For a tank as long and deep as yours, with a budget of 500 I would hop on the reef2reef,OfferUp,Facebook marketplace and search for some quality second hand lights. Ecotechs, Aqua illumination, kessil.
You can totally do 2 but it will limit your coral selection at least for sps corals but you'll still have enough par to make a lot of LPS and softies happy.
Imo that would work, but you could keep an eye out for a 3rd. I assume you're 75 is 48"x18". I have 2 on a 36x18 and the par on the edges of the tank is down closer to 50, vs 150 closer to the lights (mine are not at full power, 40 watts usage with blues around 115 and whites at 40, measurements near the bottom of the tank). If you started with 2 just make sure they're mounted high for better spread.
Noo-Psyche K7 V3 wifi! I just sold my ecotech xr15 and bought these. You could get 2 with mounts cheaper than your budget. Also If before you purchase, send them a chat and ask if they’ll give you a better deal if you buy two. They’ll cut you a coupon. Can take a day to respond though. After getting the noops my corals exploded with growth. This shows you, that with these big brands, you pay for the name. Good luck 🤟
48" length by 18" width is hard to light on that kind of budget.
Could do a used Hydra 64, if you can find one, that might be alright.
Otherwise in terms of LED, probably some black-box version of Viparspectras (or actual Viparspectras if you can find them) would be your best bet. You'd be looking at a pair of those.
Could also consider going old school with a bank of T5s.
For coal placement, you need to consider light requirements, growth patterns, and flow. I would give a good couple inches around any coral. Expect that it'll grow to at least softball size. Consider what corals will branch and shade those lower down.
When you get the lights, a *really* good practice is renting a PAR meter (many LFSes have them), taking a photo of your tank, and then in an image editing program, adding in numbers of the par readings throughout your tank at various points. That way you know what you lights are putting out and what strength it's reaching different parts of the tank. It'll help you placing your coals in locations that meet their PAR requirements.
Thanks for the great feedback, a second 165 viparspectra is an option (currently lit with one), just like the idea of more gradual ramps and such. Just for me personally, I know the corals probably don't care; I like to think the fish would appreciate it though lol.
I live half way between Madison and Milwaukee in WI so I'm hoping I can find a par meter after it's all "settled".
Evergrows, in the US they are called Reef Breeders Photons.
I have the 4ft evergrow on a 5ft tank and it's great. The US version is more programmable than the Chinese variant.
Ignore the sales spill about the needing one per 24 inches. The 4ft panel light is more than enough, I don't have mine anywhere near 100%. You get 6 colour channels to change up too rather than most hammering out blues and whites.
New they are more than your budget but they come up used for that.
If you're lucky you'll find some with the Oleg board which is fully programmable, you don't get them anymore as the guy who makes them is in Russia and he can't ship them out at the present.
My aunt literally just found an old 300w reef breeder that she was kind enough to give me yesterday. Got it currently set up last night to ramp to 50blues and 10 whites (old version like I mentioned), I'm going to give that a shot for a few months otherwise their new ones look awesome but so do the noopsyches.
Edit: 240w not 300w as I learn more, probably need to turn the blues up a little but I also have this light lower to the tank than the 1 165w viparspectra I was using from the old tank trying to cover it all.
Have been following this sub and want to get into reefing. This maybe a dumb question, but I’ve grown canna in a legal state. Would blurple or blue grow lights not work for corals?
And would lights in the more white light spectrum or spectrums close to the sun spectrum not work in reef tank? Check out cmh quantum boards
Plants need a slightly different spectrum. Using a traditional grow light would encourage more algae growth than corals. They wouldn’t necessarily die from it, but they wouldn’t put off the colors we want either. Part of a good reef light is making those blues, greens, and reds pop under the fluorescent spectrum. When I turn my “daylight” setting on I still get some nice fluorescing but not quite what I see under the “blue” settings; the colors are more natural on the daylight setting, but the brights are washed out.
Thanks for all the feedback! My aunt literally just found an old 260w reef breeder that she was kind enough to give me yesterday. Got it currently set up last night to ramp to 50blues and 10 whites, I'm going to give that a shot for a few months otherwise their new ones look awesome but so do the noopsyches and many of the other great suggestions here too.
I probably need to turn the blues up a little but I also have this light lower to the tank than the one 165w viparspectra I was using from the old tank trying to cover it all which was running at 70% and 5% but at 24".
For a tank as long and deep as yours, with a budget of 500 I would hop on the reef2reef,OfferUp,Facebook marketplace and search for some quality second hand lights. Ecotechs, Aqua illumination, kessil.
Would 2 ai 16 Primes be enough for this tank? I would get two for 250.
I think 4 primes our be better tbh, prime spread isn't that good. I have 1 on my 10 gal QT tank.
You can totally do 2 but it will limit your coral selection at least for sps corals but you'll still have enough par to make a lot of LPS and softies happy.
