Need advice on SPS lighting

[minus9]

Hey Nick, I now have 3 Kessil 160's and a 4 bulb ATI sunpower over my 22g. Seems like overkill, right? Not really, especially when I have coral on top of coral. I have two 160's in the front aiming back and one in back aiming forward. Of course, this is all temporary until I get my 90g up and running. I would add more T5's and use LED's on the perimeter aiming towards the center to cover the shaded areas.
Just my two pennies.
Oh yeah, once my 90g is up, I'll be looking for some frags.


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[DivingTheWorld]

I ran Radion G3 Pros for 3 years with mediocre color and growth on my Acros. My zoas and montis did great though. Nick's thread was the reason I switched to ATI T5 about 8 months ago. I literally saw color and growth improvements in my Acros week over week after switching to T5 and will never run another tank without ATI T5. I wish I could have the first 3 years of growth back!

I do think that the aesthetic look of the tank is reduced by T5 only compared to LED, but I mostly solved that by adding a RB Blue.

 

[dodgerblew]

If you want the nicest color and best growth from your sps, T5 is the only way to go.
I played the Radion game, and lost. As soon as I started running T5s, my tank did a 180 and boom...take a look.

Nick, your tank looks neglected. Cmon man, you know it can look better than that :lol:

 

[macdaddynick1]

If you want the nicest color and best growth from your sps, T5 is the only way to go.
I played the Radion game, and lost. As soon as I started running T5s, my tank did a 180 and boom...take a look.

Whoa that's one nice tank, and nice colors too. If you don't mind me asking, what are you using for the flow? ( besides the two visible tunzes)

 

[macdaddynick1]

Hey Nick, I now have 3 Kessil 160's and a 4 bulb ATI sunpower over my 22g. Seems like overkill, right? Not really, especially when I have coral on top of coral. I have two 160's in the front aiming back and one in back aiming forward. Of course, this is all temporary until I get my 90g up and running. I would add more T5's and use LED's on the perimeter aiming towards the center to cover the shaded areas.
Just my two pennies.
Oh yeah, once my 90g is up, I'll be looking for some frags.


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I think after seeing your tank I added those extra T5s, and now I am realizing that I will need to add a few more haha. I can't wait to see how your 90 gal will look, because your 20 was one of the most pristine tanks I've seen haha.

 

[macdaddynick1]

I'm partial to t5 Nick but I've seen some beautiful tanks lit by gen 4's. I never recalled shadowing on the Radion tanks but also wasn't looking for that. Coral growth shows good spread

That is exactly why I am torn between the two, my main goal is to eliminate the shadowing as much as possible without sacrificing the pop. I think I am just going to end up with 2 radions and 4 t5s, my tank is only 20/40, it should be more than enough.

 

[dodgerblew]

Contact Justin aka bigboy7828. He has them. His tank is very nice. He can help you

 

[dodgerblew]

I still am partial to t5.

 

[bshow24]

In my newest setup (40 breeder) I run a Gen 4 Radion with 2 T5s to supplement during the day. Most growth and polyp extension I've seen from my corals in 6 years. Before that it was just radions, and I did get a ton of growth, but I think the supplementation has allowed me to limit the shadows while also giving them a stronger light.

 

[SchnitzelReef]

Whoa that's one nice tank, and nice colors too. If you don't mind me asking, what are you using for the flow? ( besides the two visible tunzes)

I run 2 MP60s, 2- Tunze 6095s, and 2-Tunze 6105s attached to Sea Sweeps. My tank dimensions are 96x30x21.

 

[minus9]

I think after seeing your tank I added those extra T5s, and now I am realizing that I will need to add a few more haha. I can't wait to see how your 90 gal will look, because your 20 was one of the most pristine tanks I've seen haha.

Thanks! Now I can only view from the front and top, so I lost a little of the "clean" look a while ago. It's more of a Frankenstein tank now with all the lighting and the hob skimmer. Also, it's an all out war with everything fighting for room. My humilis is hanging from eggcrate, mostly because I really don't want to frag it yet.
Give me a month or two and I'll help alleviate your frag problem. [emoji16]



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[dodgerblew]

I saw two more setups yesterday lit by Radion and supplemented with t5. The corals were nothing less then stellar and I noticed no shading and if there was it certainly wasn't affecting coral growth, color or polyp extension.