T5/Led hybrid too much?

[OneFish]

Would an 36" Aquatic Life hybrid with two kessil a160we's be too much for a 36"x18" drop off tank (shallow end is 12" and deep end is 22"). I am keeping a mixed reef with a decent amount of SPS in my current tank.

 

[Crabs McJones]

Not at all :) I ran the same setup except I had an AP700 :)

 

[dwest]

Agree with crabs. I use t5 and kessil 360s on my 180.

 

[OneFish]

Not at all :) I ran the same setup except I had an AP700 :)

Sweet! How high off the water do you think it should be?

 

[Crabs McJones]

Sweet! How high off the water do you think it should be?

7-8 inches off the waters surface should give you good coverage, even on the deep end :)

 

[TexasReefer82]

agreed, not too much at all. I run the same over a 40g breeder but I use 2x AI Hydra HD's. The T5 does the heavy lifting but the LED's contribute and provide controllability and shimmer. You could run the Kessil over the deep end at a higher intensity than the unit over the shallow end.

 

[Tennsquire]

I'm running the 36" hybrid with 2 Kessil 360s over a 30 breeder. Same dimensions; no dropoff. You should be fine.

 

[MikeyA]

I run the exact set up over my 80 gallon 36x24x20. I run 3 160s and 4 T5 about 7" over the water line. I'm running a mixed reef as well with the 160s running max of 85% for a few hours each day.

 

[OneFish]

I've only ever had LEDs, so I'm a total noob with T5's - do you ramp up and down with just the LED's on and only use the T5's during the day to simulate the intense light? Like - 3 hours just LED, 4 hours T5/LED, 3 hours LED?

I know the new Aquatic Life fixture is going to have dimming capabilities, but I don't think I can justify spending that when I don't have a controller to operate that function anyway. So just plug the T5 portion into a timer?

 

[MikeyA]

That's what I do, Leds come on ramp up and then t5 come on for about 6 hours then go off and then the leds ramp down. To be honest I run for my t5 B+, actinic, leds, actinic, B+ and unless the leds are above 50% the t5s wash out the shimmer. But I get good fluorescence most of the day till the leds ramp way up.