Kessil 360WE with T5 Suppliment

[FishLvR]

So I built a floating canopy and have 4x24 watt ATI T5 HO and one Kessil 360WE. I have a mixed reef. All my softies and low light lowing corals have done great in this tank. However my sticks, like Torts, Montipora both branching and encrusting have lost all color. They grow but don't seem to have any real color. Blues and red disappear, pinks look brown. After address chemistry for the past year and making absolutely sure it was not a PH issue or something easily fixed I decided to try supplementation. I have the JBJ 45 rimless, its 19 inches deep and roughly 23 inches wide. I have ATI aquaspecial x2, one coral plus, and one purple plus. I am thinking of using the Kessil for the blue spectrum. Keeping the color at 20%, since the aqua specials are so white.

My question is this. I am less worried about the hard corals, but concerned about the hammers, candycanes, xenia, sun corals, mushrooms and those guys. In a mixed reef like this where is a good starting point? I was thinking no more than 40% intensity on the Kessil with long ramps, and starting with T5's on maybe a hour working up to four hours a day. Lights are 10 inches off water. All low light corals, besides candy canes are low in the tank, in shadows. I know I am going to lose the shadows now. Just looking for advice.

 

[Terry4505]

This is exactly what I have on my 180 (mostly SPS) reef:

My Kessils max out at 75%, and I run the T5s for 5 hours

 

[FishLvR]

Ah beautiful! So you are running much higher intensity than I thought. How do you suggest I start? Does my plan sound good?

 

[Terry4505]

Plan sounds great, and I think starting low and working up is a good approach.

 

[FishLvR]

One more question. Do you still have the shimmer?

 

[Highgrade]

One more question. Do you still have the shimmer?

I run Kessils A160WE with ATI T5 and still get the shimmer. Not a much as the Kessils by themselves but a good amount.

 

[BigJim]

This is exactly what I have on my 180 (mostly SPS) reef:

My Kessils max out at 75%, and I run the T5s for 5 hours

I have a very similar set up on my 155g (72x24x21) mixed reef except the canopy is not a floating canopy. I have three Kessil A360WE and 4 60" T5 retrofits. My Kessils max out at 75% and I run the T5s for 5 hours as well.

 

[Terry4505]

I actually like the how the T5 dims the the shimmer a bit.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

@Devisissy
he's balanced the intensity of both lighting sources rater then "supplementing intensity" Ie two light bulbs rather than one. Balancing the intensity the supplementing spectrum. thus Par. and not overpowering on over the other.
A lux or par meter will help. and fwiw, a t5 has more par at lower intensity than an led(so far anyway)

for example.
pick a par range you want for the tank. set an average of 250par with the led at the top of the tank. select t5's to give you 250 par at the top of the tank. + 500 par at the top of the tank.
slight imbalance is fine depending on the visual appeal imo and will still grow coral. But set the led to 500par and the t5 to 75 par, im not sure its worth it. Maybe it is.
before led became such a thing, you got led stunners on your t5's to make it shimmer and it likely effected par very little.

This is exactly what I have on my 180 (mostly SPS) reef:

My Kessils max out at 75%, and I run the T5s for 5 hours

OMG what a sweet tank........!!!!!!!!

 

[FishLvR]

I'm really just looking for good color. But I will take your advice and find a par meter I can borrow.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

I'm really just looking for good color. But I will take your advice and find a par meter I can borrow.

visually? or from the coral.
imo calculate roughly the par you want to hit and the t5s you like and mix from the kessil controller or visual appeal, adjust intensity from there. if you have the kessil now you can start there.

 

[BigJim]

I was actually getting great color and decent growth from just Kessils. I added T5 to get a better spread of light and avoid browning in areas of my acros that were shaded. Your tank is shallow enough that you can also get good results with just the Kessils.