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- Jun 3, 2016
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Hi all,
I've been running an Acropora dominated IM Nuvo 10 for the past 4 months, and I'm looking to increase my lighting intensity with the hopes of bringing out more colors from some of my corals. I currently have 2 Kessil A80's mounted 3-4" off the surface of the water running at 100% intensity and 60% "color" for around 11 hours per day. The corals are located pretty close to the water's surface, so they're getting as much light as these put out. I'm a huge fan of the A80 for the simplicity of design and use, the excellent shimmer, and passive cooling.
Most of my acro frags have faded to varying degrees of green: PC Rainbow is yellowish-green, ORA Frogskin went from 3-colors to solid green, Red planet is green, and a handful of BC signatures that were red, pink, or purple when I got them have turned green, with a little bit of red showing on the top of one of the corals (see pics attached). They're all growing, although growth seems to have slowed down compared to the first month or two, but I can't complain since I haven't experienced any mortalities.
I think increasing my lighting intensity would help bring out the colors that I'm looking for, which is why I'm asking for advice on improving my setup.
My current options are to add one or two more A80's, which would take up a significant amount of space with mounting goosenecks on the back of the tank, add an A360X or A160 in addition to the 2 A80's to limit shadowing, or go with one A360X with narrow lense. I'd prefer to stick with Kessil because I like their products, and BRS tests have shown them to have the best spectrum, blend, and shimmer of any LED currently on the market. With one A360X I'd be concerned that as corals grow, they will shade themselves and cause irregular growth forms and dead spots at the center of colonies. Is it within the realm of possibility to use a sheet of "light diffusing" plexiglass as a tank cover to create a T5 effect that would mitigate shadowing? This would prevent fish from jumping and potentially help streamline my lighting setup, but would dampen the shimmer and potentially be an eyesore depending on how much light it reflects back into the room.
I've also considered adding an XR15 with diffuser. I have an AI Prime on my LPS nano reef, and I'm not a huge fan of the AI/EcoTech LED layout, plus the active cooling is noisy and the LED drivers buzz when the lights aren't at 0% or 100% intensity. A gen 3 XR15 is cheaper than a Kessil A360X, but I know the shimmer and spectrum isn't going to be as good.
I'm interested to hear the thoughts or suggestions of my fellow reefers!
In case anyone asks about parameters, here is what the tank is at as of this afternoon
Alk: 12 DKH
Ca: 500 ppm (a little higher than I would like, but I'm bringing it down slowly)
pH: 8.4
Dosing regiment: Kalkwasser in ATO and 4.5mL Tropic Marin AFR daily (automated)
Feeding: .15 mL reef chilli, .15 mL BeneReef, .3mL TDO B2, 3 drops of Selcon
fish: Biota Mandarin Dragonet
TL;DR need recommendations for increasing light intensity and preventing shadowing on a 10 gallon SPS cube
I've been running an Acropora dominated IM Nuvo 10 for the past 4 months, and I'm looking to increase my lighting intensity with the hopes of bringing out more colors from some of my corals. I currently have 2 Kessil A80's mounted 3-4" off the surface of the water running at 100% intensity and 60% "color" for around 11 hours per day. The corals are located pretty close to the water's surface, so they're getting as much light as these put out. I'm a huge fan of the A80 for the simplicity of design and use, the excellent shimmer, and passive cooling.
Most of my acro frags have faded to varying degrees of green: PC Rainbow is yellowish-green, ORA Frogskin went from 3-colors to solid green, Red planet is green, and a handful of BC signatures that were red, pink, or purple when I got them have turned green, with a little bit of red showing on the top of one of the corals (see pics attached). They're all growing, although growth seems to have slowed down compared to the first month or two, but I can't complain since I haven't experienced any mortalities.
I think increasing my lighting intensity would help bring out the colors that I'm looking for, which is why I'm asking for advice on improving my setup.
My current options are to add one or two more A80's, which would take up a significant amount of space with mounting goosenecks on the back of the tank, add an A360X or A160 in addition to the 2 A80's to limit shadowing, or go with one A360X with narrow lense. I'd prefer to stick with Kessil because I like their products, and BRS tests have shown them to have the best spectrum, blend, and shimmer of any LED currently on the market. With one A360X I'd be concerned that as corals grow, they will shade themselves and cause irregular growth forms and dead spots at the center of colonies. Is it within the realm of possibility to use a sheet of "light diffusing" plexiglass as a tank cover to create a T5 effect that would mitigate shadowing? This would prevent fish from jumping and potentially help streamline my lighting setup, but would dampen the shimmer and potentially be an eyesore depending on how much light it reflects back into the room.
I've also considered adding an XR15 with diffuser. I have an AI Prime on my LPS nano reef, and I'm not a huge fan of the AI/EcoTech LED layout, plus the active cooling is noisy and the LED drivers buzz when the lights aren't at 0% or 100% intensity. A gen 3 XR15 is cheaper than a Kessil A360X, but I know the shimmer and spectrum isn't going to be as good.
I'm interested to hear the thoughts or suggestions of my fellow reefers!
In case anyone asks about parameters, here is what the tank is at as of this afternoon
Alk: 12 DKH
Ca: 500 ppm (a little higher than I would like, but I'm bringing it down slowly)
pH: 8.4
Dosing regiment: Kalkwasser in ATO and 4.5mL Tropic Marin AFR daily (automated)
Feeding: .15 mL reef chilli, .15 mL BeneReef, .3mL TDO B2, 3 drops of Selcon
fish: Biota Mandarin Dragonet
TL;DR need recommendations for increasing light intensity and preventing shadowing on a 10 gallon SPS cube