Lighting With A Center Brace

childers

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I have been prepping my stand/tank for a few months while I acquire all my new equipment and cycle some of my rock in a brute trashcan. I've been reading about all the different lights on the market. One fixture in particular seems to have raving reviews. That is the Reefbreeder Photon's. I am looking at other fixtures too. My tank is a standard 75 gallon Oceanic reef ready. It does have a center brace. Should I be concerned about this blocking light to the center of the tank? 10-15 years ago I had a standard 150 gallon display tank. I can't remember if it was braced. Back then I was using two metal halides with great growth and spread of light. This tank is 48"x18"x20". Would I be better off getting two fixtures that cover approximately 24"x24" or one larger fixture that covers 48"x24"? This tank is being set up in a large room in the basement about 10' from my wife's desk/office area. I mention that due to light potentially "spilling out" into her area. I plan on having soft corals and SPS. I've even considered using metal halides again. I've already run two dedicated 20a circuits to my tank just in case I need more power. Any input good or bad would be greatly appreciated. Thank you very much!
 
If it was upto me, I would go with two unit for better spread and controllability.

If you go with photon that will be over your center braces, I would just make your rockscapes around the shades. So like two islands, the shading will be very noticeable since it’s 10” wide. Putting shades over the led or your choice of light will help with light spill.
 
Thank you. That's what I'm wondering. I just discovered the "shades" yesterday for xr15's. I was hoping to one large fixture due to cost. I didn't think about independent controls. That's a good thought. Now I just need to pick which fixtures will work for me.
 
One of my tanks I currently have is a standard 75 and I’m using two G5 XR 15 pros and I have minimal to no shadowing. In my other tank is a 60 frag with 2 Kessil 360x with reef bright add on kits. There is also little to no shadowing going on
 
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