Light Reccomendations

[plumbdogmillionaire]

I’d appreciate some opinions on what way to go with new lights. I currently have 2X AI Primes over my Waterbox 25. I know that shading is/will be a problem in the future. The green slimer I have in the center of the rock work is shaded on the sides already and it’s only about 3” tall. I feel like the primes are just spot lights.

Couple of things about the tank:
1. The display it’s self is a weird length. The tank in total is just shy of 24” long but the display is ~21 inches. A 24” bar could work but I’d probably want to block the LED’s over the AIO section.

2. I wanted to leave space for growth up top but I do think I might’ve left a little more than I needed. I want to have 300-400 par up top for acros but also be able to have lps down low/on the sand bed.

My thoughts were to go with bars like the Edge, Helix, etc… I would assume they have a tighter spread to achieve the high par down the center of the rock and possibly have a “T” shape with a bar or two going perpendicular above the wider rock section. I’d appreciate anyone’s thoughts on this. I do prefer a more natural whiter light over blues.

I also realize I might just be over thinking this.

Dealing with hair algae rn

 

[rtparty]

As long as you can get them 12-14” off the water, they’ll do just fine

 

[plumbdogmillionaire]

As long as you can get them 12-14” off the water, they’ll do just fine

I’d honestly rather just switch it up now than add more light later when stuff grows out

 

[commod0re]

Check out the hydra edge series, and radions, panel lights are better at reducing/eliminating shadows

I recently switched from a reefled 50 to a hydra edge 44HD and have much much better coverage with it

 

[VintageReefer]

Your issue is a single point source led meaning all the light comes from one small concentrated spot. Those style lights work better when there are multiples in a row that overlap.

A panel style like the reefbreeders meridian 11 would do great. It has optional bars that can be added down the line if you really needed it. I have single meridian 11 over a tank 28x30 and no shadow issues

This is with channels at
0 / 8 / 40 / 0 / 20 / 50
Plenty of room to increase if needed.

 

[VintageReefer]

I just re-read and see you have two of the primes already. I saw one in the pic and assumed there’s only one. Well my answer to that is, the prime is an underpowered light. I ran a single prime 16 over my waterbox 15 and it needed to be near 100% in order to get decent par around the tank.

I’m fairly confident you can light that entire tank with a meridian 11 at the right height. I saw you like more natural look, keep in mind my pic has both white channels off. The meridian comes in a “shallow reef” option which is a whiter 14k look when all channels are set equal. You can fine tune from there as you wish

 

[rtparty]

I’d honestly rather just switch it up now than add more light later when stuff grows out

Then I’d get a Nicrew 150