Current Satellite Lighting help

[GOT MTS?]

I have a 36" inch ecoxotic on a 30 gallon tank and while it is a very nice light it is not nearly bright enough on its own. I believe it is 16" deep tank. I run the ecoxotic led and a 2 bulb t5ho and still would only consider it medium light. I haven't tested par levels though. I think you are going to need at least 2 strip lights on that size tank.

[sfarkhan]

Shahriar, it all depends on the height of your tank and what lighting level you want to achieve. For a shallow bookshelf tank (8" tall), I really liked my Satellite PRO. The Plus Pro outputs roughly double that so it could work for a high-light tank at a bit more depth. For tanks more than 12-14", you might want to look at the Ecoxotic E-Series. It's essentially the same light, but roughly 2X the output of the Plus PRO. Beyond 18-20", you may be better with the higher output Finnex (lower build quality and cheaper) or a BuildMyLED (higher build quality/price). Obviously, all my opinions and assuming tank with high tank/CO2. If you want lower light levels or no CO2, you can go with less...

Just looked at the Finnex Ray 2 and wow - that looks like a great deal. There are a couple of YouTube reviews, one on a 90 Gallon planted tank with two Finnex Ray 2s and he says he can probably get away with one unit.

[krisw]

The ray2's put out a lot of light but I doubt you'd just want one. I use 2 on an 18" tall tank that's 18" front to back. It's just about perfect for high light in that setup. Your 90g is a few inches taller, so figure from there.

[sfarkhan]

The ray2's put out a lot of light but I doubt you'd just want one. I use 2 on an 18" tall tank that's 18" front to back. It's just about perfect for high light in that setup. Your 90g is a few inches taller, so figure from there.

I'm thinking the same thing, my tank is 18" wide and 21" deep so the additional depth will reduce the light just a bit but still be good enough. How many hours do you run yours?

[krisw]

I run all of my lights for 8 hours, usually noon-8pm for evening viewing time...

[sfarkhan]

I run all of my lights for 8 hours, usually noon-8pm for evening viewing time...

Both units at the same time? I run mine 8 hours (2x T5 HO) with a 1-2 hour overlap of (2x-T5 HO). I guess I can run the LEDs full time

[krisw]

Yes, although if you needed to decrease illumination you could use the same method that you do for your T5s. For dimmable fixtures, I usually opt to either ramp up to full brightness and down again or just run for 8 hours at a brightness that is in equilibrium with fertilizers / co2 added.

[sfarkhan]

Yes, although if you needed to decrease illumination you could use the same method that you do for your T5s. For dimmable fixtures, I usually opt to either ramp up to full brightness and down again or just run for 8 hours at a brightness that is in equilibrium with fertilizers / co2 added.

I didn't even realize they were dimmable - I'm still in 1960s tech

[krisw]

Shahriar, the Ray2's are not dimmable. The 24/7's are, but I'm not sure how they compare in PAR output off the top of my head. I run some other LEDs that are dimmable...