Shallow tank lighting

BigNick

BigNick

New member
So I had will build me a shallow tank, 48x18x12 with a eurobrace, looks awesome, and is going to be a very slow setup, I'm not in a hurry I'm in the middle of a move but what kind of lighting should I do, I'm only keeping zoas and palys, Rics and candy cane, may e couple other things, basically softies, and that's a shallow tank so not sure what route to go with it, worried about over kill for the lighting.
Thanks guys for the input.
 
If all you want to do is keep them alive, you don't need much, I've got palys and rics in my sump that are alive under a $7 grow bulb from home depot, lol. Try two PAR38 bulbs or something like that from Coral Compulsion? It's an inexpensive, yet solid setup. Would be my best guess at least...
 
Two bulbs should in my opinion, but I haven't used them... lol, so I'm not the guy to ask! But that's what I would do if I had that setup at least... Just ask Jimmy, he's a sponsor here, and will help you find the right fit for your tank - he's a great guy, very helpful, and somewhat local even!
 
tkh said:
Two bulbs should in my opinion, but I haven't used them... lol, so I'm not the guy to ask! But that's what I would do if I had that setup at least... Just ask Jimmy, he's a sponsor here, and will help you find the right fit for your tank - he's a great guy, very helpful, and somewhat local even!
Click to expand...
Ok cool thanks.
 
I would go led, you are going to need way more than 2 par38 if you have anything that requires high light for color (ie some palys) If you go the coral compulsion route 2x cc120's would work great or any of the Chinese fixtures in the 90-120W range. you would probably have to dim them a bit, but you will get much better coverage and be able to support the color for some of the more demanding ZnP I would tune it to go from 250/300 par at the surface to about 75 on the sandbed/bottom
 
4 bulb T5 fixture would be perfect for your tank. You could grow everything under it, including some SPS in such a shallow tank. If you grow mostly softies as you plan, you even don't have to change bulbs more often then 18 months.
 
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