that 2 because we can help with that 2. It can all be very confusing to start with. If you can get to 5 posts then you can put up some pics of what you would like to keep and some pics of your tank and equipment. There are a lot of great people on this site that will be happy to help.

 

[reefer gladness]

Total watts is an entirely useless measure of intensity for LED lights.

Individual wattage of LED's should be 3 or 5 watts unless you're using Kessil LED's which uses a dense matrix array of LED's. Beyond that the primary difference you'll find between premium and budget brands are the ability to control each color channel of LED's individually. Cheaper units combine everything on 2 dimming channels and the better units let you control each color individually.

Cooling is the other factor, some of the cheaper units use 3-watt LED's but drive them much lower because they don't have sufficient cooling to drive them at max intensity without burning out quickly.

You generally get what you pay for when it comes to lighting.

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

to ReefSanctuary, a real Sanctuary of reef forums, with lots of very nice members

 

Start a new tank thread & share your tank with us so we can follow along - we love pics

some good advise ^ sure members can help on the lights

 

[fishnhard]

Wo alot to take in thanks for all the responses I'll start with my system I have 180 & 150 gl side by side the 180 has been going for 8 months and 150 is empty in the future I want to sync these 2.for now in 180 I have 2 leveling drains to sump and overflow box to protein skimmer,skimmer drains to sump were 2 submersible pumps return.protein skimmer is terminator 2 rated for 300gl.planning on replacing the submersibles to exterior reeflo pump when I do the sync.as for what I want to have in the tank I don't have clue I want it all but IM doing as much reading as I can to scale back to what's possible desperately need help in this field.I bought green star polyp, zoas,and carpet anemone that I regret now all doing great and coral banded shrimp ,2 serpent stars,2 snails I don't remember the name for.a little diversity since there are 2 tanks hope this helps will try to include photos any ideas thoughts criticism welcomed thanks again

 

[fishnhard]

Yeah any help would be great! what led lights are awesome?

 

[DaveK]

You are going to find that with most aspects of this hobby is that there is no "one size fits all". What ie "awesome" in one application can be close to junk in another.

I would say that the manufacturers generally considered to be making the most popular high end LED lighting for reef systems are EcoTech Marine, AquaIllumination (AI), and Kessil.

The EcoTech Radions and AquaIllumination Hydras are similar and are "bricks" you suspend above the tank one way or another. The Kessil fixturers tend to be pendants.

I'd say that any of them would do a great job for you. This is a case where it's more a question of what features you like and how much you want to spend.

There are also some other smaller manufacturers out there that make good LED lighting. There are also some places the specialize in selling LED kits for DIY lighting projects.

Above all, while you can shop for price to some extent, a full featured LED lighting system is going to be fairly expensive by the time your done. I recommend avoiding all the low end, very low cost fixtures on a reef system. Most of these low end fixtures can't produce anywhere near enough light for corals.

Once you pick something, post a question here, and let us see what we think. You'll avoid problems that way.

 

[outeastreef]

I have been through many different led mfg. ai, reefbreeders, current, and now pacific sun. like others said stay within your budget and make sure you get a full spectrum light. btw all the above light grow sps coral.

 

[fishnhard]

Thanks for the input I have been looking hard for led lights but I know that led seem to give out more light, would u really think I need 600 watts for 180 gl 6 ft long tank? I would think like 3 full spectrum with atleast 150 Watts apiece would be sufficient to grow all kinds of coral soft or hard.let me know what you all think dieing to know

 

[DaveK]

... would u really think I need 600 watts for 180 gl 6 ft long tank? ...

You might. I use 6 AI Hydras (The older version) over my 125 gal reef and run them at about 80% full power. Each fixture will draw about 95w at full power. A 180 gal tank is about 6 inches wider. So, yes, such light isn'n out of the question.

The good news is that with modular systems like this you can start with less fixtures and add more if you feel you need it. So you could start with 3 or 4 and keep soft corals, and maybe some SPS, and if that wasn't doing the job, add a couple more.

Another factor is that LED lighting likes to illuminate what's directly under them, and doesn't spread out too much. Sometimes your better off getting less powerful fixtures but getting more of them.