anybody out there with a SPS tank setup with spot LED lighting?

[jedheuer]

Hey all,


I am redoing my tank and I am thinking of do a setup with minimal rock work and focused areas of light (probably led spotlights, such as Kessil). I guess I am trying to do this to avoid the "box of light" look where the whole tank is glowing with even bright light with the idea that this might mimic light fall off in a real reef. I have seen a few like this for non photosynthetic tanks but none for SPS, which I assume is because most people want to fill their tanks with SPS thus needing the brightest lights available. The biggest restriction would be that placement of SPS would have to be selective and limited to the brightest spots, but I am still uncertain if the entire look would be cool.

Does anybody have a system setup like this? If so I would love to see some pics. Also if you have any thoughts please chime in. ALso my tank is a 120 4by2by2 tank so there is some space to play with.

 

[firemountain]

I run 2 Kessils 360we on my 65g. I have a mixed reef, with only 1 colony of a GARF Bonsai SPS. The rest is LPS. I have my SPS on them right side of my tank, and most of the LPS on the other.

For lighting, I have the Kessil controller.....hence the SPS side Is brother the the LPS side. For flow, I have the GARF on a platform that gets its additional flow from 2 powerheads that are on a wave maker. Sofar it's happy and the flow doesn't affect the LPS, besides my torch.

Here is a quick shot for reference...

Besides my returns,I have a power head on the lower right that stays on all the time. The other two powerheads that are up high, are on opposite sides, and are on a wave maker. The closer powerhead on the right near the GARF isn't as powerful as the one on the left, so it gets good flow but not blasted.

Also...I know it's a bad pic, but the Kessil on the left is running more blue, and the one on the right is more white, at the time the pic was taken. The overall look is kinda cool in person, sorta cave like, darker on one side, and whiter on the other. The blend is nice, and it's not crazy dark blue and ultra white, which would look a bit weird. I also have the left side light angled to give more light to the SPS.

For me with a mixed reef, it's a bit more tricky with the lighting, and I am still learning. My tank has only been running since July. I never had MH or T5's, so I can't give a comparison. Hope this helps.

Sorry for the upside down picture.

 

[jedheuer]

Yea, that looks pretty cool. Seems like this approach might only be feasible on a smaller tank now that i think about it.