Thoughts on lighting?

[Covetous]

Anyone have any experience with this light? Or can give input? I'm setting up a 20 gallon standard nano tank. Not 100% sure which corals I will put in. But I want to make sure I have enough light for a wide range of them. The tank is 16.5 inches high, and the light will sit a few inches above the water. I was originally going to make a T5 setup but for the price I could go with this led that actually has quite a few positive reviews. I was thinking of getting the 24 inch version.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00G...dpPl=1&dpID=418hTJlAfbL&ref=plSrch&th=1&psc=1

 

[fishfanatic80]

I've used current orbits on one of my aquariums, for the price and the features they are great. They stimulate a bunch of different weather settings which is a nice touch if you feel like playing around with it. Also has a timer built into the controller which is a needed feature in any reef lighting in my opinion. The plus side is the aesthetics, downside to the lighting is the range and depth. They aren't too powerful and they don't spread at all. Your tank is shallow so that won't really affect you. I put 2 on a 40 breeder looked good, nice shimmering affect. I then tried it on a 24" tall tank it looked terrible, very dim no shimmer. As far as corals it can keep I'd stick to only softies like leathers and Zoas. Your basic easy to care for corals. Sps or lps will have a tough time thriving. I did have luck with a pagoda cup coral as far as lps goes but that coral is tough as nails. I hope I helped. If your not looking into advanced corals I think this light is an affordable good option.

 

[Covetous]

Thanks that was exactly what I was looking for. The reviews on the product are mixed on what corals it will and will not work for. I do like that it has a built in timer w/ ramp up and down. I always liked that instead of the abrupt on and off. Any other lights that don't cost an arm and a leg that you can recommend me looking into? Or do you think the T5's would be a better growing light?

 

[fishfanatic80]

I have no experience using t5s on corals I know a lot of guys do with great success. Unfortunately lights are just gonna be one of the most costly things in a reef set up. I use 2 kessil 360 on my 120 reef and that costs about 1k with the controller and mounting arms. I know a lot of people who use a Chinese brand LED but I forget the name and I'm not sure how good they really are in terms of par readings and most importantly spectrum. You can also look on Craigslist or another forum for people selling second hand equipment for a lot cheaper but you have to be careful. If you do go with the orbits get the strip size that covers your entire tank say you have a 48in tank go with the 48-60 instead of the 36-48 because the light doesn't spread you'll need to cover completely from side to side instead of having the arms take up the coverage

 

[Covetous]

Just curious, with your current orbits did you try turning up the intensity to see if that helped with sps or Lps? The one I posted you can control the blue/white intensities

 

[fishfanatic80]

Yeah I had them on full output for 4-5 hours a day, you may be able to skate by with lps but I wouldn't count on it. Try hammer frags or torch frags basically stick to frags see if they grow or are happy in your system and if they do good move onto a larger ones. I wouldn't put too much money into it to have it turn out bad