Thoughts on running multiple lights at different PAR to keep different coral?

[SixlineRyan]

I'm in the process of building out a 150 Gallon tank it's 60" wide, and I currently have 2 lights. There are two braces at each third of the tank which makes it so that if the lights are evenly placed along the tank they'll basically be centered on the braces. I figure I'll pick up a third light so I have one for each third of the tank.

One thing I thought of doing was keeping one of the end thirds of the tank at a much higher par so I can attempt to keep some sps / higher PAR coral on one side of the tank.

Anyone ever tried something like this? Did you run into issues one way or another? Aside from flow, which is it's own topic to tackle, any other considerations with a setup like this?

 

[Baldyreef]

ive never attempted this myself so take my words with a grain of salt, but it may be able to work as long as the spacing is right which is just making sure the low light coral arent too near the higher light side like lower light on end and high light on the other end kind of thing, best of luck I hope it works! I'm thinking about doing something similar to keep a big maxima clam my lfs is offering me for a good price

 

[SilasBerger68]

I would mock up the three light positions before settling on the mounts. With the braces in place, borrowing a PAR meter to map a small grid at several coral heights would show both the shadow lines and how much the fixtures overlap. That should tell you whether one end really stays lower-light while the other gives you a usable high-PAR zone. I would make any intensity changes gradually once the corals are in place.

 

[Waters]

I have done it in the past trying to keep lps in a sps tank. No issues other than (in my case) you have to set up two different lighting profiles with most LEDs since they are meant to link together and run one profile.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

I have never done this before but I'm going to follow as I would like to see what other people are doing

 

[Piotrek]

I'm doing that at the moment. The spacing is crucial, because of the light propagation. Most of the setup I managed to achieve via different aquascape height. But I have this one part where the light from SPS spot gets into the way of euphylia paradivisa. I have significantly lowered the light intensity of the lamp above that spot and managed to get the setup correct.

 

[SixlineRyan]

I have done it in the past trying to keep lps in a sps tank. No issues other than (in my case) you have to set up two different lighting profiles with most LEDs since they are meant to link together and run one profile.

Interesting that you've actually done this before! My initial thought, was to set the schedule and spectrum the same on all of the lights, and then up the intensity on the SPS end once it's finally been added.

Did you start like this from the beginning or shift to it at some point? Did you run identical lights?

I'm doing that at the moment. The spacing is crucial, because of the light propagation. Most of the setup I managed to achieve via different aquascape height. But I have this one part where the light from SPS spot gets into the way of euphylia paradivisa. I have significantly lowered the light intensity of the lamp above that spot and managed to get the setup correct.

Are you running identical lights? I was thinking about this after the earlier comment from Silas. Thought maybe I run a different light with a narrower spread on that end, but maybe I'm introducing unnecessary complexity that way too...

 

[Piotrek]

I have done it in the past trying to keep lps in a sps tank. No issues other than (in my case) you have to set up two different lighting profiles with most LEDs since they are meant to link together and run one profile.

Interesting that you've actually done this before! My initial thought, was to set the schedule and spectrum the same on all of the lights, and then up the intensity on the SPS end once it's finally been added.

Did you start like this from the beginning or shift to it at some point? Did you run identical lights?

I'm doing that at the moment. The spacing is crucial, because of the light propagation. Most of the setup I managed to achieve via different aquascape height. But I have this one part where the light from SPS spot gets into the way of euphylia paradivisa. I have significantly lowered the light intensity of the lamp above that spot and managed to get the setup correct.

Are you running identical lights? I was thinking about this after the earlier comment from Silas. Thought maybe I run a different light with a narrower spread on that end, but maybe I'm introducing unnecessary complexity that way too...

Yup, identicall. I run aipai A7 kessill knockoffs. You can't really tell there is a difference in par without measuring. I suppose that's because of how humans perceive blue light. And my tank ranges from near 500 on top rocks to 150 at the bottom.

 

[xiaoxiy]

I do that with my current ATI Flex! Each light zone/bank is run at different powers to meet my PAR goals dependent on coral type.

 

[exnisstech]

I've done it with noopsyche K7s.

 

[X-37B]

I would not worry about the braces if they are glass.
My old 120 had a middle brace and 2 side braces.

My old 80 started with xr15 radions and 16hds. Worked well but went with 4 xr15's in the end.

Color blending could be an issue with different lights. However I did not notice much visual between those two run togwther.

I run a 150, 60×30×21.
Par is 400+ @ the rocks surface.
Coral on the bottom get 150-200+ par.
2 photon 50's and 3 uv/v or4 bars.
150 from day one to now 2.5 years later.
Halides are another option. I run a 112 with one and the old 120 was halides.
Current 150

 

[SixlineRyan]

I've done it with noopsyche K7s.

This is what've I've got currently. Tank isn't up and running yet, but I've got the IVs. Anxious to try them out; a bit worried they might be too blue for my tastes, but I can always swap down the road.

 

[exnisstech]

I ran the pro IIIs. Hopefully the IV are just as good but they have 40 watts less power. I'm not sure about the spectrum.

This tank tank under six of them and did very well. The two on the left running high enough to get 300 par on the bottom where I kept a couple of clams. I ran 4 of the lights with one as the master and controlled the other two by themselves.

 

[SixlineRyan]

I ran the pro IIIs. Hopefully the IV are just as good but they have 40 watts less power. I'm not sure about the spectrum.

This tank tank under six of them and did very well. The two on the left running high enough to get 300 par on the bottom where I kept a couple of clams. I ran 4 of the lights with one as the master and controlled the other two by themselves.

My understanding is the drop in wattage was due to the internals being optimized rather than an actual change to the output; but we'll see :D

Beautiful tank! I'm a sucker for some good ole Monti cap!

 

[exnisstech]

Beautiful tank! I'm a sucker for some good ole Monti cap!

I love it for filling in space on larger tanks. I moved some of the green and orange into the new tank and am picking up a piece of purple next week to add. Some complain about it growing too fast or getting to large but I just break pieces off when needed.