Thinking of light change. What would you do?

[Rickdareefa]

So here's the deal. I currently run a 6 bulb ATI SunPower with two kessil a150 propped up on the side and an angle. Was going to add 48 in reefbrite LED strip into the mix but I have been thinking about switching to an aquatic life LED hybrid and putting two Radeon G3 or G4 s in it. Do you think I should switch to the radions with the Aquatic Life? Or keep the ATI and add the reefbrite?

 

[bigd]

What length/width tank?

 

[Rickdareefa]

48 long 24 deep i believe. 120 gallon

 

[ActiveAngel]

I think your current light setup looks good brother!

 

[civics14]

i guess the question is...what's your goals?

 

[wake125122]

Whats your par throughout the tank?

 

[jcook54]

I don't need to know anything else to render my opinion, I'll just start swinging.

Go with the Radion/Aquatilife. That's what I did so it must be right. Honestly, I got tired of paying for T5 bulbs. I still use them but whenever I can remove them from my various light setups, I do. The biggest testament to T5 lighting in my opinion is @dball711 and he's recently switched from majority T5 to majority LED.

 

[Rickdareefa]

i guess the question is...what's your goals?

Well i was hoping to possibly lessen some issues i have with tank getting overheated from running t5s all day durjng the summer months. But also wanted some actinic light for the look. Also hoping coax some speedier growth out of my coral cuz ive noticed my radion on the frag tank grows much faster to to higher par output.

 

[Rickdareefa]

Whats your par throughout the tank?

Not sure at this point but my frag tank radion def grows faster. Other factors include heat and aesthetics tho.

 

[civics14]

Well i was hoping to possibly lessen some issues i have with tank getting overheated from running t5s all day durjng the summer months. But also wanted some actinic light for the look. Also hoping coax some speedier growth out of my coral cuz ive noticed my radion on the frag tank grows much faster to to higher par output.

Well - you do have 6 bulbs now and going to a 4 bulbs on the aquatic life isn't going to drastically reduce heat. Maybe add a fan to point at your sump?

I have the Aquaticlife set up with LEDs as well, mainly for filling in the shadows and it does a great job. But my LEDs do the heavy lifting in my tank.

 

[Rickdareefa]

Well - you do have 6 bulbs now and going to a 4 bulbs on the aquatic life isn't going to drastically reduce heat. Maybe add a fan to point at your sump?

I have the Aquaticlife set up with LEDs as well, mainly for filling in the shadows and it does a great job. But my LEDs do the heavy lifting in my tank.

I know it wont drastically reduce heat if they ran all day was think i could run the leds all day and maybe run t5s for only part of the day. I just dont want to spend 400 bux on a chiller also dont really have much more free space in this room

 

[hubble]

I have the Aquatic Life Hybrid fixture and love it, 4 T5's and 2 Hydra 26 HD's. I personally think the hybrid setup is the way to go. Best of both worlds.............

 

[dball711]

Here’s my $0.02 worth...

in my opinion the ATI unit you have is the best light output but lacks the deep blue LED lights provide. I ran my ATI 6 bulb unit with all blue plus and actinic bulbs supplemented with a couple Reef Brite (all blue) strips and a couple generic 470nm LED strips. As for heat, the ATI units should not add much heat to your tank. Are the fans in the unit running and are you using a variable power source, the power can be increased to provide more cooling. Second is the plastic shield in place on the ATI unit, if not then the active cooling is not functioning and the unit will pump heat into the tank.

As Justin mentioned I recently took down my ATI unit and switched to a couple of Radion Gen 5 X15 blue units supplemented with 2 generic 470nm LED strips.

Too soon to tell but I’m pretty happy with the results so far. Curious if the new set up can match the serious PAR numbers my old set up provided. I hope to get Justin out once the Pandemic thing dies down and we’ll see. Hope this helps.

 

[snowmansnow]

Whats your par throughout the tank?

THIS~
I recently rented a PAR meter and i was COOKING my corals and thus my issues . Things are looking a LOT better with MUCH less intense lighting now

 

[LTran]

radion is the way to go

 

[Rickdareefa]

Ok soooo... ive decided to stick with my ati. I already had new replacement parts to revamp the ati and it looks great. Also removed canopy and added fan to sump to help with heat. Have removed the kessils completely and coral has responded in a good way. I now only wish to add an actinic led reef strip for fluorescents and some additional par. Any one using something besides reefbrite that can meet these demands? I will be placing my order on Friday.