Lighting question

[Dmac]

I literally just installed metal halides(again), we are cooking with gas now! View attachment 28711

Bobby, I thought you already had halides?

 

[bhodges82]

Bobby, I thought you already had halides?

Nope, had radions, T5, and xho. I had halides years ago, but that was before I had sps.

 

[Adam]

Did you guys add four because you're doing wall-to-wall SPS? I'd like to think that two would be sufficient for my setup.

Dave has a shallower tank so two over each work for him. Dmitri has a monster tank so four punch through the depth better. A 120 is kinda in the middle. I think starting with 2 bars and the Kessil's should work. It'll give you higher par and pur up high to mid tank and drop off for LPS lower down.

 

[Rickdareefa]

Ive been running an ati 6 bulb sunpower with an led strip but im now leaning towards all led due to bulb replacement and the Georgia summer heat with t5s. Im sick of battling the summer heat plus t5s

 

[ricky5415]

I like the noop hybrids now. U can just run a reef breeder 48 on your tank with may be 1-2 t5 along with it. U can find some used fixture easily nowadays

 

[Dmac]

Ive been running an ati 6 bulb sunpower with an led strip but im now leaning towards all led due to bulb replacement and the Georgia summer heat with t5s. Im sick of battling the summer heat plus t5s

I already struggle keeping my tank below 80° with just the kessil's. Isn't your tank open top Rick?

 

[Rickdareefa]

I already struggle keeping my tank below 80° with just the kessil's. Isn't your tank open top Rick?

Yes but i run a 200 gallon system with a 6 bulb ati with a 100 watt led strip, 2 noopsyches 1 radion xr30 a 500 gallon skimmer and a 3500 gph return. These all contribute to excessive heat. Plus i own a second floor condo thats blasted by the sun from 2 to 7 pm. I even have a fan on the sump. Ive had major issues with large fluctuations in temp from day to night. I had to install a seperate window ac to combat it.

 

[Rickdareefa]

Yes but i run a 200 gallon system with a 6 bulb ati with a 100 watt led strip, 2 noopsyches 1 radion xr30 a 500 gallon skimmer and a 3500 gph return. These all contribute to excessive heat. Plus i own a second floor condo thats blasted by the sun from 2 to 7 pm. I even have a fan on the sump. Ive had major issues with large fluctuations in temp from day to night. I had to install a seperate window ac to combat it.

I got it under control this year but was a real headache last year. Now im just sick of buying bulbs and constantly running the ac.

 

[Rickdareefa]

[CHARGE=]

I got it under control this year but was a real headache last year. Now im just sick of buying bulbs and constantly running the ac.

Heat is also why i run my 55 watt uv sterilizer on a reverse lighting schedule with my refugium light

 

[ricky5415]

Yes but i run a 200 gallon system with a 6 bulb ati with a 100 watt led strip, 2 noopsyches 1 radion xr30 a 500 gallon skimmer and a 3500 gph return. These all contribute to excessive heat. Plus i own a second floor condo thats blasted by the sun from 2 to 7 pm. I even have a fan on the sump. Ive had major issues with large fluctuations in temp from day to night. I had to install a seperate window ac to combat it.

Yup open top with ac window unit+ Fan is on from 10am-6pm. Tank is alway from 71-75 this time of year
I don’t think retrofit t5 add that much heat. Is your tank inside the house with an AC running ?

 

[Dmac]

kessil is good, you just need to supplement it. Ryan from BRS is using kessil+reefbrite in his new tank.

if you look at kessil+t5 hybrid on r2r, you will see a lot of success stories. plus it's unlikely that you will do anything wrong with this combo. can't say the same for other LED makers.

Thanks for your suggestion Hui. I always like the BRS videos and this helped me decide that I definitely want to go with the LED bars.

 

[snowmansnow]

im with Hodges. I've been doing halides, only with UV/ Blue LED bars from reef breeders

 

[Dmac]

I recently switched from the generic eBay strip lights Steve provided a lint to and a 6 bulb ATI t5 sunpower unit. That was a serious lighting setup to grow SPS and I got pretty good color too. For the last year and a half I had been concentrating on light in the 380 to 500 nm range, I only ran ATI blue plus bulbs in the T5 fixture and that generic LED strip light from eBay was 470 nm.

Then the new Radion GEN five units came out that focus most of the light on the blue range so I picked up two GEN 5 x15 units for each of my 2 x 4’ tanks. Then I took a look at the Orphek OR3 deep blue strips and decided to pick one up and try it ouT. After seeing the PAR and high PUR reading I was so impressed I bought 3 more. The OR3 strips act like t5 bulbs blanketing the tank with light, I have them flanking the radion gen 5 units.
View attachment 28686View attachment 28687

Got one more question for you. The eBay led bar had the same wattage as the orphek. Was it the additional lighting in the lower 400nm range that sold you?

 

[dball711]

The expanded spectrum and I measured 20% more PAR from them over the Ebay LED bars.

 

[Dmac]

Gotcha, thanks