Need help setting up lighting!

[Zerc]

I have a 36 gallon bowfront aquarium, with a 29 gallon refugium full of live rock. Currently the lighting for the bowfront is the standard t8 from the store, nothing special. Not important yet as all i have in the tank is fish and live rock. However, I want to put in an LED system, and I need some help choosing the right combination/brightness of lights.

With a 30" wide tank I chose the drilled and tapped 4.25"x23" heatsink for 36 LEDs from rapidled.

1st question: Can I have too much light?




thanks!

 

[DolphinLVR]

If your going to keep corals down the road, then you might have to just lower the intensity of the lighting.

 

[Zerc]

Once the tank is a few months old I would like to start adding some corals and an anemone. Is there an intensity threshold I should watch for?
maybe it would be better to just get 5w LEDs instead?

 

[DolphinLVR]

You will want to have your intensity start low and slowly bring it up so that you dont end up bleaching the corals. The intensity will really matter on a few things, how far up above the water will the lights be mounted, how deep is the tank and will you be running optics as well as what type of corals you plan on keeping

 

[Zerc]

the tank is a standard 36 bowfront, so around 20" deep. there is approx 3" of sand, and a whole lot of rock. I expect the lights will be a few inches above the water, there is no hood, only some glass lids. The exact distance I wont know until i get the heatsink and fashion some sort of legs for it to stand on.

As far as corals go, I have not looked at specific species for lps or sps. I want to start with some soft corals(It will probably be mostly soft corals) and a purple anemone. Once my softies are settled, I will probably add one or two sps.

 

[DolphinLVR]

At a few inches above the water, you wont be running those LED's at most I would say is 20% with optics, its really hard to say.

I have my LED's mounted a foot above the water and still ramping them up slowly to get used to the newer LED's

 

[Zerc]

Thats kind of what I am looking for, with 36 LEDs what sort of wattage should i bet getting per light?

Also, what degree of lens should i be using? or 125? or something narrower? I can adjust height above the water to make initial setup easier.

by optics, do you mean lens?

 

[DolphinLVR]

Well you will probably ge getting 3W Led's

usually a 60 or 80 degree lens. Height will play a factor in the intensity as well as the optics (lens) used.

You should contact the guys at Reef LED ( Sponser here) they are great and are willing to help you out.