I am getting ready to modify/improve (hopefully) the lighting on my tank and am looking for opinions and experiences of others.
My tank is a 240g, 8'x2'x2' mixed reef and current lighting is a mix consisting of 4 kessils [2 a360w and 2 a360we], 4 ai sol blue and 1 DIY fixture. Lights are configured as follows: | o o | - | o o | with |= sol, o= kessil and - = DIY. The sols are angled slightly to try and light the sides of corrals better. The sols and kessil blend pretty well color wise but I'm not a big fan of the sols and feel colors are somewhat washed out and get some self shadowing even on frags unless I angle them back slightly. The DIY fixture is configured as 2 clusters consisting of 2 to 1 Royal Blue to Neutral White 3-up stars, deep red, blue and turquoise 3-up stars and 2 wavelengths of violet. No lenses. If I remember correctly it is about 142 watts if fully driven. Color is slightly purple and does not mix perfect with the other lights but does a better job with coloring some of my corals especially oranges and reds. Also does a better job with the majority of my LPS corals
My original thought was to buy the upgrade kits for 2 of the sols to hydra 52 and have these centered offer the 2 main islands left and right, leave the diy fixture in the middle and move the kessils to the front of tank and angled back to better light the viewing side. The remaining 2 sols would be used to fill if needed. I forgot to mention tank is acrylic and only has 2 rectangular opening left and right. some of the lights need to shine through the acrylic top, which does reduce par some, to fully light the tank. Tank also has a full canopy so I don't need to be concerned with how fixtures look.
I have read quite a few threads recently about supplementing leds with t-5 and have been seriously considering this option instead of the hydra 52 upgrade to the sols. What I am thinking about is 4 of the 2x 54 watt LET miro-4 retrofit kits. 2 kits installed end to end to cover full length of tank in front and 2 in same configuration towards the back with the 4 kessils and the diy fixture or one of the sols spread the length of tanks. The kessils would be at each end of each opening and diy fixture would stay in middle as it is now (Could swap this with 1 or 2 of the sols if need be to get better color blend.
I would really appreciate any thoughts or experiences you have had with the t-5/led hybrid or with the hydra 52s. If adding the t-5s are the best option what bulbs do you recommend as I don't have much experience with t-5s? I was thinking all ati coral+ or half coral+ and have ati blue+
Sorry for long post and look forward to your input
Dale
My tank is a 240g, 8'x2'x2' mixed reef and current lighting is a mix consisting of 4 kessils [2 a360w and 2 a360we], 4 ai sol blue and 1 DIY fixture. Lights are configured as follows: | o o | - | o o | with |= sol, o= kessil and - = DIY. The sols are angled slightly to try and light the sides of corrals better. The sols and kessil blend pretty well color wise but I'm not a big fan of the sols and feel colors are somewhat washed out and get some self shadowing even on frags unless I angle them back slightly. The DIY fixture is configured as 2 clusters consisting of 2 to 1 Royal Blue to Neutral White 3-up stars, deep red, blue and turquoise 3-up stars and 2 wavelengths of violet. No lenses. If I remember correctly it is about 142 watts if fully driven. Color is slightly purple and does not mix perfect with the other lights but does a better job with coloring some of my corals especially oranges and reds. Also does a better job with the majority of my LPS corals
My original thought was to buy the upgrade kits for 2 of the sols to hydra 52 and have these centered offer the 2 main islands left and right, leave the diy fixture in the middle and move the kessils to the front of tank and angled back to better light the viewing side. The remaining 2 sols would be used to fill if needed. I forgot to mention tank is acrylic and only has 2 rectangular opening left and right. some of the lights need to shine through the acrylic top, which does reduce par some, to fully light the tank. Tank also has a full canopy so I don't need to be concerned with how fixtures look.
I have read quite a few threads recently about supplementing leds with t-5 and have been seriously considering this option instead of the hydra 52 upgrade to the sols. What I am thinking about is 4 of the 2x 54 watt LET miro-4 retrofit kits. 2 kits installed end to end to cover full length of tank in front and 2 in same configuration towards the back with the 4 kessils and the diy fixture or one of the sols spread the length of tanks. The kessils would be at each end of each opening and diy fixture would stay in middle as it is now (Could swap this with 1 or 2 of the sols if need be to get better color blend.
I would really appreciate any thoughts or experiences you have had with the t-5/led hybrid or with the hydra 52s. If adding the t-5s are the best option what bulbs do you recommend as I don't have much experience with t-5s? I was thinking all ati coral+ or half coral+ and have ati blue+
Sorry for long post and look forward to your input
Dale
