Reef lighting that's safe for children's eyes

[A. grandis]

Hello!

I'm in need of advice. We're looking for a lighting option that will be safe for and not blind my young daughter. If you've ever looked up while lying on the floor at an aquarium with a kessil or radion hanging high above the tank you know how much light gets shot directly in your eyes. Imagine being 3FT tall and looking up at this tank.

I'm thinking diffused light is the way to go, and preferably a panel. Something like ATI T5 fixture, ATI Straton, Neptune Sky, Reef Brite XHO fixture, others??? and preferably mount the light close to the water. I'd even consider adding barn doors/shades to the side of the light to prevent light spill.

Tank: Red Sea Reefer XL 300 (36"L x 22" D)

Coral: LPS and ricordea mushrooms

Does anyone have any thoughts or suggestions for me? Maybe I'm missing something easy here. Hoping the reef community can shed some light on our concern (sorry, had to, I love dad jokes).

8 bulb 36" ATI Sunpower.
Easiest solution and one of the best options to light a reef tank there is! Easy plug in and lots of choices for spectrum for any corals!
You won't regret!!!

 

[srobertb]

Hello!

I'm in need of advice. We're looking for a lighting option that will be safe for and not blind my young daughter. If you've ever looked up while lying on the floor at an aquarium with a kessil or radion hanging high above the tank you know how much light gets shot directly in your eyes. Imagine being 3FT tall and looking up at this tank.

I'm thinking diffused light is the way to go, and preferably a panel. Something like ATI T5 fixture, ATI Straton, Neptune Sky, Reef Brite XHO fixture, others??? and preferably mount the light close to the water. I'd even consider adding barn doors/shades to the side of the light to prevent light spill.

Tank: Red Sea Reefer XL 300 (36"L x 22" D)

Coral: LPS and ricordea mushrooms

Does anyone have any thoughts or suggestions for me? Maybe I'm missing something easy here. Hoping the reef community can shed some light on our concern (sorry, had to, I love dad jokes).

Exact issue down to the daughter. It’s like she wants to look at them for some reason.

T5 are not so blinding as a whole fixture since the light is dispersed over the length of the bulb. They also tend to have housing that goes down and wraps around a bit.

I had Kessil A360x’s and even I accidentally caught a glimpse of them and had retina burn for an hour. Kessil makes an attachment for their lights with a little hip joint that lets you articulate the lights. I just stretched the arms towards the front of the tank then turned the lights back towards the rockwork and back wall of the tank. The 55 degree reflectors are also effective at reducing the viewing angle.

I currently have Radion G5’s with diffusers and while they are incredibly bright and my PAR meter backs that up, the LEDs are spread across a wide enough area that it doesn’t cause retina burn (but I wouldn’t stare at it).

To beat a dead horse: a hood would fix your problem.

 

[Downfall]

Exact issue down to the daughter. It’s like she wants to look at them for some reason.

T5 are not so blinding as a whole fixture since the light is dispersed over the length of the bulb. They also tend to have housing that goes down and wraps around a bit.

I had Kessil A360x’s and even I accidentally caught a glimpse of them and had retina burn for an hour. Kessil makes an attachment for their lights with a little hip joint that lets you articulate the lights. I just stretched the arms towards the front of the tank then turned the lights back towards the rockwork and back wall of the tank. The 55 degree reflectors are also effective at reducing the viewing angle.

I currently have Radion G5’s with diffusers and while they are incredibly bright and my PAR meter backs that up, the LEDs are spread across a wide enough area that it doesn’t cause retina burn (but I wouldn’t stare at it).

To beat a dead horse: a hood would fix your problem.

Thank you srobertb.

Right now I'm thinking either a Neptune Sky or ATI Straton might work well. Large diffused panels of leds. These two are option 1a

I also like the idea of a T5 fixture, but changing bulbs is a bit of a pain and the loss of controllability is kind of a bummer. I've been keeping an eye out for a 6 bulb T5 fixture in the marketplace. Option 1b

Option 2 might be something like a XR30 with diffuser + 3d printed light shade.

I'm not even sure where to start with trying to add a hood to a reefer xl 300. Option 3 right now

 

[srobertb]

I hate hoods so I’m with you.

honestly the best thing I did was set my lights, check the PAR and just let them do their thing. I used to be the guy who had 15 ramps with a mid day sun kicker and yada yada. T5’s kind of don’t allow you to do that so they have a silver lining. A 4-6 bulb fixture let’s you dial in the color really well.

everyone is moving away from Kessil to spread -fixture LEDs and the saturation looks so much better. I had Kessils and g4 Radions so I knew what I was getting into with the G5’s and they’ve exceeded expectations. I just can’t spend $4-5k on untested lights (skye) despite my existing Neptune Apex dependency.

The new Radions with the diffuser stock will probably make you much happier. I hear good things about Stratons.

 

[spsick]

Old topic just trying to figure out if I need to be concerned with light spill from my T5 fixture. Logic would tell me that all the actual meaningful output of the bulbs is pointed into the tank and the spill is not intense enough to damage the kids eyes. Like if you’re not reading PAR it shouldn’t be a concern right? I have a Sunpower hanging 6 inches above my tank and it does cast a decent amount of spill.

 

[noopsyche]

You can choose a more focused marine light. The coral light coverage of the Noopsyche K7 PRO III and Mini is ∠90° instead of ∠120°, ∠150°. Noopsyche K7 PRO III light coverage ratio is 3:2. K7mini is 1:1. Adjust to the right position, until it won't cause light spill

Par value noo-psyche K7 PRO 3 H60cm par 220 to 320 at the 24" H tank's bottom

 

[spsick]

You can choose a more focused marine light. The coral light coverage of the Noopsyche K7 PRO III and Mini is ∠90° instead of ∠120°, ∠150°. Noopsyche K7 PRO III light coverage ratio is 3:2. K7mini is 1:1. Adjust to the right position, until it won't cause light spill

Lol riiiiight