Lighting watts per gallon

[Serpantkeeper]

I’m adding sps to my tank and eventually will be sps dominant. I’m thinking I’ll be upgrading my lights from the old school t5 to the new school LED. Just wondering what people are running for watts per gallon on their sps tanks. What configuration? I guess amount of fixtures?

[Frogger]

Unfortunately the old watts per gallon do not apply to LED's. Every Led fixture is different in the intensity, quality of led, spread and optics. The best way to know how much Led's you require is using a Par metre and tailoring your tank to what you are trying to grow.

Not everyone has access to a par metre you may want to try checking the website of the company that sells the Led's you want to buy. The better companies will have recommendations to how many you will need depending on what you are growing and how deep your tank is.

I have found having a more than you need and dialing back the intensity is the best way to go, rather than buying only enough or worse too little.

I currently have my LED's dialed back to 60% but am running the T5's at full intensity. I have a hybrid fixture.

[Frogger]

If you want recommendations we will need to know size of tank (dimensions) and budget.. Also if you have preferences as to what fixture you want to purchase.

[Serpantkeeper]

Its a standard 120. 4x2x2 I don’t really have a preference as I don’t know much about the led world. Last time I was in the salt game I ran MH with vho and t5s were the new tech.

[mrdss]

Keep hte T5 add L.E.D. for that pop effect. You will thank me later.

[mrdss]

Keep the T5 add L.E.D. for that pop effect. You will thank me later.

[Frogger]

If you go with the premium light which is the Radion XR30 G4 you would need a minimum of 2 units. To decrease coverage and reduce dead spots you might want to go with 3 regular Radions and dial them back. You could also add supplementary T5's to provide more coverage if you go with 2 Radions.

Ideally shallow water Acros prefer a par between 250nm and 350 to 400nm. Corals can be acclimatized for higher if done slowly over time. So ideally you want to keep most of your tank where you want shallow water Acros in these ranges.

This is why a par metre is a good tool to have because your eyes cannot tell the difference between 200 par and 500 par when using LED's especially if you prefer the bluer spectrum.

On my 4' 75 gallon tank I went with the 4' ATI hybrid with four t5 bulbs and 3 led arrays. I can hit over 600nm par if I fire it up on all cylinders. The big advantage I find is I get all tank coverage with the t5's. The width of your tank is wider you could use the 8 bulb fixture.

I have a maxspect 160 watt LED fixture over my 35 gallon and the par is good in the centre directly under the LED's but fall way off steeply to below 100nm when I move towards the sides. Under 100 is ok for some LPS, softies, zoas and acans but even deep water acros want more.