AI Prime + t5 combination

[elithelion]

Wanting to add more light to this 75gal softy reef. There’s an obvious dark spot in the center that I want to fix. I would just add a third prime but the tank has a large center brace. Do y’all think a 48” 2 bulb t5 fixture would do the trick? I’m also planning on raising the primes up to 10” above the water to get better spread. I know the primes aren’t the ideal for the setup but they were included with the tank and seem to support the lowlight corals well.

 

[sharis100]

Wanting to add more light to this 75gal softy reef. There’s an obvious dark spot in the center that I want to fix. I would just add a third prime but the tank has a large center brace. Do y’all think a 48” 2 bulb t5 fixture would do the trick? I’m also planning on raising the primes up to 10” above the water to get better spread. I know the primes aren’t the ideal for the setup but they were included with the tank and seem to support the lowlight corals well.

So BRS has done a lot with that combination. They also have the ideal heights for spread and par calculated in a lot of their information videos.
With primes, raise them up to increase spread and increase the percentages of the par becomes too low.
You can supplement with T5s or reefbrite XHOs - again BRS has great educational videos on this topic.
If you wanted to go higher end, illumimagic has add-ons too but more expensive- T5s cheapest option.

 

[hiimsean]

I ran 2 AI Sol LEDs with a pair of T5 bulbs. After a while I found I liked the look of two ATI Blue+ bulbs. I believe they're one of the highest par producing bulbs and in a good light spectrum for most corals.

 

[jcook54]

I do think 2 T5 bulbs would do the trick. You'll still have a dark spot according to a PAR meter but it will look a lot better and give you some additional light. I use the same setup on my frag tank but have a 4 bulb hybrid fixture instead of 2 and it does really well. In the picture you posted, I can't see if you're running an open top or some sort of canopy. The overall look would influence my decision on what exactly to get. The premade hybrid fixtures are more expensive but they have a good, finished look.