enough light for a 55g??

Instead of buying two smaller fixtures i was looking at purchasing a led fixture that is 30inx6in fixture 180watts total of 60 leds (3w per led) if i go with 60 degree optics and mount it in center of tank high enough would it work?? only concern is cross member on the tank..

 

When i was pricing up a RapidLED build for my 60g I figured on 36 LED (108W) with no optics. What type of coral are you planning on?

Are they dimmable drivers?

Call me a nerd but if all you're worried about is light coverage it should be a pretty easy geometric equation at 60 degrees to determine how high up you have to hang the lights to get the light to spread evenly.

Now if we're talking about PAR at the bottom of the tank that's different!

 

If you're talking about rapidled Cree's, that is overkill IMO, but if you're getting dimmable, will be cool because you can vary the spectrum widely with rb's, blues, cyans, cw's, nw's, violets and a few reds maybe!

I have 18 rbs 8 blues, 24 nw's(gonna swap some out for nw's) and 10 violets on my 55 and run the blues at 75% and whites at 40%

 

Before i got my new LED fixtire I was running one of those 120w Chinese LED units, my tank is a 40g breeder which is 36" L x 18" W and that one 16" light fixture at 10" above the water covered my whole tank. I would think you'd be fine with a 30" fixture over a 48" tank but like others have said the amount of LED's you're talking about may be overkill and you could get away with a less expensive fixture. My new fixture is 24" with 36 3W LED's (total of 108W) and I think it's perfect for my tank!