another consideration is what size is the 145? a lot of tangs enjoy lots of room to swim so if its a longer tank than a hippo tang could work but keep in mind hippos, powder blues, powder browns and similar species are very susceptible to ich and other diseases and parasites. Meaning that water parameters, temp, salinity need to be spot on at all times so to not stress them out.
Last edited by ReefTech; 12-11-2013 at 08:33 AM.
Reason: poor spelling
ok yeah its is pretty long I dont know exactly what size it is, it was given to me I did not purchase it myself it was being used as a brackish tank...
Its gonna come down to the type of coral you plan on keeping. In my experience with these led's I would say the only thing your probably going to get away with would be some soft coral. It would probably be better to do research on the types of coral you like and are thinking about trying to keep to see what type of water parameters are suggested for them along with temp. are they photosynthetic or non-photosynthetic and what kind of lighting they need in order to carry out photosynthesis. A good way to plan out a reef tank is to envision what you want it to look like years down the road and what corals you would like to have in it. That way you can plan ahead in regards to what kind of filtration you'll need, skimmer size and the proper lighting. The biggest enemy there is when starting a reef tank not being patient when starting out. It may more costly to buy the proper equipment upfront but by having the proper equipment from the get go your tank will be ready down the road for the reef that you have envisioned. Plus once you get it up and running you might want to wait a couple weeks to even a month or two before putting at least coral in it, that way this gives you the time to get familiar with all your equipment and how it works along with getting in a routine with water changes and getting to understand the wonderful world of water parameters and how to keep them under control so that way when you do start purchasing corals, you'll tank will be established and water parameters will be in check. Now as far as lighting goes, more specifically led's, I would recommend either something from Kessil or AI. I currently run Kessil led's over my reef tank and im growing soft, lps, and sps corals with great success. Probably one 350w tuna blue would cover the size of tank your thinking of setting up. Or one AI sol blue should work, again this is all going to depend on what size the tank is.
MarineLand uses 1w LED's in their fixtures. One reason why their less expensive. Most LED units use 3w at the least. Personally I wouldn't waste the money.