I'm looking to light up my new tank that I'm getting on Sunday with mostly LED's. I've been researching and trying to figure out what exactly will be best for me. It's going to be a 390 Gal tank with a mix of SPS, LPS, and softies. The dimensions are 96 X 31.5 X 30.5 with 3/4'' Starphire glass on the front and sides, the back will be against the wall. I really like Kessil fixtures as they'll work great with the Apex system that I have.
It was recommended to me by Kessil's customer service that I go with 8 A360N's setup with two front to back with 10 inches between them, then every 2 feet, across a tank of this size for ideal lighting performance.
Marine Depot recommended that I go with just 4 A360N's centered every 2 feet, as they say it'll be plenty of coverage.
These units are $450 each. I definitely like Marine Depot's recommendation since it's half the up front and monthly cost, but I do see why Kessil directly recommends 8 of them, as they only have 18'' of diameter coverage (though both places said they'll go up to 24" even though the specs don't read that way on the A360N's).
My concern is that since my tank is 30'' wide, if I center them, that'd leave me 3-6" across both the back and front of the tank not properly covered, which is why Kessil obviously recommended 8 units.
I've had a 240 gallon with MH and T5's. It's a 6' tank, and I have 3 250W MH fixtures and 3 48" T5 fixtures. I just want to get away from the excessive heat that combination put out in the tank, cost of bulb replacements, as well as the electrical cost being nearly half with LED's based on the new layout I'd have. Monthly cost is actually 1/3 with only 4 Kessil fixtures and a little over half with 8 of them.
I had a thought and wanted to see if anybody is doing something similar, or at least somebody might know if it could work better. If I use just my T5's and went with just the 4 centered Kessil's, and ran a row of T5's across the front and back, midway between where the Kessil's are and the front and back are, would that be a good supplement?
I bought my MH's and T5's back in 2005. At the time I know the MH's were what really promoted growth in my corals and the T5's were just for supplement color more or less. Have T5's come any further since? Do they effectively reach 30'' down, or would adding these just be an unnecessary waste of energy? Also, do the T5's produce a ton of heat? I always figured it was the MH's, as I never really had the T5's only on, so not sure if that defeats one of my reasons for moving to LED's.
It was recommended to me by Kessil's customer service that I go with 8 A360N's setup with two front to back with 10 inches between them, then every 2 feet, across a tank of this size for ideal lighting performance.
Marine Depot recommended that I go with just 4 A360N's centered every 2 feet, as they say it'll be plenty of coverage.
These units are $450 each. I definitely like Marine Depot's recommendation since it's half the up front and monthly cost, but I do see why Kessil directly recommends 8 of them, as they only have 18'' of diameter coverage (though both places said they'll go up to 24" even though the specs don't read that way on the A360N's).
My concern is that since my tank is 30'' wide, if I center them, that'd leave me 3-6" across both the back and front of the tank not properly covered, which is why Kessil obviously recommended 8 units.
I've had a 240 gallon with MH and T5's. It's a 6' tank, and I have 3 250W MH fixtures and 3 48" T5 fixtures. I just want to get away from the excessive heat that combination put out in the tank, cost of bulb replacements, as well as the electrical cost being nearly half with LED's based on the new layout I'd have. Monthly cost is actually 1/3 with only 4 Kessil fixtures and a little over half with 8 of them.
I had a thought and wanted to see if anybody is doing something similar, or at least somebody might know if it could work better. If I use just my T5's and went with just the 4 centered Kessil's, and ran a row of T5's across the front and back, midway between where the Kessil's are and the front and back are, would that be a good supplement?
I bought my MH's and T5's back in 2005. At the time I know the MH's were what really promoted growth in my corals and the T5's were just for supplement color more or less. Have T5's come any further since? Do they effectively reach 30'' down, or would adding these just be an unnecessary waste of energy? Also, do the T5's produce a ton of heat? I always figured it was the MH's, as I never really had the T5's only on, so not sure if that defeats one of my reasons for moving to LED's.
