LED t5 hybrid system for 125 gallon mixed reef.
- Thread starter reef guy 56
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Isn't the Fluval Sea and Reef Nano a bit small? I'm not sure if that will add very much light to your tank. It won't add much PAR to your tank, because these lights are quite weak, but it has excellent spread. That said, the t5s are supposed to have the best spread already...
Well, first what is your goal with the LED part of the hybrid?
A) Are you trying to up the PAR a lot? B) Are you trying to illuminate the tank more (i.e., less blue, more natural light looking with no shadows)? C) Or are you looking for shimmer through the water?
If (A), then radions will do the trick, or you can save money with good budget lights like Noopsyche K7 III Pross.
If (B), then a fluval marine 3.0 bar will light up the tank well. They don't give much PAR at all since they just have these miniscule 0.25W LEDs throughout, but the spread is quite good on them and the App can let you tweak the colors to give a more natural look. It is great for a Fish-only tank IMO. But don't expect that light to boost your corals much.
If (C), then everyone agrees that Kessils give the best shimmer, so you could add a couple of a360s or something.
But why?
Lighting on a reef tank is not just ornamental. Lighting is a functional piece of equipment that provides corals with the light they need to photosynthesize.
So if you want to use a particular lighting setup, we need to know why you want to use that so that we can tell you whether it's appropriate for your goals.
Is this going over a softy-only tank? Then you're probably fine to just stick with the T5 bulbs and have the dinky light as a piece of accent lighting that will likely be drowned out by the T5s. Fish-only? Four bulbs is probably overkill, you can probably get by with just two bulbs. SPS-dominated mixed reef? You probably need three XR-15 or equivalent lights in addition to the 4 T5 bulbs. You don't have to go with Radions, though. There are plenty of cheaper lights that still put out enough power to give you the light you need.
Your T5 bulbs provide a baseline of about 100-150 par. To keep acropora, you want at least 250-300 at the water's surface. So you need some fixtures that can give you that much light throughout your tank. XR-15s can certainly do that, but Aqua Illumination, Kessil, Noopsyche and others make lights that can give good performance at a lower price point.
The Fluval light will do essentially nothing for you. It's good for a smaller tank, but not nearly enough power for a 125g.
twentyleagues
Valuable Member
You can go Kessils and t5, radion and t5, reefi and t5, noop and t5, pretty much anything and t5, But you need to scale it to your tank and your corals. Nothing nano and t5 will be adequate.
I would say if its a standard 125g a classic setup like what you want would be 3 kessil a360x and 4-8 36" t5 blue+.
U do u bruh!
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