Current Satellite Lighting help
Re: Current Satellite Lighting help
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.
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- Posts: 199
- Joined: Wed Dec 08, 2010 3:52 am
- Real Name: Shahriar Farkhan
- Location: U Street, Washington DC
Re: Current Satellite Lighting help
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 wrote: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...
Shahriar (Shah-ry-are)
Re: Current Satellite Lighting help
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.
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- Posts: 199
- Joined: Wed Dec 08, 2010 3:52 am
- Real Name: Shahriar Farkhan
- Location: U Street, Washington DC
Re: Current Satellite Lighting help
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 wrote: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.
Shahriar (Shah-ry-are)
Re: Current Satellite Lighting help
I run all of my lights for 8 hours, usually noon-8pm for evening viewing time...
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- Posts: 199
- Joined: Wed Dec 08, 2010 3:52 am
- Real Name: Shahriar Farkhan
- Location: U Street, Washington DC
Re: Current Satellite Lighting help
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 timekrisw wrote:I run all of my lights for 8 hours, usually noon-8pm for evening viewing time...
Shahriar (Shah-ry-are)
Re: Current Satellite Lighting help
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.
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- Posts: 199
- Joined: Wed Dec 08, 2010 3:52 am
- Real Name: Shahriar Farkhan
- Location: U Street, Washington DC
Re: Current Satellite Lighting help
I didn't even realize they were dimmable - I'm still in 1960s techkrisw wrote: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.
Shahriar (Shah-ry-are)
Re: Current Satellite Lighting help
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...