[sangpeiris]

What lights would be recommended for Waterbox Clear Pro 7225 167G (72.3"L ×25.3"W ×23.6"H) tank. I'm planning to grow high-light plants using fertilizer and Co2.

All the on-line reviews I'm seeing are pointing to the use of Fluval Plant 3.0 or the little know about Finnex Planted+ 24/7 ALC (not CRV or HLC). Looking at these two lights, I'm seeing that at 18" depth, the Finnex ACL (as apposed to HCL or CRV, which are less) will provide ~87 PAR and the Fluval ~71 PAR. But the build quality on and the app support of the Fluval is better. In either case, i suspect i will need 4 x 36" units to cover the 72.3" x 25.3" surface area at a minimum.

Is the Fluval Plant 3.0 or and the Finnex ALC the best options, or is there something better i should be considering?

Thanks

 

[SingAlongWithTsing]

3x of the basic versions of Nilocg Prizm if you want a lot of par for your $, no software controller though. You would have to hang the lights 12" above the water surface for good coverage though.

3x Chihiros Vivid 2s. Would need need 3x for any 6ft tank. Has a phone app to control settings, seen some contest tanks with it. Not sure how high you would have to mount them.

 

[Quesenek]

What lights would be recommended for Waterbox Clear Pro 7225 167G (72.3"L ×25.3"W ×23.6"H) tank. I'm planning to grow high-light plants using fertilizer and Co2.

All the on-line reviews I'm seeing are pointing to the use of Fluval Plant 3.0 or the little know about Finnex Planted+ 24/7 ALC (not CRV or HLC). Looking at these two lights, I'm seeing that at 18" depth, the Finnex ACL (as apposed to HCL or CRV, which are less) will provide ~87 PAR and the Fluval ~71 PAR. But the build quality on and the app support of the Fluval is better. In either case, i suspect i will need 4 x 36" units to cover the 72.3" x 25.3" surface area at a minimum.

Is the Fluval Plant 3.0 or and the Finnex ALC the best options, or is there something better i should be considering?

Thanks

So there's a bunch of choices, first the choices that you have suggested, I would go with the fluval over the finnex, just my personal opinion. Corvus Oscen uses fluval 3.0 on all his tanks including his 240 in this

and the plants look great, AFAIK he has 4 lights, two along the length and width for light distribution.

For higher par or a sleek/nice looking fixture and/or nice plant color lights, things get expensive, very quick. There's the Chihiros Vivid 2, or the WRGB2, Twinstar SP (hanging version, twinstar isn't controllable by app and only dimmable via 3rd party controller), and there's the Kessil A360WE tuna suns.

Just based on the area they light up along the length of the tank, the WRGB2 and the twinstar have 36" models, however I have no experience on the width they're effective at lighting up, just based on length, 2 would provide that. As said above the Vivid 2 would need 3 based on length of the fixture and the same would be true for the Kessil lights as they light up an effective area of around 24" square I believe. The last two will be higher par compared to the first two.

Based on you wanting to use an app, I wouldn't bother with the chinese black boxes, they're the best bang for your buck, but there's two issues with them. 1) They're ugly TBH, I would not use my SBReef lights over a nice rimless tank regardless of them having the ability to put out high par levels. 2) Unless you fork over the money for the wifi/timer control, they're simply on and off. Not having the ability for a ramp up and down of the channels is a deal breaker for me in the future when I go light shopping.