Lighting a Red Sea Reefer 750

[Averhoeven]

I've been out of the game for a while, but we just bought and moved into a new place, so I'm planning out a Red Sea Reefer 750 71(L) x 24 (H) x 26 (W). When I was last in the hobby about 10 years ago, LEDs were just starting to become a thing. And here I am really struggling making a final decision on lights. I would probably go with a T5 hybrid setup if I could, but the wife really loves the individual pendant look of a few clip on LEDs and so I'm sort of stuck with that form factor. I have zero interest in MH anymore.
As such, I'm debating between what seems to be the usuals..... Kessil AP700 (2 or 3?), Radions or AI Hydras. I am confused with the XR15 vs 30 (and similarly the Hydra 26 vs 52). Can you get similar coverage with multiple XR15s or H26s if you put more of them? Is that the main difference between them and the XR30 (H52)? And what would I be looking for numbers-wise with these units? I've been researching a ton and feel as though there is a lot of conflicting info about these units (probably based on people's unstated goals?).
I'm shooting for a mixed tank. I have no problem mounting the SPS higher and that's probably the route I'd go anyway, but I would like to be able to do SPS. Also, should I lean towards the Ecotechs because my pumps (Vortechs, Vectra) are all Ecotechs for simplicity sake? I have an AI Prime over a small frag/invert QT tank, but I can run a separate app for that one. If I don't need the added cost and having Hydras over top would be fine, I'd much rather that. Lastly, it seems early "reviews" on the AP700s were really good, but more recent stuff I've read is pretty luke-warm, but I'm not sure I'm interpreting that all correctly.

Anyway, I thank you for your help. I don't usually have a hard time deciphering it all when researching equipment, but this topic really feels as though it's pretty inconsistent.

 

[ksfulk]

The difference between the xr15/xr30 or the 26s/52s are the number of light pucks. For tanks that dont need a wide swath of light, the smaller fixtures provide adequate amounts without a lot of light spillage. For wider tanks, the lights can be mounted so the fixtures can cover the depth of the tank with minimal shadowing.

Since Im assuming you arent picking up the pennisula based on how you talk about mounting the lights, so you want full coverage from front to back and side to side - this is where things can get tricky for LED fixtures, and why hybrid LED/T5 combos are very popular, you can have spots of intense light/PAR from the LEDs, but not the weird shadows you can get from such a concentrated light source, as the T5s fill in the gaps.

As for preference on a fixture, thats really up to personal preference - all/any of those fixtures will grow corals from softies to difficult SPS. If you want your pumps/lights to all talk to one another and have one interface with them, then the Radion/MP pumps with the Ecotech interface would fulfill that. The Hydras are nice lights as well, as are the Kessils - I think your comparison there will come down to aesthetics, as the AP700s are a larger fixture so you'd likely only need 3 of those for full coverage, whereas you would need 4-6 of the other fixtures (depending on your arrangement) for full coverage of your tank.

I know that doesnt necessarily help, but the lights themselves arent going to be the limiting factor here. A slick combo fixture like the Giesseman Aurora or the ATI Powermodule would give you the best of both (and would be my choice), but then you'd have to win the fight of fixture over pendant

 

[Averhoeven]

Thanks for the help. You are correct that I am not thinking of the Peninsula. I'd like to keep things under $2500, but bang for the buck is always better to me. Also, I'd prefer to limit spillage out of the tank if that helps narrow things down in any way.
The 30v15 (or 26v52) part is still a bit uncertain to me. I get that they have more pucks, but my misunderstanding stems around the distribution of those pucks and which is better. I'll use the AIs for now just to theorize because of how the numbers divide out. For my budget, I'd be looking at up to 6 H26s or 4 H52s. Would having the 6 H26s spread out essentially every 10" be better than having the 4 H52s every 14" (though this tightly packed would almost turn them into a canopy with just 2-3" between units, so I'm curious if I could get away with one less)? Would it not make a significant difference which option I went with? Is that overkill and should I drop a unit of each?
The cost goes up even more with the Radions which honestly makes me cringe a bit and so the distribution changes even more for them. I could swing 5 XR15s (every 12"), but really wouldn't want to do more than 3 XR30 Pros (though 4 non-pros might be an option if people thought that was truly the best option). This would essentially become 3 XR30 Pros vs 3 AP700s then which opens up a new debate. My understanding is that the AP700s may be "weaker" but have a better spread. Does this still hold true after you throw diffusers on either the XR30s or 15s?
Overall, I guess the problem is picking between good things that are all adequate makes it hard (and sometimes paralyzing). I wish that a combo fixture was a possibility since that's where I'd go, but "I don't want anything hanging from the ceiling" was stated so....
It used to be easier to pick a light.... grab a good reflector and throw in an Ushio or Phoenix....

 

[ksfulk]

Again its a bit dependant on what you are trying to accomplish. For a full SPS tank with a blanket of high PAR across the entire tank, you want as many fixtures as you can spreading light evenly across the entire tank and minimizing shadows. For tanks that are over 18" wide, you would want to run the AI fixtures (for example) with the pucks lined up from front to back, so the light covers the entire tank front to back. If the tank is less than 18" wide, you can run the fixtures with the pucks running left to right, getting more use out of the fixtures themselves. I dont have any experience with the diffusers, so I cant really comment on those with any amount of accuracy.

AI has a nice comparision tool on their website that allows you to look at PAR and light spread of several different fixtures (located here) that might also help. I think the 750 is a 6' tank, so based on the minimum recommendations by the manufacturers, you can expect a single fixture to light a 24"x24" cube in your tank. Start with three fixtures, and you can always add more if you think the tank requires it. Just because something is optimum, doesnt mean itll be right for everyone.

(And you can always make a hanging fixture from conduit that attaches to the back of your stand, rather than hang a big fixture from the ceiling, if you need a loophole I have my ATI fixture hanging from shelving brackets I attached to the wall, then toss a bookshelf board above it so it could be "decorative" and my wife was fine with it.)