• Folks, if you've recently upgraded or renewed your annual club membership but it's still not active, please reach out to the BOD or a moderator. The PayPal system has a slight bug which it doesn't allow it to activate the account on it's own.

I want to upgrade to LED have a few ?'s

bairdimusprime

bairdimusprime

ok heres the deal. i'm running a 30 gallon long nano at the moment with a 4 bulb t-5 lighting system and i wish to upgrade to led's when i make the upgrade i want to plan for the long run.
the most important issue i have is keeping my Nems healthy i have 3 bta's one rose and two green. i know they have intense lighting needs, so i want to get the best system i can afford with them. now Greg at Reefs2Reptiles has a nice led system for around $325 with 1wat bulbs.. the tanks 36" long 12" deep and 16" wide am I going to need two of these systems? or one and will they suffice? unfortunately I do not know the name but Greg stated they're the same lights he has over his coral tanks. I trust him and shop there regularly but i dont know much about led's and just want to make sure i invest in the right system. the other thing is my wife and i are trying to purchase our fist home. if all goes well we'll move just in time for the new year. once we're in we've decided to upgrade to a 250 gallon aquarium as we and our children love the hobby. I know i will need additional Led units to light the bigger tank but i want to make sure i can still get use from the lights i buy for my current aquarium.

thanks to anyone who responds in advance

Bill
 
trivan

trivan

It might set you back a few weeks on the home purchase, but the AI SOLs are great. I went from the generic LED which are good to the AI SOL, the main reason was the fan noise on the generic LEDs was much to loud for my living room which my 45 cube is in. The AI's are expandable, which will allow you to connect as many as you need (not sure what the max # is, but it's greater then 4) to one controller. I'm going to guess that anything above 2watts will be good enough, but others here will be more knowledgable about the specific coral needs.

Good luck.
 
dnov99

dnov99

FRAG SWAP VENDOR
I have the "generic" LED's over my frag tank and have the AI Sol's over my DT and the AI's are head and shoulders the far superior product and worth every penny of the additional $$$ if it fits your budget. I will certainly say that the generic LED's have lost some of their intensity in one years time and the AI's have not at all.
 
dnov99

dnov99

FRAG SWAP VENDOR
bairdimusprime said:
ok but will i need one or two units foe my 36" long aquarium?
Click to expand...

What type of corals will you be keeping?? If its only LPS and softies you may be able to raise one high enough and change the optics to give you enough spread to cover the entire tank. I have 5 over and 80" long tank, but I have lots of SPS. Most likely you will probably need 2, but you can start with one and if needed add a second later.
 
M

mnat

Officer Emeritus
Staff member
Moderator
The AI generally will light a 2x2 area if you raise them up high enough. You are going to have to go with at least 2 no matter which ones you are going to get. I believe the Orpheks are longer and you could get away with just one. I run 2 AI overs my 57g which is three fee long, when they were just resting on the legs there was a dark spot over the center of the tank, now that I have them raised up I get a pretty even spread of light. Since you are going to be doing a pretty large upgrade in the near future, I would look for what is the most modular and will be effective over a 265. One watt leds are probably not going to give you the penetration to get to the bottom of a tank that big. For the 265 I would want AI, Maxspect Mazzaras, ReefTech, Orphek, Acan lighting, or wait for the new EcoTech ones that will be coming out soon. You can buy a single one of any of these units to test them out over your 30g and go from there. You can also run supplemental lighting along with the LED unit as well.
 
bairdimusprime

bairdimusprime

I was looking into the AI... unfortunately two units might have to wait till i get my returns in the begenning of the year...
truth about this hobby is you know what you need for true quality and you can't skimp out.

thanks for everyone help i'm going to settle with two AI sol's when the time comes for now the ATI's will have to do
(Time to start SAVING)

thanks again!
 
bairdimusprime

bairdimusprime

wow!! that tanks gorgeous!!! and the ai's keep the clam looking good as well... so they have a high output.. i'm sold time to open a led savings acct. lol
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top