Need help with lighting

[jrbui]

Hi im new to saltwater tank and i am currently in the process of choosing a lighting system. I have a 20 gallon long tank and am planning on having sps and lps coral if thats possible.I was planning on going with some LED lighting any recommendation on the wattage I should have for the tank any help wold be appreciated thanks.

 

[rickross23]

You want to look for 3w cree LEDs.

 

[jrbui]

I am the thing i was wondering is would 24 led be enough and the heatsink is 6"x9" would that be big enough to give sufficient lighting to my tank?

 

[rickross23]

If using 3w cree, I would say yes.

 

[jrbui]

Ok thanks

 

[snakeblitz33]

It really depends on the quality of the led light to be honest. One of those marineland fixtures are not good. Two ecoexotic panorama led strips wont have enough coverage over a 30" long tank. Building a fixture would be better because you could thrn customize it the way you wanted.

 

[mr. limpid]

Most LED fixtures cover a 24"x 24" area. Here is my list of good fixtures.
Ecoray 60D $300 coverage is 18"x13" @ 24" above tank
StarkLED 60w $369
Aquaillumination SOL $399
ECO Tech XR30w $750
Vertex Illumina $999
My chose is the Auqailumination SOL, you would only need one.
My .02 cents

 

[2quills]

24 3 watt leds is a lot for a 6x9 heatsink. So if you go that route make sure you run some active cooling (fan) on it. 24 is plenty for that size tank. If I could offer a suggestion it would just be to go with a slightly longer heatsink in order to space them out a little more in order to get the coverage you need without having to mount the lights 2 foot above the tank. But 24 HP leds is plenty enough to keep whatever you want in there.

 

[jrbui]

Tanks for the feed back guys I'm going with rapidsled 4.25x23" heatsinks , so does anyone know where I can get a skeleton of a light fixture.

 

[rickross23]

The AI sols do NOT cover a 2' x 2' area.