Who has a 32" SB Light over a 48" tank? are your edges dark? Also - mounting them in hood?

[Dodgersfan]

Hey Guys,

I'm going to pick up a set of SB reef lights for my 90 Gallon (18"x48"x24" depth) does anyone have these lights already on theirs? can you post a pic? I'm concerned that with 8" clearance on each side the edges of the tank are going to be dark, so i might be leaning towards getting (2) 16" fixtures so i can space them better, the only drawback is that you loose the moonlights & 3rd channel. does anyone have any experience with this dilemma on a 48" tank?

Also, the SB lights don't look like they have a mounting option for hoods, has anyone been able to DIY anything up to do it?

Thanks for the help guys!

 

[wooglins]

Hey Guys,

I'm going to pick up a set of SB reef lights for my 90 Gallon (18"x48"x24" depth) does anyone have these lights already on theirs? can you post a pic? I'm concerned that with 8" clearance on each side the edges of the tank are going to be dark, so i might be leaning towards getting (2) 16" fixtures so i can space them better, the only drawback is that you loose the moonlights & 3rd channel. does anyone have any experience with this dilemma on a 48" tank?

Also, the SB lights don't look like they have a mounting option for hoods, has anyone been able to DIY anything up to do it?

Thanks for the help guys!

Either setup would work. I would do two 16inch wifi units. The automation is very nice.

 

[ReeferMaddness843]

I have a 32" SB over a 48x24x18 shallow 80. At 13" above the water line I get a spread that makes me happy. Being a shallow tank it also gives me a few low light areas on the sides for other types of corals not needing to be blasted with light. I think dual 16" at the same height would work well to split the difference

 

[Dodgersfan]

Either setup would work. I would do two 16inch wifi units. The automation is very nice.

the wifi units are not in the budget unfortunately

 

[Dodgersfan]

I have a 32" SB over a 48x24x18 shallow 80. At 13" above the water line I get a spread that makes me happy. Being a shallow tank it also gives me a few low light areas on the sides for other types of corals not needing to be blasted with light. I think dual 16" at the same height would work well to split the difference

thanks for posting the pic. I think the edges are a little darker than I'd like (not saying your tank doesn't look good though, it looks great!) plus i will be mounting a little lower than you, i have a hood, so I'll probably be about 10" from fixture to water...

 

[Ryan115]

I am in the same situation, looking at the SBs for a 90g. I was thinking if I got the 32" instead of 2x 16" that removing the optics from the outer lights may fill in the edges.

 

[Dodgersfan]

I get the theory on that, but presumably the optics are there to make the lights more effective/get higher PAR numbers. It matters less for shallower tanks like the 80 gallon referenced above, but for a tank at our depth it stands to reason that we will be sacrificing performance to achieve better aesthetics by removing the lenses.

 

[Ryan115]

I would be interested to see how big of a difference it would make, if you just took off some of the optics to at least avoid the super dark areas.
I know the layout is very different on these from the 16", but if you look at many of the reported par readings they seem to be heavily centered anyway.
I havent had a chance to see any of these in person. I am thinking of taking a trip over to Pensacola to have a look.
I am with you that I would prefer the 32" for the extra features over the 2x 16"

 

[BoomCorals]

I would go two 16" all day to be honest. I prefer better coverage over moonlight channel.

 

[Dodgersfan]

I would be interested to see how big of a difference it would make, if you just took off some of the optics to at least avoid the super dark areas.
I know the layout is very different on these from the 16", but if you look at many of the reported par readings they seem to be heavily centered anyway.
I havent had a chance to see any of these in person. I am thinking of taking a trip over to Pensacola to have a look.
I am with you that I would prefer the 32" for the extra features over the 2x 16"

That's cool that you're close enough to go have a look, that's the biggest hang up I'm having is I can't just look at both options before I buy to make a decision... let me know if you end up going to look!

 

[Dodgersfan]

I would go two 16" all day to be honest. I prefer better coverage over moonlight channel.

Thanks guys! This thread is not helping me make up my mind at all... I'm getting good arguments for both sides!

 

[Ryan115]

I have a 32" SB over a 48x24x18 shallow 80. At 13" above the water line I get a spread that makes me happy. Being a shallow tank it also gives me a few low light areas on the sides for other types of corals not needing to be blasted with light. I think dual 16" at the same height would work well to split the difference

Are the dark edges as pronounced in person as in this image? Also, are you running this with stock optics or have you changed any?

 

[ReeferMaddness843]

Are the dark edges as pronounced in person as in this image? Also, are you running this with stock optics or have you changed any?

In person it doesn't show as dark as it does in the photo. Used a yellow filter for the shot, so it cut out a lot of blue on those edges. And, yes, completely stock as is. You can remove the lenses on the diodes themselves and allow a more blended better spread, but at the sacrifice of a little par. Which may not matter depending on tank depth. You would also be able to bring a little closer to the water line I believe as the spread would increase.

 

[Flippers4pups]

I have a 6' tank and I know that my set up is different than that of the OP, but pulling the lenses does help.

Before:

After pulling lenses:

 

[Hpolascik]

Where you asking about mounting on a hood or canapy? I have 2 of the 16 inch wifi sb reef lights over my 150gal tall (48 long). I have no dark areas. They are mounted on my canopy. My son cut 2 holes in the top and we used "L" shaped metal strips on top of the canopy and screwed the brackets into the canopy. I can send pics if your interested.

 

[Dodgersfan]

Where you asking about mounting on a hood or canapy? I have 2 of the 16 inch wifi sb reef lights over my 150gal tall (48 long). I have no dark areas. They are mounted on my canopy. My son cut 2 holes in the top and we used "L" shaped metal strips on top of the canopy and screwed the brackets into the canopy. I can send pics if your interested.

Yes please!

 

[Hpolascik]

The light just sit on the long L bracket that is screwed into the canopy. We put another L bracket on each end of the light to hold it security so they don't slide right to left or left to right.

Ps you can find the long L shaped metal we used at Lowes in the hardware dept. you just cut it to fit the length you want.

 

[Dodgersfan]

The light just sit on the long L bracket that is screwed into the canopy. We put another L bracket on each end of the light to hold it security so they don't slide right to left or left to right.

Ps you can find the long L shaped metal we used at Lowes in the hardware dept. you just cut it to fit the length you want.

I've got a hood so it'll be a little different, but I should just be able to invert what you did to hang it from the inside. Do the sbs have the screw holes already that you mounted the Ls to or did you have to DIY it?

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

I get the theory on that, but presumably the optics are there to make the lights more effective/get higher PAR numbers. It matters less for shallower tanks like the 80 gallon referenced above, but for a tank at our depth it stands to reason that we will be sacrificing performance to achieve better aesthetics by removing the lenses.

Don't remove them all.
That light will hit over 1000 par at 12in with the lenses so the 30% ish you'd lose is not a big deal.

And fwiw, I'm buying a storm controller for mine. And cutting a hole in the top of canopy. And putting a diffusion in the hole.

 

[Flippers4pups]

Don't remove them all.
That light will hit over 1000 par at 12in with the lenses so the 30% ish you'd lose is not a big deal.

And fwiw, I'm buying a storm controller for mine. And cutting a hole in the top of canopy. And putting a diffusion in the hole.

After pulling them all I still got over 300 par at 18" with them at 60% blue and 30% white. That's 5" in the water! I had to turn them down to get the 200-250 par at the top of my rock columns where my acroporas sit.

If you pull some and don't like it, nice thing is you can always put them back.

As you said Salty, these have power to spare! No joke.