60 cube sps lighting question

B

Ben.91

New member
So I'm planning to get a 60 cube and wanted it to be sps dominate and have rainbow acans. Should I go with a hydra 52 with 2-4 t5 bulbs retrofitted or a hydra 26 with 4 t5 bulbs? I mentioned rainbow acans because they're known to lose their awesome colors under LED light, but retain them with t5s. The dimensions of the 60 cube is 24x24x24 in case some may not have known.

All opinions will be greatly appreciated!
 
You could use Kessil instead and then you will get some nice shimmer effects. Those with the t5s and you'll be in business.
 
There's no need for "controllability". Pop a 250watt Radium over that cube and call it a day. Sps tanks look much better under t5 or mh. If you miss playing with the buttons you can pop an led fixture over your sump....
 
ksc said:
There's no need for "controllability". Pop a 250watt Radium over that cube and call it a day. Sps tanks look much better under t5 or mh. If you miss playing with the buttons you can pop an led fixture over your sump....
Click to expand...

lol but I agree. T5 setups seem to produce the best colors and growth vs LED from what I have seen
 
Ben has his heart set on LED's. Let's support his desire!

In my opinion, bigger is usually better. Though you'd definitely be able to keep whatever with the Hydra 26 + T5's. It's what I ran for a while and my SPS LOVED it.

Though I'd do the Hydra 52 + T5's. Just to have a lot more coverage and what not.

Either way, you couldn't go wrong.
 
Hentz said:
Ben has his heart set on LED's. Let's support his desire!

In my opinion, bigger is usually better. Though you'd definitely be able to keep whatever with the Hydra 26 + T5's. It's what I ran for a while and my SPS LOVED it.

Though I'd do the Hydra 52 + T5's. Just to have a lot more coverage and what not.

Either way, you couldn't go wrong.
Click to expand...

Lmao! Yes my heart is def set on a HYBRID setup, but I do appriciate everyone's opinions. I've considered all of the options everyone has listed so far and narrowed it down to the two particular lighting options I've listed based of cost, power efficiency, reliability, etc.

MH cost way too much money for the bulbs and power consumption
8bulb T5 will cost a lot long term. Can't see my self spreading 30 x 8 on bulbs a year. Lol
The dimmable t5s are known to have bad ballast. Other wise I would have went with this option and just retrofitted LEDS.

I think I'll do the hydra 52 and 4 t5 bulbs.
 
4 x24 =96 watts and at least 100 watts on the Hydra 52.

The radium 250 = 250 watts so pretty close.
Bummer the sale on the Giesemann Spectra is not on sale anymore at the cost of about 650 but you will need bulbs, I would get that hands down over a Led, 4 x24 bulbs you can run 2 at a time or 4, or run MH only or add the T-5's so tons of control, great light for the scans and then blast the SPS with the great radium bulb.
 
I went from x3 kessils to a 250w radium w/ x4 t5s on a 40g breeder and I couldn't be happier. Softies, LPS and monti caps grew great with the LEDs, but I never really got good growth/colors out of my acros until I switched.

not that LEDs can't make SPS grow and look nice, I just think that the classics (MH or T5) just make it easier to get good looking SPS. And with the amount of fixtures and light you need to equal the spread and growth of MH/T5s, you're looking at similar energy pull and higher upfront cost. Usually the best SPS LED tanks have double the amount of fixtures "recommended". If I abandon SPS, I will definitely kick the MH for Kessils again.

But the controllability of LEDs can't be beat, which might be why they are more difficult to grow SPS since people tend to tinker with them a lot.

A while back I did a cost comparison on start up cost of x1 250w radium MH vs LED and incorporating my kW price and usage (310w vs 160w), it would take 5 years for the LED to be more cost effective than MH and thats not counting change in heater usage. In the end, most people are looking to upgrade lighting after 5 years anyways.
 
Ben.91 said:
Lmao! Yes my heart is def set on a HYBRID setup, but I do appriciate everyone's opinions. I've considered all of the options everyone has listed so far and narrowed it down to the two particular lighting options I've listed based of cost, power efficiency, reliability, etc.

