Aquatic LIfe Mounting Height/duration Recommendations

[happysalt]

I'm having a bit of a heat issue on my tank with my T5's heating up the water too much. Right now they are sitting about 8" off the water and I'm thinking of raising them up. How high do you have yours mounted off the tank and how long do you run the T5's for.

I'm currently running my reefbrites mounted in the fixture as well and they have been great. for the deep blue.

 

[Hemmdog]

I'm having a bit of a heat issue on my tank with my T5's heating up the water too much. Right now they are sitting about 8" off the water and I'm thinking of raising them up. How high do you have yours mounted off the tank and how long do you run the T5's for.

I'm currently running my reefbrites mounted in the fixture as well and they have been great. for the deep blue.

I have mine 11 inches off. On for 6 hours during peak. It warms the water a little bit but gives my heaters a break during the day

Oh I use the hybrid though. With 360’s.

 

[happysalt]

Yea I'm using the hybrid as well. I zip tied reef brites inside the channel where the pendant lights can go and it looks really clean. Just wondering 11 inches off if that really diminishes the light the tank itself recieves?

 

[Hemmdog]

Yea I'm using the hybrid as well. I zip tied reef brites inside the channel where the pendant lights can go and it looks really clean. Just wondering 11 inches off if that really diminishes the light the tank itself recieves?

It bleached the crap out of my acros either way, it’s like 700 par the top 8 inches. My sandbed only really benefits from my 360’s though. That tank looks super bright when the t5’s are on.

 

[lancesmith1]

I zip tied reef brites inside the channel where the pendant lights can go

Thats a really smart idea. You may want to try going to a lower par t5 like actinic or purple.

 

[happysalt]

Yea I'm running one Actinic and one super purple in each side. it looks great.

 

[ReefyB]

Yea I'm running one Actinic and one super purple in each side. it looks great.

So 2 blue plus’s, one purple, and one actinic? I’m picking up a hybrid soon and trying to figure out what bulbs I should try first. I currently have my LEDs alone 8 inches above the surface but I figured I’d need to raise it abit when I add the T5’s.

 

[happysalt]

No I'm running 4 bulbs, two purple plus and two actinic. the blues are coming from my LED bars. I just put the fixture up to around 14" off the water.

 

[Daniel Waters]

I'm having a bit of a heat issue on my tank with my T5's heating up the water too much. Right now they are sitting about 8" off the water and I'm thinking of raising them up. How high do you have yours mounted off the tank and how long do you run the T5's for.

I'm currently running my reefbrites mounted in the fixture as well and they have been great. for the deep blue.

You can raise the light a bit higher if you like. Unless you're keeping sps, I wouldn't worry about any loss of par as you have ample light for any softies or LPS. Even then, I find raising the lights a few inches isn't that big of a reduction in T5 par compared to LEDs where just a few inches can make a big difference in whether you have a hot spot or not. With your LED bars, I would not worry about hot spots.

I keep my ATI fixture 14" above the top of my tank. I run 2 bulbs for around 8 hrs, and I have another 4 bulbs that kick on for 5 hours. But I also run LEDs with my T5s for the entire day at varying intensities. Your coral needs will dictate partially what your photo period should be, but most people are in the 8 to 12 hour total photo period. But you certainly don't have to run all the lights for that time period. Maybe you run your LEDs for 10 hrs but t5s are only on 6 for instance. You can mix and match as you want for the most part. Corals are pretty adaptable, assuming you are giving them a proper amount of light to live.

 

[ikolbaba06]

I mounted my aquatic life with 2ap700 at 8” originally but had a hard time when I wanted to do anything in the tank. So now it’s up to 12” I believe and much easier to do things and actually look top down in the tank. I think the t5 run for 8-9 hours. 2 blue plus 1 coral and 1 purple plus so a bit whiter than most people now a days.