Most versatile light

[Scol97]

Fellow hobbyists,

I will be moving within a few weeks and am planning for a tank that I would like to maintain the possibility to do saltwater or freshwater. To be more specific, I’d like to buy a ~30 gallon cube tank that I could use as a high tech planted tank OR a reef tank. What light is on the market currently that would give me this type of flexibility?

[Theplatymaster]

i dont know much about reefing, but i dont know if you have many good options.

Ive heard reef tanks need high kelvin blue light, while reds and greens at a lower kelvin are good for planted tanks.

@Chrishave you done any reefing?

possibly some sort of Kessel light

or something like a Fluval 3.0 thats highly cusomizable.

Edited March 8, 2023 by Theplatymaster

[Chris]

I don't think there really is a light on the market that will be great for both a planted tank And a tradition reef tank. It's possible to use daylight Spectrum lighting for some corals, but you'll miss out on a lot of the fluorescent colors. Maybe a fully controllable kessil or a Chinese black box led would be able to do both, but I wouldn't expect them to excel at planted tanks if it's targeted at reefing, and vice versa. 

[mynameisnobody]

If you said a planted light and/or FOWLR then you’d be in business. However a reef light is very specific thing. To my knowledge, there is no light that will do both. I would imagine an algae farm if you used a reef light on a planted tank or a dead reef using a light intended for plants. Take your time, figure out what you want, then pull the trigger. If you are looking for a planted light then the aquarium coop led is the best on the market, imo. 

[Scapexghost]

A lot of reef lights can be used as freshwater lights by turning down the blue