Lighting a 3 foot tank

[kvaughn888]

We are wanting to light it with LEDs but don't want to break the bank that bad.... what kind of optics do we need? The tank is a 6 feet long, 2 feet deep, and 3 feet high

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[porpoiseaquatics]

Well you don't have a great set of dimensions to work with. The 3 feet high is the killer if you are referring to it's "depth" and I'm assuming that you are. LED is good to around 30" generally speaking. Ultimately, it depends on what you intend to keep in this tank. If it's going to be fish only and maybe a few soft corals (low light requirements) then you could get away with 120 degree optics. If you intend to keep corals the full depth of the tank, you're going to probably need at least 60 degree optics to keep the light focused so that it will penetrate that deep. The other component is the tank length. Unless you go with a fixture that is 27" or pretty darn close, you're looking at 3 fixtures to cover it.

 

[kvaughn888]

We are looking to keep a little bit of everything. Its 300 gallons so how many watts will we need?

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[sstanle4]

Tagging along...

 

[brandonmason]

I have 2 China LEDs over a 30" tall tank with 120 optics and was getting anywhere from 80- 150 par with the LEDs maxed out within 8" of the top it ranged from 400-800. My LEDs sit only 6" from the water. I keep everything in the tank minus a clam. If I had it to do over again I would have got at least 90 degree optics. So that I could have had more options for coral placement. My lps grows great and some of the sps I had on the tank did great however some of the more light demanding sps is now in my 75. Depending on what youre going to keep and which lights you get you could get get away with three units but four would do great with 60 degree optics and you wouldn't have to stack your rock so high

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[brandonmason]

That was suppose to say 80- 150 in the sand

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[atljonathan]

<span style="color: black"><span style="font-family: Verdana">The lighting requirements greatly depends on what you putting in the tank. A live coral reef will have a high demand for quality light. A fish-only tank can get away with much cheaper lighting. If you are doing a coral reef, at those dimensions, you will not be able to go cheap on the lights, you going to need to make an investment. The Radion XR30w Pro is a sound investment, can be upgraded in the future (i.e. your investment is protected), and you can grow any type of coral under these lights. In addition, it will save you a great deal on electricity, the metal halide equivalent is extremely expensive to run and keep cool. </span></span>
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[kvaughn888]

I think we are going to do 3 of the reef builder LEDs the 24 inch ones and then do 2 metal.

OR

Do a custom led layout.... and have like 1200watts of all LEDs. I plan on pricing that out tonight

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[kvaughn888]

Reef builders my bad lol

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[kvaughn888]

For the money I believe this is what we are going to do. Each fixture has 99 3watt lights so each one is right below 200 watts. We with need 4 for them to get to 4 watts per gallon (1200watts). What do y'all think? I mean I can get these for 430 for a guy so that puts lighting this tank for $1720 and that's the price of only 2 of the randons lol

http://www.reefbreeders.com/it2080.html">http://www.reefbreeders.com/it2080.html</a>

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[darrrenjmartin]

If I may, Your going to break the bank at this cycle in LED technology if you purchase off the shelf. you have a giant tank for LEDs.
The benchmark fixture is for a deep 6 ft tank 3x250watt hqi 12k and 8xt5 54watt tubes 03 actinic.
Check all the specs Watts per lumen par , par at red ,par at blue, 405nm420nm ect
you can add Substrate and rock to lose height,
LED are much too large a expense, if you bring up a budget, andjust getting your feet wet.
Though, there are some serious good deals on this site. But it akes some real savvy to be first
As a crappy guideline that I just made up, sorta
If it takes takes half the wattage in LED's to equal the above fixture.
The cheapest chinese Led fixtureis still a over two dollars a watt.
Three to four five six for name brand.
Halide/t5 1300watt/2
Led 750 watt x$2 1400-3500
I bought a spanking brand new 6 ft current halide pc fixture $300. Smelled like new plastic.
Until a Component Led chip can be purchased, for less .25 cents a watt, then your talking conventional light oblivion. It coming fast, five years no more halides t5. Just LED.....ask Pres Obama.lol
For me, i would have the build and cost knowledge for DIY LED, before I could make a off the shelf purchase that large. With a spec of 405nm-465nm included.
The canned units are beeeaaaaauuuuteeeeeful. Sleek cool convienient the bomb I hope you can go LED.