LIGHTING DILEMMA *pls help*

[Harleys and tanks]

Hey All,

I know there's lots of info out there and can get information on what others have done, but I am having an issue with where I am at and what to do in my situation. Below is a VERY crude sketch of my current light placements, coral placements, PAR readings etc.... don't mind the poor chicken scratch.

So I have 2 AI prime HD over my 40 gal breeder. The way my rockwork is spaced I can't get enough PAR to all the SPS but they are placed as best as I can right now. The light is about 6" over the tank and they are running a little under 100% on the violet and blue for first 6 hours and the it gets about 4 hours maxed out. I am not maxing them out so that I don't burn lenses or fans like all the others have said they did by over driving the lights. And I feel if I did overdrive them, that I would need to lift the lights up a little to spread the hot spot out a little bit which would just counteract raising the power used. I also have found that the Acros aren't getting light on all sides because of the single puck style these lights have.... will they eventually grow into the light properly? Or will they not grow properly because of always having shadows? I have a Fluval Reef 4.0 at the back side of the tank to deminish the shadowing for now.

So my questions are....
- Do I do nothing and keep the lower par for longer period of time and hope the SPS start to take off? And ignore the shadowing?
- Get another light and spread the two primes apart with a light in between?
- Put the Primes together and a different light on the other half of the tank?
- Keep AI primes as they are and look into AI Blades or Orpheks?
- Scrap the AI idea altogether and save them for filler lights on a larger project tank I want to do next?
OOOORRR I have thought of actually building my own LED strips or boxs etc as I am pretty handy and you can get a lot of power cheaper this way

I don't want to spend a fortune on lights for this tank as it is more of an invert fun tank and I am trying to hone my skills in on the whole science and husbandry of this hobby... sort of a learn from my mistakes on this tank to my next one is a beauty.

Thanks!

 

[Justfebreezeit]

Find a used prime and run 3 of em. Only downside is having 3 for a future tank might not make much sense.

However you can keep all your functionality and aesthetics this one. I'd imagine it can find them fairly cheap these days

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

IME the prime gives a powerful beam of light, but terrible spread. If it was me, I would get a cheap 100 watt light like a nicrew or smatfarm or something for the middle and keep the primes for the sides.

 

[Justfebreezeit]

This is true. You can definitely get more bang for your buck through nicrew or smart farm without losing to much in aesthetics.

 

[Harleys and tanks]

Find a used prime and run 3 of em. Only downside is having 3 for a future tank might not make much sense.

However you can keep all your functionality and aesthetics this one. I'd imagine it can find them fairly cheap these days

Yeah things around me in Canada aren't so prevalent and they want top dollar. At that point I feel I am just wasting my money on another PRime. I only went with the primes to begin with because I did the fluval as my first light and it was severely underpowered and had terrible spectrum in terms of the density of the blues and violets. That made me feel like the other "cheap" lights might do the same... so I went with a "cheaper" of the expensive brands and got a good light but, still not as powerful or wide angled as I should.

I think I will get one of the cheaper lights to fill it in because they atleast have a better spread if I need some more light in the future on a larger set up.

 

[Harleys and tanks]

IME the prime gives a powerful beam of light, but terrible spread. If it was me, I would get a cheap 100 watt light like a nicrew or smatfarm or something for the middle and keep the primes for the sides.

Thanks, I do feel the same way. Have you ever used one of these cheaper lights? I just wanna know if the intensity and spectrum of the Blues and Violets are as good as the brand lights. I am scared I will just be wasting money on a cheap light that won't grow corals very well.

 

[Hooz]

Two Primes are a great option for a 40B ... if you have them mounted correctly.

They should be centered 10" in from each end of the tank, and 10" above the water line for best coverage and minimal hotspots.

Once you have that taken care of, then you can start playing with spectrum and schedule. I'd recommend something like the BRS AB+ settings. You should be able to get SPS level PAR at the top of your rockwork pretty easily, even with only two lights.

Watch this video from start to finish. You'll have a MUCH better understanding of how your lights work and how to get the most out of them. The video is for the Prime 16HD, but also applies to the older Prime HD as well. I have 6 Prime HDs (I've upgraded mine with LEDs and unmeltable lenses from @luxdium) running here on various tanks. It's actually quite a capable light if you use it correctly.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Thanks, I do feel the same way. Have you ever used one of these cheaper lights? I just wanna know if the intensity and spectrum of the Blues and Violets are as good as the brand lights. I am scared I will just be wasting money on a cheap light that won't grow corals very well.

Think in terms of watts for power. For me ideally I would want 150 watts over my 40 breeder. Nicrew is a good quality light that I used for 4 years before it died on me.

AI Primes (55 watts each) along with the goosemount is over $400 each, so you already spent $800 if you bought them new. In comparison my 40 breeder has a 150 watt metal halide that I imported from the U.S. 3 years ago for just under $700 CAD. I rarely recommend primes due to the poor spread and very high cost ,and my prime is starting to die after only 4 years.

You already have 110 watts with your 2 primes, so in this case IMO you just need a supplement of 50-100 watts

 

[Hooz]

Think in terms of watts for power. For me ideally I would want 150 watts over my 40 breeder. Nicrew is a good quality light that I used for 4 years before it died on me.

AI Primes (55 watts each) along with the goosemount is over $400 each, so you already spent $800 if you bought them new. In comparison my 40 breeder has a 150 watt metal halide that I imported from the U.S. 3 years ago for just under $700 CAD. I rarely recommend primes due to the poor spread and very high cost ,and my prime is starting to die after only 4 years.

You already have 110 watts with your 2 primes, so in this case IMO you just need a supplement of 50-100 watts

Actually, with most modern fixtures (setup correctly for height, spacing and spectrum) you only need about 1w per gallon for softies and LPS, and MAYBE 3w per gallon for SPS. A 40B could easily do SPS in that tank if setup correctly. There will be some shadowing once stuff grows out, but that's a limit of "puck" style, point source lights, not the Prime specifically.

 

[rtparty]

As Hooz said, they’re not mounted high enough

 

[Science/G]

Get a third Prime and mount them as per the BRS video posted above.