The Puffer Forum

I have a 33 gallon tank that has a depth of 18" that's presently housing a gsp. planning on adding some corals eventually and was wondering if this fixture is good enough.

I bought a Current Orbit Marine when i considered running a fowlr. It is a nice light unless you want to go with some coral (even softies). I quickly upgraded.

Long story short:
If you want to run a Fowlr and dont care about coral, or coral growth = nice inexpensive LED fixture
If you want to grow coral = it will be lacking. You will be upgrading them.

I have read good things about the Orbit Marine Pro model however, it is much more expensive. So if you buy the Orbit Marine and decide corals are for you, do like i did and turn it into a fuge light.

Better off going with some T5ho?

I have no experience with T5's. I actually have a beefier LED system now. It is a reefbreeder photon 24w. They make good lights relatively cheap, and the difference between the 2 systems are staggering. They also have good black friday sales generally.

I'm not saying the Orbit marine is a bad light because it isnt. It gives off a good even light. It's you can ramp up the intensity on a program. And it has a pleasant looking moon light. For a fowlr, its great.

I'm just saying even with a shallow tank (mine is a 40g breeder) it wont support good coral growth. The coral you put under that light, soft coral and zoa's only probably, will look nice but wont thrive.

I'm pretty happy with my SB Reef lights. The price is quite reasonable too. I've tried out a couple of SPS and they've shown good growth and colour.

I've ALWAYS run T5s. Be sure they come with individual reflectors.

well i ended getting the orbit marine. Major difference. I think it's perfect for a tank of 20" depth. Much nicer colors and tons of options.
Now i need to customize it but i don't know where to start.

Yup, i liked it also (well like i said, i still have it...just not over my corals). You should have no problems slow growing soft corals and LPS. Enjoy it!

good enough for zoas and clove polyps?

Cloves don't need much light but if you want great colors for zoas, a good light spectrum is best.

It'll be just fine for both of those. Just don't expect explosive growth. And by explosive growth, i mean zoa colonies rapidly taking over entire sections of your tank.

For example, I have a 40g Breeder which is 17 inches deep. I grew zoas and toadstools under the light you currently own just fine. 1 polyp grew to 2, grew to 4, grew to 8, ect. over about a year I had a rock with about 30 polyps on it. I switched lights to a much more intense LED and started a new rock. 2 grew to 8, grew to 16, grew to about 100 in the same amount of time. Also, my leathers are expanding, my hammer coral is doing well (was viable under the current orbit marine but, i couldnt get it to grow more heads) and i'm also pretending like i can grow a montipora.

Your light will do just fine. It may just take a little longer for the coral to grow. No worries though, it'll work for you.

Right now i have on coral acclimation setting. Once that's done,what settings are best ? Star polyps just opened up but it's not so purple as it was at the lfs.

Slowly ramp it up. you're going to want that light at close to max intensity for best/fastest growth. I would go from M2 to M4 to M1 to M3, if that makes any sense. I think thats what i did. I believe i ran each schedule for a week. M1 is also a nice program to stop at, depending on your tank.

Its difficult to say what program to work with without seeing the coral react to the different light, as well as not knowing your personal color preferences (i.e. do you want more blue light and less yellow? or do you want less yellow and more blue).