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130 gallon build needs some lighting help


akish5

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I'm getting closer to finishing my 130 gallon tank so I need to start thinking about lighting. The tank is 6 feet long. Right now I'm eye balling the 48" ati dimmable T5 fixture. The tank will have a canopy so somehow I'll have to figure out how to rig something up if I do go with that fixture. I do want to keep some coral, mostly lps because I want this tank to be more about the fish than the coral.

 

Would the 48" be too short for a 6 foot tank? Are there any other lights you guys would recommend?

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How high off the water will it be mounted and are you going to use stock reflectors?

I was thinking around 10" off the water. As far as reflectors I was going to just use the stock ones.

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The difference between the light and the tank dimensions never matters unless you want to put corals along the edges.

If corals are not going to be a priority and you're not going to place corals on the edges, then the issue becomes entirely how it looks to you. You may not like the look of it darkening on the edge. If so, you can always add some cheap LEDs on the edges. You can buy adhesive, silicone encased LED strips for like $10 per foot. They don't have the par to grow corals, but they can help take away the visual edge from the T5 light drop off. I would get maybe 4 strips and put 2 of them perpendicular to the T5 on each side.

 

Light fixtures and bulbs get more expensive past 4' it seems, so this might be a good, cheap and almost permanent solution. They last a long time.

 

Heck, you could even run them on a timer and use them as a sunrise/sunset. These are just some ideas.

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