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Current Orbit Marine - What can I grow?


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Have a Current Orbit Marine sitting on top of my 20 long. It's a pretty shallow tank which helps a lot but I'm not sure what things would grow well under this light. These are a few measurements for my tank.

 

3" from light to water level

9" from sandbed to water level

3.5" from water level to top of one rock

2" from water level to top of highest rock

 

The plan right now is to go with only soft corals (Kenya tree, zoas, xenias, and leathers). SPS corals are probably out of the question but I am interested in two other items that are questionable to me. The first is in regards to clams. Crocea clams are supposed to stay small and might work in this tank. I know they are difficult to keep but I honestly don't know how much light this fixture is putting out and if it would be enough. This would not happen for months when I'm far more comfortable with the tank. The other item would be brain corals. They look incredible to me and from what I've seen they only need low to medium light.

 

So if anyone has some experience or knowledge of this fixture.

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jedimasterben

Crocea clams need immense amounts of light, even derasa clams, the least demanding, are out of the equation with that light. Those lights are basically viewing lights only with very little output.

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Crocea clams need immense amounts of light, even derasa clams, the least demanding, are out of the equation with that light. Those lights are basically viewing lights only with very little output.

I find it hard to believe that this would be considered a "viewing light" in such a shallow tank. I was just looking around and found people growing SPS corals with two of these while running them at 60%. Clams are out of the question and I figured that might happen. Obviously I am not going to go buy a second one so SPS are still not an option. Zoas and other soft corals should be fine under this light but the grey area falls on the LPS corals.

 

 

http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/led-lighting/91866-current-usa-orbit-marine-aquarium-led-light.html'>Link

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jedimasterben

You'd be surprised how little output some corals tolerate, but that's just it, they tolerate it. When it comes to light, flow, and food, the aim is to give as much as you can without going overboard. Some will grow, some will stay where they are, some will slowly deteriorate over time. Just be aware.

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I have had soft corals and gorgonians do quite well under one of these lights in a shallow tank (12" or less), and brain corals would probably do well enough too, but skip the clam, and if you want to push it, grab a second light since you already have the one.

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Thanks for the info. I figured the clam would be a stretch but they do look amazing. I never looked at the gorgonians before and they are quite gorgeous. Thanks for the advice.

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It's not a "viewing light" that's ridiculous. I have set some up for customers in 20 and 30 longs and even a 40b . I've got zoas, leathers, birdsnest, digitata, capricornis, undatas. Stylos in the 40 and a huge jedi mind trick. No clams, but clams look shitty under leds anyway.

 

They make great deep water lps tank lights. But I have acros under them too, albeit deep water varieties.

 

And alot of monti species

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Wow, I did not expect that. I guess I'm going to have to have to dial back the lights for the zoanthids then. Right now I just have it set to one of the presets that does 12 hours at max light with sunrise and sunset ramps plus 4 hours of moon lighting. There is a coral acclimatization preset I'll use for a bit when I eventually get corals. After that I'll switch to a custom schedule. Thanks for the info.

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Zoas can typically take a pretty good spanking of light unless they are TRUE deep water species. I wouldn't worry.

 

And I should say they make great deepwater lights in shallower tanks...if that makes sense lol. Which yours is. Shallow I mean.

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jedimasterben

Regardless of what you've put them over, they're piss-poor when it comes to output. Like I already mentioned, it is unbelievable how little light some corals will tolerate, but again, its tolerate, not thrive under. This is the equivalent of a single T5HO bulb, and what would you light with just one of those?

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Regardless of what you've put them over, they're piss-poor when it comes to output. Like I already mentioned, it is unbelievable how little light some corals will tolerate, but again, its tolerate, not thrive under. This is the equivalent of a single T5HO bulb, and what would you light with just one of those?

Do you have anything to support this claim? Here is the PAR chart for this fixture. Just make sure to take into account that my tank is only 9" deep from the top of the sand bed to the water level. From the looks of the chart I'm looking at PAR of 100-350 depending on where in the tank I put the corals. Granted companies do tend to exaggerate, that's still a good bit of light. I'm still going to stay away from SPS corals for now though.

post-86607-0-10115200-1422125239_thumb.jpg

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jedimasterben

I know what the LEDs used in these fixtures are capable of as far as output, and those PAR numbers are out of reach. Ultra low output LEDs, few in number, and no lenses to make up for that.

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Anyone have a link to somewhere where someone has actually tested the PAR for this light? Everywhere I look it ends up linking me back to the original image from Current.

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Anyone have a link to somewhere where someone has actually tested the PAR for this light? Everywhere I look it ends up linking me back to the original image from Current.

Excellent question! Marketing literature is not to be trusted.

 

Take a look at the wattage rating for the Orbit units. That tells you something right there. Compare that to the wattage ratings for other lights out there vs the cost and you will see why they are such a poor value to start with.

 

I would not turn down that light under any circumstances.

 

If that light is all you can manage, then the clam is definitely out, and for the 'brain coral' they seem to tolerate low light, so the best you can do is give one a try.

EDIT: wait scratch that bit about brains, I was thinking Lobophyllia which I have kept successfully in quite low light, though it never really grew...

 

Warning! Danger, Will Robinson! Danger! Rant coming...

 

WTF is a deep water coral?? Leptoseris is one that may qualify, but it is also found in lagoons, which I don't think are deep water. Cynerina is another one that may qualify. Veron and the like would probably not consider them deep water though as he describes deep water coral samples (in a short paragraph on deep water communities) as only being available via dredging. Think no light...

 

Acroporids? Heck no! Acans? No. Lobophillia? No. Genus Fungiidae? No. Montipora? No. Mushroom corals? no...

 

As far as I know Zoanthids are a near shore coral, so that would make them a 'shallow water coral' if anything.

 

Jedi's description of "tolerating low light" is far more accurate.

 

Rant done. Carry on. :)

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Lobophyllia is the one I was looking at. While marketing research is not to be 100% trusted, it should still give us a ballpark estimate. I still have about two weeks or so before I get any corals and the plan is still to use the coral acclimatization setting with lower light for the first day and then turn it back up to full. If I see any bleaching then obviously I'll turn it down but I guess I can only wait and see what happens then. I will still be starting off with zoanthids and soft corals and how those do should make it easier to figure out how well or poorly other corals will do. I'm not planning on adding SPS corals to the tank so no need to worry about those and clams are going into that section as well. Guess we can only wait and see how well the corals end up doing later on. If anyone does happen to find someone who has measured this fixture then that would be awesome.

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