57 Gallon Rimless Lighting Advice

Hello 3 Reefers-

I am torn on deciding what light to use over my new 57 gallon rimless aquarium. I'm on week 2 of cycling the tank so I'm in no hurry.

I have several lighting options on hand already so I'm looking for some advice. I have a ton of extra lights as I used to have a lot of aquariums when I was single!

I want the tank to be primarily SPS and clams.

I have a Boost LED Mu135 fixture I could use- I originally bought it for a 40g breeder but I saw the 57 gallon in a LFS and decided to move the 40g into the bedroom and keep the 57 gallon in the LR.

I also have 250 watt MHs in horizontal fixures or pendants; I have 175 watt MHs in pendants; finally, I have a Nova Extreme Pro 6 bulb T5 fixture.

I'm leaning toward the LED fixture but I'm concerned about PAR at the bottom of the tank as well as off to the sides. I put it up over the tank just to see what it would look like and it has really nice color, it seems really bright, and has wonderful glitter lines.

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

IMO if the tank has no top then the LED's and T5's would have the cleanest look. You could also put the MH's on and then use the LED's for supplementing. Just some food for thought.

 

Any one of those options should work well on the tank. I would go with the LED for its energy savings. You should use much less energy for the lighting over the other two and have a potential savings of no need for a chiller and AC from using the MH.

 

Thanks for the advice!

I will go with the LEDs and see how it goes. I'm all for the energy savings plus I like the look of the fixture and the light it gives off.

If I don't see the performance I would expect, I can always switch to my MHs.