50 gallon LPS & Zoa Reef

[mike31154]

Originally Posted by Myka

Yeah, this I know. I'm going to just use 2 bulbs for now because I want to see how it does out of interest. I might need 4 bulbs just to span the 18" width though.

FWIW, I ran my 77 Hagen on a dual lamp Hagen GLO 48" T5HO fixture for at least it's first year. Had a mushroom pop up on a piece of LR that I had no idea was in there under that light. I think I had one 10000K & one Actinic in the fixture.

Might be a good opportunity to consider a LED fixture. It it's going to be a dedicated soft coral system, you could get away with fewer (or lower power) LEDs than on an SPS reef. I recently finished a LED DIY and it's been running over my tank for a week. Really like it. Lower power usage, dimmable, plenty of colour options. Prices are coming down & there are more plug & play standard bulb options these days, so a DIY could be as simple as having four to six standard light sockets with PAR38 bulbs or a low voltage MR16 bulb solution. You'll certainly have time to play around with ideas while running the 36" Hagen GLO.