Thinking of ditching led in favor of t5...

[infinite0180]

Have you considered a mh/T5 hybrid? That way you will get the best lighting possible, great shimmer and now way to mess it up

The giesemann spectra is a very attractive fixture to boot.

Actually i did for about 30 sec but decided against it...

 

[ATI North America]

Yes i know, making my decision hard! I take it the Straton is not included in the sale this first year?!

Correct, the Straton is not on sale.

 

[infinite0180]

Correct, the Straton is not on sale.

ATI,

Curious on your thoughts, tank is 30x24x16. would you say a 6 or 8 bulb fixture?

 

[Bepis]

I just went with the new Orphek OR3s. They give great coverage, spread, and are stronger then t5s

 

[ATI North America]

ATI,

Curious on your thoughts, tank is 30x24x16. would you say a 6 or 8 bulb fixture?

I would likely go 8 bulb given the depth, however with a height of only 16 the 6 would be fine, you'd just mount it slightly higher. It would also change if you were going to put the ReefBrites on it as well, if so I would probably do the 6.

 

[infinite0180]

I would likely go 8 bulb given the depth, however with a height of only 16 the 6 would be fine, you'd just mount it slightly higher. It would also change if you were going to put the ReefBrites on it as well, if so I would probably do the 6.

Thank you for the input!

Anybody need a used xr30 pro ?

 

[ReeferBean]

I went with 4 XR30 G5s, used to have a 60" LED Powermodule with 8 lamps. Not that it was a bad light, I just won't ever go back. Its preference really, they'll all grow coral.

 

[Big E]

Thanks everyone for taking the time to share your thoughts. Im going to sit on it for a bit and think it over! Either way a par meter rental is in the near future!

You don't need a par meter for T5's. A par meter is half the price of a 6x24 standard Sunpower. They are on sale now at 20% off.

A single XR30 will never give you the same coverage or results.............sell it.

You already have a reefbrite for bling.

This the route I would go if in your shoes. This should net you at least to breakeven or a small profit.

T5 for the main work, led for bling

 

[infinite0180]

You don't need a par meter for T5's. A par meter is half the price of a 6x24 standard Sunpower. They are on sale now at 20% off.

A single XR30 will never give you the same coverage or results.............sell it.

You already have a reefbrite for bling.

This the route I would go if in your shoes. This should net you at least to breakeven or a small profit.

T5 for the main work, led for bling

Hey, so its funny that you saw this thread, last night i read your entire Build thread! After i finished i placed an order for a 24” standard 6x24 Sunpower! I also ordered 3 blue+ and 3 coral+. Any suggestions on starting mounting height?!?

 

[Midrats]

Hey, so its funny that you saw this thread, last night i read your entire Build thread! After i finished i placed an order for a 24” standard 6x24 Sunpower! I also ordered 3 blue+ and 3 coral+. Any suggestions on starting mounting height?!?

What am I, chopped liver? This is what I've been saying the whole time . Big E was my inspiration too so I forgive you. You won't be disappointed with that light. As far as height goes, mine is at 8" with no shading anywhere. I don't have a par meter, but I do measure a lux of 45K lux at the surface. I tried the method of room darkening and lowering the light until there was zero light spill but I had to get down to 5" to achieve that. At 5" the tank was still evenly covered, don't underestimate the spread of these lights. The spillage at 8" isn't that bad, nor is the glare from my chair and I prefer it up a little higher for viewing and working. I think at 12" I was getting 30K lux so that might be a good starting point for you. Divide lux by 50 to get a pretty close approximation of par.

 

[infinite0180]

What am I, chopped liver? This is what I've been saying the whole time . Big E was my inspiration too so I forgive you. You won't be disappointed with that light. As far as height goes, mine is at 8" with no shading anywhere. I don't have a par meter, but I do measure a lux of 45K lux at the surface. I tried the method of room darkening and lowering the light until there was zero light spill but I had to get down to 5" to achieve that. At 5" the tank was still evenly covered, don't underestimate the spread of these lights. The spillage at 8" isn't that bad, nor is the glare from my chair and I prefer it up a little higher for viewing and working. I think at 12" I was getting 30K lux so that might be a good starting point for you. Divide lux by 50 to get a pretty close approximation of par.

Lol yes you definitely deserve some credit as well! Im very excited. Thanks for all your advise and help. Ill update this thread when i get everything. Hopefully it arrives soon!

 

[Big E]

Hey, so its funny that you saw this thread, last night i read your entire Build thread! After i finished i placed an order for a 24” standard 6x24 Sunpower! I also ordered 3 blue+ and 3 coral+. Any suggestions on starting mounting height?!?

I'd start at 9-10" from bulbs to water line.

The basic rule is 6 bulbs for 18" width --- 8 for 24. You can be fine with 6 bulbs but what happens is the corals will grow slightly up so when you view the tank you see too much of the back of corals and not the part getting direct light. You also want some light reflecting from the light to the coral to your eyesight from the front of the tank.

The tank will also look brighter and just have more overall pop. If you plan for 2 reefbrites than 6 bulbs is perfect and 8 is overkill. The whole idea is you want to envelop the corals with 360 degrees of coverage.

Burn in to me is just after 2 weeks of running the bulbs 8 hours the par/spectrum will settle in.

Keep us updated

 

[infinite0180]

All i have to say is wow! My tank was sooo dim. The entire thing is lit up like a christmas tree! I hung it a hair over 9 inches. Ill see how things go this month and maybe drop it down to 8. I really like the look of the C+ and B+ combo, its soo much brighter and lively in the tank. My fish even look better! Thanks guys! Time to stop worrying about lighting!

 

[infinite0180]

@squareriggersailor what bulbs are you running?

 

[Midrats]

3 C+ and 3 B+

 

[infinite0180]

3 C+ and 3 B+

Nice. Im already having to dose more two part. My trident is showing an increased uptake and my frags are all starting to encrust! Exciting times for my new tank! Now if only i had gotten the ext 100 instead of the 50

 

[Midrats]

Glad to hear that! I threw in a Battlebox a couple of weeks ago, just got them all mounted. They are all growing already.

I looked hard at the 100 but it really wouldn't have worked in the room unfortunately. I'm happy with the 50, it's a cool little tank, very manageable.

 

[A. grandis]

Good ending!!! T5s are just amazing indeed!!
I got here late, but I'm happy for you, infinite0180!!

Pics?

 

[chk4tix]

I made the switch back to T5 after having Radians for years and I (and my tank) am glad I did. Sure with LED, I could mess with the color/brightness easily but no matter what I did, I just couldn’t make everything happy. In my mixed reef, either my SPS loved it and my acans/zaos suffered or vise-versa. Since I had a light in my garage, I switch back to an 8-bulb T5 and within a week that everything in my tank looked happy. I couldn’t believe it. The down side is, it doesn’t have the “shimmer” look to it but the tank overall looks better.

 

[Beefyreefy]

I Also think you should continue with the LEDs and supplement with t5s. Run all blues on the led for pop and supplement some various blends of t5 with it. I run 100% blues on my LEDs and 4 ati t5s, 2 blue plus, 1 coral plus, and 1 purple, and I’m super happy with the look and growth of the tank. I suspect that messing with the light didn’t have much to do with your coral losses, but I could be wrong. There’s a lot of things that can kill coral but I think that the lights, especially good ones like your are using, are at the bottom of the list. There are people using all types of intensities and color blends, I really think it doesn’t matter so much.