MH cost way too much money for the bulbs and power consumption
8bulb T5 will cost a lot long term. Can't see my self spreading 30 x 8 on bulbs a year. Lol
The dimmable t5s are known to have bad ballast. Other wise I would have went with this option and just retrofitted LEDS.

I think I'll do the hydra 52 and 4 t5 bulbs.
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Sounds good. Look up Wazzle. He's had great great success with the 52's on a 60 cube with SPS. He just upgraded to a 120 though.
I used his profile (which I can send you once you have your lights) for my Hydra 26hd's which worked amazing for my SPS.

Here was mine with 3 Hydra 26HD (WAY overkill) and 3 T5 bulbs on a retro kit using Wazzle's profile.
 
Radioheadx14 said:
I went from x3 kessils to a 250w radium w/ x4 t5s on a 40g breeder and I couldn't be happier. Softies, LPS and monti caps grew great with the LEDs, but I never really got good growth/colors out of my acros until I switched.

not that LEDs can't make SPS grow and look nice, I just think that the classics (MH or T5) just make it easier to get good looking SPS. And with the amount of fixtures and light you need to equal the spread and growth of MH/T5s, you're looking at similar energy pull and higher upfront cost. Usually the best SPS LED tanks have double the amount of fixtures "recommended". If I abandon SPS, I will definitely kick the MH for Kessils again.

But the controllability of LEDs can't be beat, which might be why they are more difficult to grow SPS since people tend to tinker with them a lot.

A while back I did a cost comparison on start up cost of x1 250w radium MH vs LED and incorporating my kW price and usage (310w vs 160w), it would take 5 years for the LED to be more cost effective than MH and thats not counting change in heater usage. In the end, most people are looking to upgrade lighting after 5 years anyways.
Click to expand...

The thing is I plan on running the 4 t5s for only 4hrs out of the day for the growth period. The hydra would be on for the full 8-10hr cycle. I couldn't deal with that 250watt MH on for the entire day and possibly having to get a chiller lol. I do love the look MH produce but I can't afford the upkeep.
 
I have a 6ft tank with 5 pods of 15 LEDs across the length. They're flanked by 4 60" T5, two behind and two in front.

I would highly recommend getting as much coverage out of your LEDs as possible, go for the Hydra 52 instead of the 26. The worst thing I've noticed under LED fixtures is significant hot spots, even on higher end stuff. The more LEDs you have, the more even your output and spectrum will be, you'll just have to turn them down.

If I had to do it again and I was going to buy fixtures rather than DIY, I'd get a 6 bulb ATI Sunpower and put two ReefBrite XHO strips on either side to supplement the blue coloration and to provide cool nighttime viewing. Or if I had a lot of money, I'd get the ATI Powermodule that has everything built in.
 
With a 60 cube you should probably go with 2 hydra 26's. I started with a single 52 and after a year I needed to add a second unit to get good coverage due to growth shading that was not there with just frags. With the addition of the second unit I had to turn the power down about half way. On my 120 I do run 4-52's at about half power. I strongly feel I could have gone with 3-52's or 4-26's, but I had 2-52's already and got a good deal on 2 used 52's.
 
Ben.91 said:
So I'm planning to get a 60 cube and wanted it to be sps dominate and have rainbow acans. Should I go with a hydra 52 with 2-4 t5 bulbs retrofitted or a hydra 26 with 4 t5 bulbs? I mentioned rainbow acans because they're known to lose their awesome colors under LED light, but retain them with t5s. The dimensions of the 60 cube is 24x24x24 in case some may not have known.

All opinions will be greatly appreciated!
Click to expand...

Go with a single 250 watt metal halide or 250 watt halide with T5.

Great looking color and amazing coral growth especially since you want it to be SPS dominate.

Best choice IMO.
 
Here's the hybrid I had made for my 60 gallon cube. I started with 1 Hydra52 then increased it to 2 units, but still had shading issues due to the extreme highs and lows of the scape. It was perfect with the hybrid.

IMG-20150919-WA0004_zpsibtjjskz.jpg


IMAG0489_zpstulug5wa.jpg
 
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