New Reef Tank Lighting

I currently have a 40 gallon fowlr (with one coral) and now that this tank has started leaking, I am most likely going to be getting a 60 gallon rimless cube tomorrow (24x24x24) and basically starting over (with the exception of my lr, sand, etc.) but supplies like lighting, tank, skimmer, sump, etc. will all be new. I'm trying to determine what I should do for lighting as I plan to begin turning my tank into a reef tank in the near future. Any suggestions on lighting would be great, I prefer LED in the $100 or less range, but I'm willing to go a little over that budget (kinda expecting to haha) for a quality product, so any recommendations on lighting and good/cheaper places to buy lighting would be great. Thanks!

 

Hate to say it but with your tank you will be hard pressed to find a decent product for that price unless you go used. You could go with the likes of a Mars Aqua or one of the cheap Chinese full spectrum lights, but the results are hit and miss and you won't have the control options to fine tune the way you would want. A Current USA Orbit Marine would be decent, but then again if you were going to spend $160 on a light, you might as well spend the extra $39 and get an AI Prime HD (probably the best bang for buck light out there). The AI Prime HD will cover a 24 inch cube and unlike most other lights in it's price range is a full spectrum light. It will grow all but the most difficult of corals. If you really want to go crazy you could go with an Ecotech Marine XR15 and that would probably grow just about any coral you could find, but be prepared to spend $400 new for it. Believe me, you cannot go cheap on lights if you ever want a reef tank and the full spectrum and ability to fine tune and control it really makes a difference on how your corals respond.

 

Hate to say it but with your tank you will be hard pressed to find a decent product for that price unless you go used. You could go with the likes of a Mars Aqua or one of the cheap Chinese full spectrum lights, but the results are hit and miss and you won't have the control options to fine tune the way you would want. A Current USA Orbit Marine would be decent, but then again if you were going to spend $160 on a light, you might as well spend the extra $39 and get an AI Prime HD (probably the best bang for buck light out there). The AI Prime HD will cover a 24 inch cube and unlike most other lights in it's price range is a full spectrum light. It will grow all but the most difficult of corals. If you really want to go crazy you could go with an Ecotech Marine XR15 and that would probably grow just about any coral you could find, but be prepared to spend $400 new for it. Believe me, you cannot go cheap on lights if you ever want a reef tank and the full spectrum and ability to fine tune and control it really makes a difference on how your corals respond.

Thanks for the advice, and kind of a reality check haha. I was expecting to have to go way over $100, maybe not into the $400 range, but luckily there is an awesome used equipment store near where I live, and I'm gonna be going there to pick up my tank today, so I will look around at what they have. I will also look into some of the brands you recommended and see if anyone is selling secondhand on Craigslist. Thanks! Also you seem to know this lighting think quite well, I'm new to it as I've never thought about turning my tank into a reef, but now that I will have the right setup, I'd love to. Could you help me out with sump lighting at all? I've heard a lot of people say to just get a fluorescent light from lowes or Home Depot, very doable, do you think I'd be ok with that?

 

Thanks for the advice, and kind of a reality check haha. I was expecting to have to go way over $100, maybe not into the $400 range, but luckily there is an awesome used equipment store near where I live, and I'm gonna be going there to pick up my tank today, so I will look around at what they have. I will also look into some of the brands you recommended and see if anyone is selling secondhand on Craigslist. Thanks! Also you seem to know this lighting think quite well, I'm new to it as I've never thought about turning my tank into a reef, but now that I will have the right setup, I'd love to. Could you help me out with sump lighting at all? I've heard a lot of people say to just get a fluorescent light from lowes or Home Depot, very doable, do you think I'd be ok with that?

Truth is I have been researching lights a lot lately due to the fact that I have a cheap Mars Aqua light bar on my 90 gallon and it just isn't doing it for me on the tank. I will probably have to wait another couple of months to get funds myself at which point I will likely upgrade to a pair of AI Prime HD lights. You can get a new AI Prime HD for $199 from Amazon and a few other sites right now (It was priced at $225 until a few weeks ago).

As for the sump light, what are you planning on using the light in the sump for? Is it a refugium light?

 

Truth is I have been researching lights a lot lately due to the fact that I have a cheap Mars Aqua light bar on my 90 gallon and it just isn't doing it for me on the tank. I will probably have to wait another couple of months to get funds myself at which point I will likely upgrade to a pair of AI Prime HD lights. You can get a new AI Prime HD for $199 from Amazon and a few other sites right now (It was priced at $225 until a few weeks ago).

As for the sump light, what are you planning on using the light in the sump for? Is it a refugium light?

I actually wound up just getting a Red Sea max 250, so all the lighting was already included. Thanks! Hope you can get those new lights soon for your 90.