Current USA Marine Orbit LEDs for a reef?

Hi everyone
I'm interested in changing my FOWLR into a reef tank soon. I'm not sure about my lighting though. I've heard of people having luck with corals and the marine orbit LEDs but I'm not sold. It's a 23" high 60g tank and the light is 46 watts total I believe.

I'm not looking for crazy corals, mainly softies and LPS. I know I want zoas, mushrooms, a toad stool and a frogspawn. Do you think this light can support these?

Thank you!

 

No! I have one on my 32 gallon cube for about 7 months and I use it as a supplement light to my Kessil. You would need Atleast 2 to get coverage on that size tank and I don't think it has enough power to penetrate to the bottom. At that price you would be able to get much better lights for your tank. Check out reefbreeders if you want an affordable led. If you were planning on mushrooms and zoas only tank I would say maybe but I think lps kinda rules this light out for you.

 

+1 ^ ^ not even enough watts and light penetration. The PAR reading on one i'm sure is minimal and your hardly able to keep the most basic softies with that light. It could work for some of the basics I would suppose but not as good as it could be and LPS is a no go for sure.

 

+2

That unit employs 1/4w diodes; your PAR would be near zero at the bottom. Reefbreeders and Taotronics are far better choices for a budget LED fixture.

 

I also have a T5HO fixture I could add to the tank along with the LEDs. It's only a dual fixture that I had with two 54 watt ATI bulbs. Would those two togsther at least be okay for something?

 

Yes that should be enough for soft corals and maybe some lps with proper placement.Make sure the bulbs are new.

 

Yeah,the T-5 fixture will do..Like said ,replace the bulbs

 

Thank you!!

 

I am looking at buying a LED fixture in the future. I have been trying to find the cheap way out, but after reading forums and getting loads of advice. I have found that there are not any good cheap LED fixtures for stand alone application. For my 4 foot 55g tank I am looking at a minimum of 500 dollars. unless I go ReefBreaders then it will be 450 dollars. Save up your money and go with stand alone LEDs. I have learned from many folks here it is better to save a buy once than to make a quick buy then be replacing.

 

You could get two of the 120w Evergrow fixtures for under 300 and it would be plenty for that 4 foot tank.