bp908
New Member
Hi All - My system is nearly 18 months old and filling in nicely (pic below). I'm currently running 3 Red Sea 90s for lighting. For better or worse, I'm increasingly interested in SPS, and I've found that the Red Sea LEDs don't provide quite the "pop" needed for many across to make them look their best. I've also found that as some of my frags are turning into colonies, shading is increasingly a problem. I'm weighing the two options below. I'm trying to make the upgrade (somewhat) economical as I'm likely to upgrade the entire system in 3-4 years.
The system sits in my living room in an open concept house, so aesthetics of the lights is VERY important to avoid family problems :)
1) 3 A8 (XR30 Knock-offs) mounted on an RMS bar. I think the main concern here is that this would likely overpower the LPS currently in the tank. I'm also a bit concerned on the reliability of the lights. I've also heard light spillage is bad on XR30s, and even with shades I already get complaints about spillage with the Red Sea LEDs
2) Keep Red Sea LEDs and add 1-2 57" AI Blade Glows. I think the advantage of this option is that I could keep my current mixed reef setup and add the desired "pop", while also increasing coverage. Conversely, for mounting, there are very few options which are aesthetically pleasing. I would likely need to 3d print brackets to fit over the existing Red Sea mounts as I cannot find anything else that looks good - and I'm not convinced even a custom bracket would either. I'm also concerned about light spillage with this option.
I'd love to hear others' thoughts on a best path here. If there are other ideas, I'm all ears. I'd like to spend less than $2000 on this project (and ideally closer to 1000-1500).
The system sits in my living room in an open concept house, so aesthetics of the lights is VERY important to avoid family problems :)
1) 3 A8 (XR30 Knock-offs) mounted on an RMS bar. I think the main concern here is that this would likely overpower the LPS currently in the tank. I'm also a bit concerned on the reliability of the lights. I've also heard light spillage is bad on XR30s, and even with shades I already get complaints about spillage with the Red Sea LEDs
2) Keep Red Sea LEDs and add 1-2 57" AI Blade Glows. I think the advantage of this option is that I could keep my current mixed reef setup and add the desired "pop", while also increasing coverage. Conversely, for mounting, there are very few options which are aesthetically pleasing. I would likely need to 3d print brackets to fit over the existing Red Sea mounts as I cannot find anything else that looks good - and I'm not convinced even a custom bracket would either. I'm also concerned about light spillage with this option.
I'd love to hear others' thoughts on a best path here. If there are other ideas, I'm all ears. I'd like to spend less than $2000 on this project (and ideally closer to 1000-1500).
