Is Shadowing An Exaggerated Concern?

[Chipper1978]

After 18 months, I think my 4' SPS dominated mixed reef is finally coming into it's own. Frags are all encrusting and beginning to grow and it's been months since I have seen any RTN or STN. Lighting is 3 Kessil A360x and I was considering adding a 4th Kessil down the road, but was told I would be better off spending my money on LED light strips (e.g., Reefbrites) or T5's since shadowing will eventually be an issue. My questions...

Is shadowing really that big of a concern once a tank starts to fill in? If you just ignore it, is it really that detrimental? I would imagine a real reef has all kinds of shadowing. Thoughts?

 

[MaxTremors]

After 18 months, I think my 4' SPS dominated mixed reef is finally coming into it's own. Frags are all encrusting and beginning to grow and it's been months since I have seen any RTN or STN. Lighting is 3 Kessil A360x and I was considering adding a 4th Kessil down the road, but was told I would be better off spending my money on LED light strips (e.g., Reefbrites) or T5's since shadowing will eventually be an issue. My questions...

Is shadowing really that big of a concern once a tank starts to fill in? If you just ignore it, is it really that detrimental? I would imagine a real reef has all kinds of shadowing. Thoughts?

In SPS dominated tanks, yes. It really depends on how tightly corals are packed in, placement, and size, but SPS needs light to stay alive and any shaded bits will eventually die (remember these are colonies of animals, it’s not like a plant where the photosynthesis that occurs out at the tips of the branches sustains the entire plant). That said, you can prune corals back and place less light hungry LPS and softies in the shadier areas, but yes, shading is something to be concerned about.

 

[jfoahs04]

After 18 months, I think my 4' SPS dominated mixed reef is finally coming into it's own. Frags are all encrusting and beginning to grow and it's been months since I have seen any RTN or STN. Lighting is 3 Kessil A360x and I was considering adding a 4th Kessil down the road, but was told I would be better off spending my money on LED light strips (e.g., Reefbrites) or T5's since shadowing will eventually be an issue. My questions...

Is shadowing really that big of a concern once a tank starts to fill in? If you just ignore it, is it really that detrimental? I would imagine a real reef has all kinds of shadowing. Thoughts?

It eventually gets there. In my previous reef, I had to regularly trim my plating montipora after it took off. It created a dark corner of the tank where nothing would grow if I didn't either trim or get new lighting fixtures. I haven't seen too many multiple lighting fixture setups I like (unless they're multiples of the same fixtures like 3x AI Prime), so I ended up trimming and selling frags.

I thought I might try to let it grow out anyway and just grow some low light, low flow LPS/Softies down there, but they never took. I had to keep trimming.

 

[Chipper1978]

So it sounds like my options will be to frag heavily or add supplemental lighting like LED strips or T5's. Bummer since I love the clean look of LED pucks and my tank is under a high ceiling with limited light mounting options.