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Buildmyled help


CJohnson

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if your tank is 48" you can get away with two. I would recommend 3 though 2 reef spectrum and 1 actinic. I actually ran three on my 180 but now I am running Radions. I really liked the BML lights but just wanted more toys to play with.

In fact I have all three of my lights posted for sale right now.

Are you running a tank controller, you will get the most out of these lights running one.

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You can grow a lot in your 75 with just one BML fixture including including acroporas, montiporas, etc. When deciding on the color temperature the higher the kelvin (K) the more blue you have including shorter wavelengths which will promote the production of GFP, Green Fluorescing Protein. This can cause green highlights to show up and shift some orange coloration to green. If it were me and I was going to start with one fixture I would get a 12000K first.

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You'll get good growth with the 12000K (which I think is very important to compete with algae). For your 2nd fixture if you want to see more pop get the 14000K or 20000K or the supper actinic but keep in mind my above points. You have to decide if this is something you want or not. If you are planning on keeping corals that have their coloration primarily from chromo proteins and not fluorescing proteins stick with a 2nd 12000K. Also don't dismiss using 3' fixtures, off the ends of BMLs the light angle is 120 degrees and if the glass is clean you'll get near 100% reflection internally so a 3" will light up the ends fairlywell, not as well as a 4' but most will not notice. For refference here's a picture of Peeperkeeper's tank with two 2 foot 14000K BML fixtures (they're hung about 3 inchs off the water.) If you read her thread on "Coloring Up" the full tank shot posted with PAR readings is with a BML fixture on the left side and a 250 watt MH fixture on the right side.

post-1247-0-32488900-1421511868_thumb.jp

(The cyano has been pretty much dealt with since this picture was taken)

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Here is what my tank looked like with just two 48" BML lights, a 12k and 14k. Keep in mind the tank is 6 feet so there was a foot on each side not directly covered. The lights were hung about 8 inches above the water. On a 48" tank, it would be awesome.

post-2485-0-95820200-1421514220.jpg

post-2485-0-27382900-1421514230_thumb.jp

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Yes it does, they will work fine. In fact that is how I had them until just two days ago.

I have a 12k 48" with tank mount for sale right now for $200 its not an XB but for that size tank it will be just fine.

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FTS

36" bow front

2 12" 12K BML

1 24" Super Act BML

stand 1-4-15

48" 90 Gallon with +1 12" 12K BML
Mounted 8 " above water in both cases.
In the 90 I have zoas on the sand that are stretching for light. At this depth I think a second 36-48" 12K and another 12" of Act would be more than enough for a medium amount of SPS. Another strip would easily handle HEAVY sps; and would need to be on an apex IMO.
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