LED Upgrade Advice

[Ruskin]

Hello All,

I'm new here but was a long time member of another forum that just seems to be inactive these days. I was looking for some recommendations or comments on plans for new lighting for my tank.

I've attached a few pictures of how the tank stands today about 5 months after setting up in our new house. I've been using a Sunbrite LED light for awhile now and on this new setup I'm looking for an upgrade. While I'm seeing growth in my mixed reef the light is old, the software is clunky and the light is short for the tank. When I ran this before I wanted to try a 3' light on a 4' tank and while it was neat to try and there were some advantages I'm ready to go back up to a 4 footer.

I'm currently looking at going LED Hybrid. I've been swaying back and forth between the 2 XR15s or the Kessils. If I go that route I'd be going with the Aquaticlife T5 fixture. Would I be able to make this work with the custom conduit hanger I made in the pictures? I'd obviously have to look at raising this up, and I do have the room to do it I just don't know how the AquaticLife one would mount to it? I assume the weight wouldn't be an issue.

While I mentioned my tank is currently mixed reef, I do want to be able to keep anything without needing to upgrade again, so that's why I was looking at the above setups. I'm sure I could get away with less if I wanted to stay mixed reef.

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[WIReefer]

Welcome to R2R!!!

Personally if it was me I would run a full t5 fixture over the tank but that’s just me there super easy and are proven.

 

[Ruskin]

Welcome to R2R!!!

Personally if it was me I would run a full t5 fixture over the tank but that’s just me there super easy and are proven.

Thanks. You know I did think about that too but maybe I dismissed it to quickly because already running LED I thought of it as a step backwards or something? I should look in to that a bit more as well

 

[Montiman]

I see no problem with running the hybrid suspended from the hanger. I am a kessil guy So I would go with 360Xs but given the dimensions I might be tempted to run the hybrid with 4 A80s instead. I thing that would be perfect for a mixed tank. Xs would be better for SPS.

 

[WIReefer]

Thanks. You know I did think about that too but maybe I dismissed it to quickly because already running LED I thought of it as a step backwards or something? I should look in to that a bit more as well

I started with leds and never got the growth I wanted I bought ai and kessils and just wasn’t happy. Switched to a ATI Sunpower and should of just started with it. Love mine.

 

[Ruskin]

I see no problem with running the hybrid suspended from the hanger. I am a kessil guy So I would go with 360Xs but given the dimensions I might be tempted to run the hybrid with 4 A80s instead. I thing that would be perfect for a mixed tank. Xs would be better for SPS.

The 360xs look great, I can see why you like them. Thanks for the input on the hybrid setup.

 

[Ruskin]

I'm starting to lean towards the Kessil's. The store I usually order from will hopefully be getting some in next week. I'll probably have to wait on the T5 fixture cause those seem to be out everywhere local to me.

What should I run the light at and for how long so I don't burn any of my coral?

 

[Montiman]

I'm starting to lean towards the Kessil's. The store I usually order from will hopefully be getting some in next week. I'll probably have to wait on the T5 fixture cause those seem to be out everywhere local to me.

What should I run the light at and for how long so I don't burn any of my coral?

The nice thing about kessil is the spectrum doesn't matter much as Kessil logic ensures that the right spectrum is added for photosynthesis. That being said I run 30% color 100% violet and 20% red 10% green at my peak and then have all of the color go to 0 at the beginning and the end of my light schedule. For intensity I believe you will settle at around 75% though I run 100% on my office BioCube. Whatever you settle on both the spectral controller and WiFi dongle have acclimation modes that will let you slowly increase the intensity over 2 weeks. I would use the acclimation mode to be safe.

 

[Ruskin]

The nice thing about kessil is the spectrum doesn't matter much as Kessil logic ensures that the right spectrum is added for photosynthesis. That being said I run 30% color 100% violet and 20% red 10% green at my peak and then have all of the color go to 0 at the beginning and the end of my light schedule. For intensity I believe you will settle at around 75% though I run 100% on my office BioCube. Whatever you settle on both the spectral controller and WiFi dongle have acclimation modes that will let you slowly increase the intensity over 2 weeks. I would use the acclimation mode to be safe.

I meant to come back sooner and say thanks for this. I just purchased the 2 360X's with the wifi dongle and will take your advice above when they come in next week. I decided that I don't need any T5s yet so I ended up getting the gooseneck hangers as well. To be honest, its part of the reason I liked the kessils. That look over a rimless tank is just great imo.

 

[Montiman]

Great to hear! Thanks for the kind words. Would love to see pics once the Kessils are up.

 

[Ruskin]

I got them, and they look great. That shimmer. Though its late and I haven't had too much time to mess around with them. I'll post some pictures on the weekend when I get a chance.

How did you settle on your settings? I understand colour is mostly a personal choice but what about the intensity? And duration for that matter? I see the default program it caps out at about 60% for a few hours and then tapers off again.

 

[Montiman]

My intensity was based off of the BRS Par tests. They test in a 2ft cube and my tank is essentialy 3 of them with 3 lights I wanted Par levels at least as high as the values at the 100% test so I run them at 100% plus my supplemental lights. On my office tank I started at 60% but I liked the colors in my home tank better so I slowly increased the intensity until it matched my home tank.

IMO duration is somewhat subjective as well. There are studies showing that in the wild many corals photo saturate in as little as 4 hours. However we like to look at the tank longer than that, so I run a 12 hour cycle with a 4 hour peak.

 

[Ruskin]

I saw that video too, though I wasn't sure if you had tested par or not when you determined yours. Glad I don't need to source a par meter lol.

I like a 12 hour cycle as well so I have it sitting at 80% for 4 hrs right now with it ramping up and down over the rest of the time but on acclimation mode. If I think it needs it I might make adjustments in a month or so.

Thanks again

 

[Ruskin]

As promised a few pics of the new setup. I have to finish the left side of the stand. At our old house it was close to a wall but here I have the space to build another cabinet for all the temporary electronics you can see.

I just rescaped the right size of the tank to take advantage of the better light. Now I'll have even more room for coral .

Just to ask, a portion of the gooseneck mounts are below the water line. I assume this is normal? It seems like a few videos Ive seen it was the same.

 

[Montiman]

A portion is often underwater. I have never experienced any problems with the submerged mount.

 

[dwair]

Hello All,

I'm new here but was a long time member of another forum that just seems to be inactive these days. I was looking for some recommendations or comments on plans for new lighting for my tank.

I've attached a few pictures of how the tank stands today about 5 months after setting up in our new house. I've been using a Sunbrite LED light for awhile now and on this new setup I'm looking for an upgrade. While I'm seeing growth in my mixed reef the light is old, the software is clunky and the light is short for the tank. When I ran this before I wanted to try a 3' light on a 4' tank and while it was neat to try and there were some advantages I'm ready to go back up to a 4 footer.

I'm currently looking at going LED Hybrid. I've been swaying back and forth between the 2 XR15s or the Kessils. If I go that route I'd be going with the Aquaticlife T5 fixture. Would I be able to make this work with the custom conduit hanger I made in the pictures? I'd obviously have to look at raising this up, and I do have the room to do it I just don't know how the AquaticLife one would mount to it? I assume the weight wouldn't be an issue.

While I mentioned my tank is currently mixed reef, I do want to be able to keep anything without needing to upgrade again, so that's why I was looking at the above setups. I'm sure I could get away with less if I wanted to stay mixed reef.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Welcome to R2R. I can't recommend Kessils enough. If you google Kessil Logic you'll be able to read why they are so easy to use and so popular. The shimmer is amazing! Plus T5 Hybrid with Kessil 360x is probably one of the most popular setups right now.