Best lighting for a 37 gallon tall (30"x12"x22") WITH centerbrace on rim?

[Nanoreefer415]

Best lighting for a 37 gallon tall (30"x12"x22") WITH centerbrace on rim?

So ive basically been pulling my hair out trying to decide what light source would be best for my 37 tall. The 2 problems im dealing with are 1: depth and 2: that stinkin crossbrace!!! I feel i cant put just 1 led unit over tank because the brace will block alot of light.

Right now im thinking of either getting 2 AI primes on each side, 2 kessil a160we or a 4 bulb t5ho ati sunpower unit. Which one would be best for getting good par levels at 22"? I dont keep sps on sand but i do have fungia plates, cynarias and acans on bottom.

The most i want to spend is around 500. At this point i would have gotten a hydra 26 or a360we for whole tank but that stupid centerbrace, ahhhh!!!!

Any help guys? Thanks again
Scott

 

[Avenged87]

Two A.I primes would be ideal they are pretty awesome especially with the apps.. I think the spectrum and what you get for 200 a piece of the best bang for the buck. Just my opinion

 

[Branespikin]

Yeah those AI Primes pack a punch for a small light. 2 of those should suffice.

 

[Nanoreefer415]

and you think that would be better in terms of color and growth vs the ATI sunpower 4 bulb fixture? i heard ati t5 fixtures with ati bulbs can punch 30" deep with acceptable sps par readings.

if the AI prime matches this same par i would love to go LED just because its set and forget. the only reason im leaning toward the ati sunpower is that i cant really find a single bad review besides the weight of the unit. its a little of the heavy side. i can deal.

 

[Avenged87]

The ai primes will keep you under budget and the spread of the lights would be ideal for your tank. I also think they look fantastic. I don't think you could go wrong, they're are a lot of options with lighting but they are easy to use and pretty powerful

 

[reefiness]

I think you would see higher par with the ATI light. From what i saw looking up par ratings of the various units, ATI wins. But the primes would be nice to have the controllability.

 

[Nanoreefer415]

I like controllability with colors but only for taking pics or very brief viewing. I dont understand tweaking color spectrum so i just keep leds full spectrum, ive heard stories of too much of a single color causing problems with key chlorophylls.

 

[homegrowncichlid]

I also have a 37 gallon that I use as a sump/frag area.
I believe the LEDs you've listed can go to depths of over 24" and with 2 of them can reach 30+". A bit of over kill for that little tank. I'm using two generic 150W LED fixtures on my 65 gallon, (also has the center brace) and keeping them at ~50% output, while they are placed a foot above the water, so to simplify, I'm using about 150W of energy, since I'm having problems with my corals sun burning.

What I use on my 37 sump (where I keep my frag rack) is a generic 4 x T5 fixture by current. and that has plenty of growing power for my SPS when they are placed at 12" below the surface. I believe they can grow off the bottom at 20", but I keep sand and other stuff down there. That's 39 x 4 bulbs = 156W
The ATI fixture will have much better reflectors and more output.

Cost in the long run will be cheaper with LEDs, since I do change out my T5 bulbs every 9 months.

 

[homegrowncichlid]

Actually, if you want to save some dough, I've got my old Aquatinics Tx5 36" fixture I can recycle to you. It has 5 x T5 bulbs in a dome shape within the same footprint of a 4 bulb fixture, which is why I went with it a few years ago. I'm just using it on my quarantine tank now. I could list it for sale, but no one would buy it, since it has been used for 6 years. It was pretty good back then, and I believe it can holds its own against ATI. (that extra bulb makes more light, but I it cost more to replace, which is why I stopped using it)

I'll give it to you for free, if you just pay for 5 new and unused T5 bulbs that I can put in it. I'm slowly phasing over to LEDs, since as you can tell by now, I feel T5s bulbs cost too much.