Help selecting light-Nuvo 30gal 36in

[ClownF1sh]

Hello, first off I have to say I am ecstatic to be back in the reef world! Since I last had my 60gallon reef lighting has changed vastly and I am trying to find an affordable light for a 36x15x13 tank. I was heavily leaning towards the current USA orbit marine pro fixture however have heard it will not be suitable for the vast majority of coral.I am hoping to stay under $400 and have moon lighting feature at the very least. Does anyone have any recommendations or insight? 
 

Important to note I can add another marine pro later on if that would allow for the support of sps. Thanks all and happy reefing!

[Clown79]

Current marine can support coral but if you want a heavy sps tank you might want 2 or even better, go with an Ai Prime.

[ClownF1sh]

2 hours ago, Clown79 said:

Current marine can support coral but if you want a heavy sps tank you might want 2 or even better, go with an Ai Prime.

Thanks clown79! I love the features of the orbit marine pro so was hoping to just add another current orbit model to the loop later if necessary. I would love to go the Ai prime route, however unfortunately I think I’d need two (430 plus mounts) to have good spread with the tanks length 😞.  
 

Another option I’m toying with is just to grab a reef brite and add it to the current down the road on an independent timer for 4-5 hours a day to provide the necessary sps light (read great reviews on them however they have little to no independent features/controls).

[mitten_reef]

if you're interested in the Orbit Marine IC Pro, I still have mine.   And yes, mine are used over IM 30 Long.  I was just using them the past couple weeks again as temporary lighting.  

 

two bars will be enough for SPS, but you'll need to keep the white relatively high.  the sps won't be growing gangbuster but they'll be more than fine.  I'd recommend adding a 3rd blue-only (from reef brite, orphek, etc) bar down the center between the two of these.

 

Happy to make a deal, send me a PM.

 

 

[mcarroll]

On 2/22/2021 at 8:08 PM, ClownF1sh said:

I am trying to find an affordable light for a 36x15x13 tank.

A 30 Long.  One of my favorite tanks.  👍  

(It's 15" tall, not 15" fat, correct?)

 

On 2/22/2021 at 8:08 PM, ClownF1sh said:

I am hoping to stay under $400

Not a difficult target these days.

 

Do you have any idea what kind of lights you like from seeing tanks in person?

 

A single, plain Orbit Marine will light up the tank nicely, thanks to the 120º lenses....around 50 PAR near the bottom, assuming you have a sand bed.  That's a decent minimum, depending what your plans for the bottom of the tank are...

 

But an Orbit IC (90º lenses) would give you stronger coverage at the very bottom of the tank with only a little sacrifice of top-coverage due to the narrow lenses...

 

An IC Pro (dual-strip setup) would be very nice...and would allow you to grow just about anything anywhere, with very even coverage from the sand bed all the way to the top of the tank...

 

(These are $361 on their site right now.  https://current-usa.com/orbit-marine-ic-pro-dual-led-with-app-bluetooth-control/)

 

 

[ClownF1sh]

6 hours ago, mcarroll said:

A 30 Long.  One of my favorite tanks.  👍  

(It's 15" tall, not 15" fat, correct?)

 

Not a difficult target these days.

 

Do you have any idea what kind of lights you like from seeing tanks in person?

 

A single, plain Orbit Marine will light up the tank nicely, thanks to the 120º lenses....around 50 PAR near the bottom, assuming you have a sand bed.  That's a decent minimum, depending what your plans for the bottom of the tank are...

 

But an Orbit IC (90º lenses) would give you stronger coverage at the very bottom of the tank with only a little sacrifice of top-coverage due to the narrow lenses...

 

An IC Pro (dual-strip setup) would be very nice...and would allow you to grow just about anything anywhere, with very even coverage from the sand bed all the way to the top of the tank...

 

(These are $361 on their site right now.  https://current-usa.com/orbit-marine-ic-pro-dual-led-with-app-bluetooth-control/)

 

 

Thank you for the recommendations everyone! I received an email from Marine Depot this morning regarding a sale on the reef breeders ($359!) so I ended up pulling the trigger on them. Once the lights are in and I have everything cycled I’ll update photos of the lighting and different features along with a more in-depth review. I’m planning on going to a nuvo 60 in the future so with any luck these will be a perfect light for both current and future tank.