Supplemental light or new lighting?

Nano · #1 04-04-2018, 04:32 AM

Hi 🙋‍♂️ I'm nano (Ken) been gone a while but getting a new tank going now that my kids are a little older. We are staying fairly small as per my preference wife wanted more but I don't want to risk it with kids Haha. Not yet.. so we are setting up a 18x18x18 rimless starfire cube and I may be looking into lights in the future. I have 2 ecoxotic panorama pro modules but I'm not sure yet if i will need more or if i should look into something else. I see they are discontinued. We aren't going to go sps crazy but I would like a couple choice pieces. The rest will be lps and zoas/ricordea. Just wondering if I should be looking into something more powerful when the time comes or if I may be able to keep stuff with the above set up. Let me know what you think. I've just finished building the stand and tank, as well as leak testing. So I'm getting ready to start cycling with in the next week I hope.
Thanks folks.

And fyi this is all my wife's idea this time lol not mine, but I'll play along.

Nano · #2 04-08-2018, 10:27 PM

Any suggestions guys? I looked at aqua illumination and am not seeing the par values or spread of them for the price point and after watching some videos of the par being tested in tanks I'm unimpressed to say the least. I do like the idea of the wifi control that's pretty slick but I feel I can do better as the led market seems to have expanded a lot in the last 4-5 years. Radions are definitely nice units but I'm not looking for something quite that expensive. I'd like to stay under $350 for my size tank or less. Which I feel should be plenty for and 18inch cube

Myka · #3 04-09-2018, 02:41 AM

Honestly, AI is the next best bet after Radions. I'm getting good PAR out of a Prime HD. For $250 each they are hard to beat! A Radion XR15 would cover 18" better than a Prime though. I have seen single Prime over the 24" IM 20 gallon tanks for LPS corals and though it looked spot light ish the corals did very well. What kind of corals are you trying to grow?

Tyfighter · #4 04-10-2018, 05:23 AM

A single AI prime is basically maxed out over 18". I really like the ai app for customizing though.

Nano · #5 04-11-2018, 02:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Myka

Honestly, AI is the next best bet after Radions. I'm getting good PAR out of a Prime HD. For $250 each they are hard to beat! A Radion XR15 would cover 18" better than a Prime though. I have seen single Prime over the 24" IM 20 gallon tanks for LPS corals and though it looked spot light ish the corals did very well. What kind of corals are you trying to grow?

Yea from what I've seen they do look a bit spot light-ish I'm keeping my options open for now I still have at least a month for cycle ahead. And I'll just be using my panoramas for then. I'd like to keep zoas,ricordea, lps and sps

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tyfighter

A single AI prime is basically maxed out over 18". I really like the ai app for customizing though.

Yeah I see that. I think I'd like a bit more on the spread and par.