Lighting Situation

[hberickson]

Hello everyone, I am am upgrading my 46g bow to a 75g and I am still unsure what I should do about lighting the new tank. I currently have a reefbreeders photon 24'' over my 46 bow and I was wondering if that light will work on a 75g tank. I currently only have softies and zoas. I really don't want to have to buy a new light, but that is what I am leaning towards atm.

 

[C3hutson]

I just went through the same exact dillema. You will see noticeable loss of light at the end 12" of both sides of the tank. I ended up adding 2x48" LET T5 retrofits (1xATI Coral+ and 1xATI Blue+) and after seeing the improvement in coloration and growth in just a few weeks of this addition I will be adding two more of these t5s. I went from wanting to supplement my LED with T5 to wanting to supplement my T5 with LED Hell, I'm even considering ditching the LED for MH at this point haha.

Here are some pics:

Shot with cannon rebel XSI on no-flash.

LED Only (90% Blue, 40% White)

T5 Only

LED (Blue 90%, White 40%) + T5

Here's how I mounted things:

Got it painted. I'm really happy with it. Probably going to add a piece of thin plywood to cover the top.

 

[Bpb]

As you can see from the above pics, with just a photon 24, you're going to have not much useable light on the ends of the tank, and a distinct spotlight in the middle...worsened by the fact that you'll likely have a nice thick center brace to block even more of that useable light. The above poster has a eurobrace so he/she doesn't have to worry about that. One way or another, you'll have to add light. The single photon 24 wouldn't cut it by most people's standards. It'll keep things alive and maybe growing well right in the center, but without several t5ho, or even just another photon 24, you're going to be severely lacking in coverage.

 

[hberickson]

Thats what i assumed I would have to do. I love how you mounted that! I could do that exact same thing since I have a spare TV mount i could use.

 

[tanksfishtank]

C3hutson, what T5 lights did you add?

 

[C3hutson]

C3hutson, what T5 lights did you add?

Think it's in my post LET retrofit T5. 1x ATI Coral+ 1x ATI Blue+