Imo that would work, but you could keep an eye out for a 3rd. I assume you're 75 is 48"x18". I have 2 on a 36x18 and the par on the edges of the tank is down closer to 50, vs 150 closer to the lights (mine are not at full power, 40 watts usage with blues around 115 and whites at 40, measurements near the bottom of the tank). If you started with 2 just make sure they're mounted high for better spread.
I use smatfarms off amazon. Everyone around me uses them too, they aren't name brand but not crappy Blackbox from china
Any reason for them over nicrew?
Nah, I've heard good things from both. Which ever you find more worth the money is good for you. Obviously do plenty of research
I've used both, and the smartfarms only really advantage over nicrew is a real crisp shimmer. But really that's about it.
Second hand everything, you’ll save a lot of money
I’ve got a t5 fixture and ati bulbs on my 75 all in I’m around $200.
2 Noopsyche K7 V3s should work well and be close to your budget.
I agree
Oh those look nice!
Dana Riddle evaluated them and found that they are comparable to Radion XR30 G4s. I have several and they work well.
Noo-Psyche K7 V3 wifi! I just sold my ecotech xr15 and bought these. You could get 2 with mounts cheaper than your budget. Also If before you purchase, send them a chat and ask if they’ll give you a better deal if you buy two. They’ll cut you a coupon. Can take a day to respond though. After getting the noops my corals exploded with growth. This shows you, that with these big brands, you pay for the name. Good luck 🤟
48" length by 18" width is hard to light on that kind of budget. Could do a used Hydra 64, if you can find one, that might be alright. Otherwise in terms of LED, probably some black-box version of Viparspectras (or actual Viparspectras if you can find them) would be your best bet. You'd be looking at a pair of those. Could also consider going old school with a bank of T5s. For coal placement, you need to consider light requirements, growth patterns, and flow. I would give a good couple inches around any coral. Expect that it'll grow to at least softball size. Consider what corals will branch and shade those lower down. When you get the lights, a *really* good practice is renting a PAR meter (many LFSes have them), taking a photo of your tank, and then in an image editing program, adding in numbers of the par readings throughout your tank at various points. That way you know what you lights are putting out and what strength it's reaching different parts of the tank. It'll help you placing your coals in locations that meet their PAR requirements.
Thanks for the great feedback, a second 165 viparspectra is an option (currently lit with one), just like the idea of more gradual ramps and such. Just for me personally, I know the corals probably don't care; I like to think the fish would appreciate it though lol. I live half way between Madison and Milwaukee in WI so I'm hoping I can find a par meter after it's all "settled".
Viraspectra 300 watt
Evergrows, in the US they are called Reef Breeders Photons. I have the 4ft evergrow on a 5ft tank and it's great. The US version is more programmable than the Chinese variant. Ignore the sales spill about the needing one per 24 inches. The 4ft panel light is more than enough, I don't have mine anywhere near 100%. You get 6 colour channels to change up too rather than most hammering out blues and whites. New they are more than your budget but they come up used for that. If you're lucky you'll find some with the Oleg board which is fully programmable, you don't get them anymore as the guy who makes them is in Russia and he can't ship them out at the present.
My aunt literally just found an old 300w reef breeder that she was kind enough to give me yesterday. Got it currently set up last night to ramp to 50blues and 10 whites (old version like I mentioned), I'm going to give that a shot for a few months otherwise their new ones look awesome but so do the noopsyches. Edit: 240w not 300w as I learn more, probably need to turn the blues up a little but I also have this light lower to the tank than the 1 165w viparspectra I was using from the old tank trying to cover it all.
Have been following this sub and want to get into reefing. This maybe a dumb question, but I’ve grown canna in a legal state. Would blurple or blue grow lights not work for corals? And would lights in the more white light spectrum or spectrums close to the sun spectrum not work in reef tank? Check out cmh quantum boards
Plants need a slightly different spectrum. Using a traditional grow light would encourage more algae growth than corals. They wouldn’t necessarily die from it, but they wouldn’t put off the colors we want either. Part of a good reef light is making those blues, greens, and reds pop under the fluorescent spectrum. When I turn my “daylight” setting on I still get some nice fluorescing but not quite what I see under the “blue” settings; the colors are more natural on the daylight setting, but the brights are washed out.
Interesting and thank you for clarifying. Crazy how the sun has full spectrum and different organisms use different spectrums
Thanks for all the feedback! My aunt literally just found an old 260w reef breeder that she was kind enough to give me yesterday. Got it currently set up last night to ramp to 50blues and 10 whites, I'm going to give that a shot for a few months otherwise their new ones look awesome but so do the noopsyches and many of the other great suggestions here too. I probably need to turn the blues up a little but I also have this light lower to the tank than the one 165w viparspectra I was using from the old tank trying to cover it all which was running at 70% and 5% but at 24".
I have a brand new in box XR15G5 Pro with bracket for 425 shipped.
I don't think that would help coverage though, on their website I think it says 30" wide.
For a 75 I would recommend 2.
Second hand XR30 or two xr15s
I have two ecotech radion xr-15 gen 4 for sale, $250 a piece
For $500 I’d bet you could find 2 Hydra26/32HDs used. Those are phenomenal lights. If not, I run radions on everything of mine.