Light combo question - RB meridian and Nicrew

[mp2022]

Looking for some lighting advice for a new 125 g 60x22x22, sps dominant tank with the goal of minimizing shading and having good par for sps.

I currently have a reefbreeder meridian 24 on my 48 gallon that I am planning on bringing over to the 125 gallon. Light is great, and my SPS grow like wildfire with it, but have run into some shading issues, and am planning on getting edge bars for it. Ideally I would just get another 24 with edge bars but the up front cost is an additional $1700 that I don’t want to spend right now, but probably in a year or so will transition to that.

I already have a Nicrew 150 gen 2 which is a decent light. It has 2 pucks side by side, and the manufacturer says the coverage area is a square 30x30 which to me doesn’t make sense because it’s a rectangular dimension although could be because of the lense angle or something and this is part 1 of my question.

The two options I have considered to get adequate coverage are:
1. Meridian 24 I currently have with edge bars mounted in the center of the tank, with two Nicrew 150 gen to mounted on each end of the tank such that the long side is oriented along the sides of the tank. My thought here is that if I mount them in this way, it can help with shading issues.
2. Meridian 24 with edge bars and just buy a Nicrew 200 and mount them side by side. Nicrew 200 coverage is 36x36 and in general has better reported par.

Would appreciate any thoughts on which of these options would be the optimal setup for best combo for par and minimal shading. Thanks!

 

[Rocks reef]

Honestly, I'd see the Meridian and go all Nicrew Hyperreef. They blow the Meridians out of the water

 

[mp2022]

Honestly, I'd see the Meridian and go all Nicrew Hyperreef. They blow the Meridians out of the water

I am very tempted to do a Nicrew only setup - I used a 150 gen over my 48 for a while and the corals didn’t seem to grow as well, but it was also a younger tank and may have not matured enough at that point to grow sps, and the increased growth when I added the meridian could have been coincidence. Mostly concerned about shading and coverage though. I am considering getting 3 to 4 Nicrew 200s and either arranging them with the long side facing the short sides of the tank or have two rows of 2 each to reduce shading although somewhat concerned about hot spots in the center of the tank with that approach.

The reefbreeder lights are nice but to get a full package to cover my tank including edge bars is like $2400 additional which sucks.

Also seriously considering the quanta helix 4 led bar setup.