pecan2phat
Active member
I have a standard 180g that I have used as a FOWLR tank for many years. The last lighting scheme was 4 AI SOL Blues spaced evenly across the length of the tank. I ended up shutting the tank down for 2 years due to a move and have just come back earlier this year.
I started up the tank, let it cycled and transferred all my corals and fish from where I was staying during the relocation (yeah, couldn't help it even if it was a temporary living situation, Lol!)
Knowing that I'd have corals this time around, I just did an easy fix by adding a single 60" T5 retro kit to the front and back of the light rack supporting my AI SOLs. Since I knew from the past that the SOLs, while a nice LED light during it's time, was not powerful enough to evenly light the tank fully, I chose ATI Aqua Blue Special as the 2 bulbs. I turn the T5s on just for a 4 hour peak and simultaneously lower the whites on the SOLs during that time period because the overall look is too white for my taste but it also looked like it was a little too much intensity for some of the corals if I left the whites on at 75% intensity for the peak period.
While it's only been 3 months since the corals have been placed, I see nice growth and much better color in most of the SPS and some of the scattered LPS corals in the tank.
So I got an itchy butt and noticed that my light rack cutouts for the individual SOLs fit the Radion XR30 perfectly. After not enough thought, I ended up buying four XR30 Gen4 Pros.
Have not replaced the SOLs yet....... but my question to all is should I continue using the two T5 bulbs in conjunction with the Gen4 Pros?
I'm concerned of the over lighting. While I know I'm not going to run these Gen4s at 100%, the overall 90w (SOLs) vs 190w (G4 Pros) is quite a difference.
Was thinking maybe run the T5s at peak but with ATI Blue Plus or Pure Actinic bulbs instead?
What are your thoughts?
TIA
I started up the tank, let it cycled and transferred all my corals and fish from where I was staying during the relocation (yeah, couldn't help it even if it was a temporary living situation, Lol!)
Knowing that I'd have corals this time around, I just did an easy fix by adding a single 60" T5 retro kit to the front and back of the light rack supporting my AI SOLs. Since I knew from the past that the SOLs, while a nice LED light during it's time, was not powerful enough to evenly light the tank fully, I chose ATI Aqua Blue Special as the 2 bulbs. I turn the T5s on just for a 4 hour peak and simultaneously lower the whites on the SOLs during that time period because the overall look is too white for my taste but it also looked like it was a little too much intensity for some of the corals if I left the whites on at 75% intensity for the peak period.
While it's only been 3 months since the corals have been placed, I see nice growth and much better color in most of the SPS and some of the scattered LPS corals in the tank.
So I got an itchy butt and noticed that my light rack cutouts for the individual SOLs fit the Radion XR30 perfectly. After not enough thought, I ended up buying four XR30 Gen4 Pros.
Have not replaced the SOLs yet....... but my question to all is should I continue using the two T5 bulbs in conjunction with the Gen4 Pros?
I'm concerned of the over lighting. While I know I'm not going to run these Gen4s at 100%, the overall 90w (SOLs) vs 190w (G4 Pros) is quite a difference.
Was thinking maybe run the T5s at peak but with ATI Blue Plus or Pure Actinic bulbs instead?
What are your thoughts?
TIA
