Additional Lighting Ideas for SPS/Mixed Reef

[PPBlimpy]

this is 6" from surface, 6" from centerline 60" wide tank 120* lenses

 

[Wandering Albatross]

I use quanta w a reefi in the middle. Quanta blue helix bars do the work

How many bars?

 

[PPBlimpy]

this is 8" from surface, 10" from centerline 60" wide tank 90* lenses

 

[PPBlimpy]

not sure if this helps but by the looks of it to me your lights need to come way down and way closer together. will up the par on your rocks significantly

 

[Wandering Albatross]

this is 6" from surface, 6" from centerline 60" wide tank 120* lenses

Will depth still be a problem? I even tried par from 4" away from the light, out of water, and came back with barely 150...

 

[PPBlimpy]

i dont know. it will be better for sure. but the 120* lense is spreading your 200w out way to far.

i wonder if you can get replacement 90* lenses.

i am not saying what i am posting is correct. its just a diagram and how i have always looked at lights. please someone correct me if i am wrong

 

[Wandering Albatross]

not sure if this helps but by the looks of it to me your lights need to come way down and way closer together. will up the par on your rocks significantly

How can I bring these down without the arm being underwater? Will the water rust it? Do I need to hang/mount them over the tank with a bar of some kind?

 

[PPBlimpy]

i believe the arm can go in the water. my gen 1 nicrew does on my 13G, i havent seen an issue. i prefer to mount on a bar or canopy myself.

 

[Wandering Albatross]

i believe the bar can go in the water. my gen 1 nicrew does on my 13G, i havent seen an issue. i prefer to mount on a bar or canopy myself.

I would have preferred a bar myself, but these came with arm mounts so I was trying to use what was available first. Tank Is eurobraced too if that makes any difference on mounting options.

 

[Featherweight]

How many bars?

I have 2, 1 on each side of the reefi.
I don't have a par meter, but it's way brighter w the bars

 

[ptrusk]

i dont know. it will be better for sure. but the 120* lense is spreading your 200w out way to far.

i wonder if you can get replacement 90* lenses.

i am not saying what i am posting is correct. its just a diagram and how i have always looked at lights. please someone correct me if i am wrong

Amazon product

 

[PPBlimpy]

NICREW HyperReef Narrow Angle Lens Kit for HyperReef 100 Gen 2 (2 pcs), for Higher PAR and Deeper Penetration

NICREW HyperReef Narrow Angle Lens Kit for HyperReef 100 Gen 2 (2 pcs), for Higher PAR and Deeper Penetration

www.choicegoodsmart.com

just found these. says it will fit the 200

you would need 3 sets. not a bad upgrade for under $20+ shipping.

i have never used this company, just found them while googling.

This in my opinion would be the first thing I did to try to save the lights you already have

 

[twentyleagues]

Atlas and helix would work well, but I think you would still need 2 atlas to cover the tank properly. They also dont have an app to dim or ramp. They do have dimming via a 10v system so with the right controller it would be possible I believe. I use Reefi on my tank with the supplied 120 reflector 28x28x24 and there is plenty of power to push par. I am running 170w at peak and I have around 300 par 10" under the water. It also has a great web based control that is being revamped to be even better. They have increased in price recently though.

 

[aclos3]

Is your tank still quite new and possibly cycling or needing more time to mature? I know you mentioned stable parameters, but if I were in your shoes, before I spent any money or effort on making changes to the lighting, I would be focusing on water changes and algae cleanup (physical removal, cleanup crew, etc.) I'd give the rock a few more months to mature and would then slowly introduce some more hardy and lower light corals to see how they're doing. Once it is looking clean and the easy coral is healthy and growing, I'd look for a lighting upgrade.

 

[Wandering Albatross]

Is your tank still quite new and possibly cycling or needing more time to mature? I know you mentioned stable parameters, but if I were in your shoes, before I spent any money or effort on making changes to the lighting, I would be focusing on water changes and algae cleanup (physical removal, cleanup crew, etc.) I'd give the rock a few more months to mature and would then slowly introduce some more hardy and lower light corals to see how they're doing. Once it is looking clean and the easy coral is healthy and growing, I'd look for a lighting upgrade.

I took par readings because of my concern for light. I can't grow anything regardless of params if I don't have the par. I have a few lps that do fine in the lower light, but the goal is to have sps, which need the light, hence the thread.

I have a CUC, only missing a tang that's not in stock right now. This is eons better than it was, and was allowed to grow in this way initially to beat the main wave of dinos. Tank is several months old, fully cycled, and 95% stocked with the planned fish and inverts. Only missing a few OOS items and coral.

 

[VintageReefer]

I took par readings because of my concern for light. I can't grow anything regardless of params if I don't have the par. I have a few lps that do fine in the lower light, but the goal is to have sps, which need the light, hence the thread.

I have a CUC, only missing a tang that's not in stock right now. This is eons better than it was, and was allowed to grow in this way initially to beat the main wave of dinos. Tank is several months old, fully cycled, and 95% stocked with the planned fish and inverts. Only missing a few OOS items and coral.

What par meter are you using and did you turn off any pumps that would cause surface ripples

 

[DenverSaltyFarm]

Get yourself some A8SE lights off alibaba. Best lights out there for the price

 

[johnwwalkeriii]

Can anyone vouch for quanta helix or atlas? I was reading up on another thread before starting this one and it was brought up that either a 4 bar combo or 2 bars and an atlas would work for this tank.

I know there's 100+ different answers depending on who you ask, but I really don't want to fork out $1000s of dollars on something that will not do what I need it to, after already losing $800+ on these lights that don't do what they were supposed to. On the flip side, I can use them later on my FOWLR systems, since they only provide enough light for viewing...

I too run the quanta helix reef crest bars with 2 reefi unos in between. I can’t say enough good stuff about Luca(quanta) and daniel(reefi) I will never run another brand of lights on any tank. They’re both amazing people.

 

[Hooz]

The Nicrews are VERY Radion-ish in both spectrum and spread. As such, they need to be mounted like Radions... 7-8" over the surface of the water.

 

[reef’r]

This doesn’t line up with anything I’ve seen or heard on these lights and I know a few successful reefers going to them and or have been running them since they came out. How do we know the par meter is correct? Reefdudes YouTube video as well as many others shows these lights performing way over what yours are. I too think you need to add another, bring them closer together and lower. 36x36 no I would trust that at all for my 4’ tank I’m running two with an xr15 in the middle and probably two Orphek bars but that’s for coverage more than par. If you’re concerned with the brackets in the water why not get the hanging kit and hang them above the tank?