Best Lights for Deep Tanks (3ft deep)

[Ashley16]

Hello,

  I am a newbie for tanks outside of a nano and a 7x3x3 that I wanted to build my dream reef tank. I'm currently using a Prime HD for my nano's (20g and 40g) and they are working fine, so I was wondering for tanks as deep as 3ft, which lighting will work best? thanks in advance!

[Gongon78]

Hi sorry .Not yr topic related about the light .Wow If 3 ft deep,guess u will be having a hard time for maintenance.Nit easy thou.

[Ashley16]

I thought of the same thing and actually not looking forward to it, but I will def try my best. I figured if other hobbyist with the same size tank can do it why cant I?..=)

[dtdream]

I don't have the same size tank and will probably not attempt one. But if you really do try it please set up a tank thread and let us all be envious.

Anyway, on the topic of lighting for a tank depth of 3ft, you probably need lighting which are mostly meant for public aquariums. 

In the past I would say you should go for metal halides. But now hard to get, so you're left with LED. T5 light probably can't penetrate so deep. For LEDs, to my limited knowledge the 2 brands you can get in Singapore (but probably still need to pre-order) are Orphek and Maxspect.

https://orphek.com/orphek-amazonas-960-500-320-watt-led-systems/

http://www.maxspect.com/index.php?lang=en&Itemid=487

You can probably go for the "lower end" ones meant for public aquarium. Too big may boil your reef tank, lol.

P.S. If you go DE Aquatic at Geylang, stand beside the coral tanks in the middle of their shop, and look up

 

[JiaEn]

My aquarium is 2.5 ft deep,  not as deep as what you are planning, but I think I can offer some pointers. 

1. What you plan to keep on the bottom of the tank will determine your light requirement. If your plan is to LPS only on the bottom, it's going to be dramatically different from say,  wanting to keep clams. 

2. While one unit of light may struggle to provide good penetration at depth,  by having overlapping light sets will solve your problem. 

3. A deeper tank poses more challenges than just light. But I'm sure as you do the planning, you will tackle them as they come. 

All the best!