220 Gallon lighting/supplement

[Knapp870]

I've upgraded earlier this year to a 220 gal when we moved. Ran 3 16" sbreef over it with somewhat lackluster results. Everything lived but not really growing very quickly. Plan was to add T5 supplements to the sbreef but I had a halide hood. I've kind of decided to go back to 250w halide and thinking now either t5 or led supplement. Would 2 80w t5 have any affect? Led options are reefbrite, sbar orphek bar I guess?

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

The t5 no.

I belive the reef bright is the most power of the options there.

 

[Knapp870]

The t5 no.

I belive the reef bright is the most power of the options there.

And most expensive was hoping the t5 would help on shadowing... I'm assuming I'd probably need at least 4 80w? Seems lame to have to add supplement anyway plus change bulbs all the time ha

 

[A. grandis]

I've upgraded earlier this year to a 220 gal when we moved. Ran 3 16" sbreef over it with somewhat lackluster results. Everything lived but not really growing very quickly. Plan was to add T5 supplements to the sbreef but I had a halide hood. I've kind of decided to go back to 250w halide and thinking now either t5 or led supplement. Would 2 80w t5 have any affect? Led options are reefbrite, sbar orphek bar I guess?

That will depend on how long you will leave your halides ON.
Supplementing the halides with the T5s is not a big of a deal at all IMHO.
Back in the day I had 2 X 250W halides with only 2 T8s for supplementation over a 125gal. You can do that easily with T5s even if you want to keep mostly SPS and they will not only look amazing but will grow nicely!
Get a Vornado or similar fan to blow heat from halides placing the fan between the fixture/pendants/ and water surface.
Choosing the number and spectrum of the T5s will depend on what you're going to keep, how long you will leave the halides ON, and the halides' spectrum you choose.
If you get 4 T5s you could leave the halides OFF for a little longer. One compensates the other... common sense. All good! Easy and safe!
Could start with 2 T5s for supplementation and add 2 more in the future, if you want.
I have 2 X 250W Radiums with 4 T5s over my new 75gal zoa system. The T5s are ON longer than the halides are. It would be a big difference if I had LEDs instead.
The beauty of T5s is the uniform light they emit and different bulbs' spectrum available. You'll have the ability of changing them any time you want ,with the many choices available. I like ATI Blue Plus a lot!! I'm using the Giesemann Actinic Plus with the Spectra over the new system now and it's a great bulb too!!
Your tank will be amazing with the halide/T5s! That's for sure!
My personal opinion.

 

[A. grandis]

And most expensive was hoping the t5 would help on shadowing... I'm assuming I'd probably need at least 4 80w? Seems lame to have to add supplement anyway plus change bulbs all the time ha

Not that bad! You can have them running with the amazing results they give. Plan a nice photoperiod balancing wattage and be happy!
Remember: you don't need the halides ON for the whole day.
You'll keep them ON for 4 or 5 hours max. in most cases.

 

[Knapp870]

Not that bad! You can have them running with the amazing results they give. Plan a nice photoperiod balancing wattage and be happy!
Remember: you don't need the halides ON for the whole day.
You'll keep them ON for 4 or 5 hours max. in most cases.

I was meaning the reefbrite are most expensive. They Re about 4-500 each for the 60". Yes thanks for your input I had already planned on running t5 or led supplement from about 1pm-11pm and the halides from 430-1030pm

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

And most expensive was hoping the t5 would help on shadowing... I'm assuming I'd probably need at least 4 80w? Seems lame to have to add supplement anyway plus change bulbs all the time ha

Go with the s bar if budget is a concern. Get the controller too. Run them full up. With the mH it’s not a “need”. It’s just eye candy.
Ya turn em on in the morning and night pretty much.
A t5 is quite bright enough to over power em.
Heck you could throw a couple of the 16 in SB in their for the same pop.

 

[jda]

Do not plan on using the T5s when the Haldies are on. They are fine for afterhours viewing and dusk/dawn when the halides are off. Choose a Halide bulb that you like the color of without any supplementation.

The only difference between the T5 and the ReefBrite is if you like the RB diode "black light" look... if so, then get the XHO ReefBrites.

 

[Knapp870]

Do not plan on using the T5s when the Haldies are on. They are fine for afterhours viewing and dusk/dawn when the halides are off. Choose a Halide bulb that you like the color of without any supplementation.

The only difference between the T5 and the ReefBrite is if you like the RB diode "black light" look... if so, then get the XHO ReefBrites.

The problem is the colors just don't look as good under the MH. No I do not like the black light look but the difference between full spectrum reef breeder and the radiums is astounding. Why not use the t5 to help with shadowing?

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Do not plan on using the T5s when the Haldies are on. They are fine for afterhours viewing and dusk/dawn when the halides are off. Choose a Halide bulb that you like the color of without any supplementation.

The only difference between the T5 and the ReefBrite is if you like the RB diode "black light" look... if so, then get the XHO ReefBrites.

Yup.
Difference between them is also intensity and the focused beam however.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

The problem is the colors just don't look as good under the MH. No I do not like the black light look but the difference between full spectrum reef breeder and the radiums is astounding. Why not use the t5 to help with shadowing?

Ratio. It will help a bit yes.
But if you have a 100w light bulb in the bathroom and turn on a 15w Light bulb, it doesn’t add much.

Sonds to me like you May also be experimenting with bulb colors soon.

 

[Knapp870]

I've been reefing for over a decade and have done radiums and led on my displays and played with led as well as t5 on frag runs. The led was fairly successful on the smaller displays but in afraid it's having more issues at the 30" depth with my current set up. Had the bulbs and hood laying around so figured I'd switch things up for awhile. Idk how I'd get more color if a 20k isn't cutting it from the MH? Looking to fix some Shadowing and add some pop that seems to be missing

 

[Knapp870]

Old pic under the led when it was first set up and a more recent under the MH

 

[jda]

You should not be getting any or much shadowing with the MH unless you are using very small reflectors. 16" reflectors are excellent and illuminating corals from all kinds of different angles with the facets in the reflectors - larger ones are even better. .

What are you keeping? I have never met anybody who likes the look of SB or Photon over a Radium 20k in a 14-20k setting - for sure if they love blacklight. However, I am only really into acropora and clams. The second photo looks way better to me. Give the light some time to recolor the coral. It can take 3-4 months when I get frags from a led-only tank

How long have you had the Halides on there this time around?

 

[Knapp870]

You can see the shading under the large purple stylo colony. I primarily keep higher end sps along with higher end zoas on the sand bed. Reflectors are fairly lackluster in a lumatek or something fixture inside. They are essentially bent U's. I suppose that is an option to get new reflectors and ditch the current fixture in the hood

 

[Knapp870]

I will say that when I had 2 250 watt radium in a 55 and 75 and switched to led that my spongode did shift to a much better color but in that case I think it was too much light with the halides

 

[jda]

Those U shaped Spider Reflectors can have some issues, but they are not really worth using. Get a Lumenbrite or a Cabo/Cayman Sun from Hamilton. 20" have the best coverage, but 16 are pretty good.

I do not get any shadowing under my SPS using my MH. I would worry if the Poci continues to stay white on the bottom, but it can take many months to color back up so if you switched lights lately, then I would not worry yet.

 

[Knapp870]

They aren't spyder but ok.

Those U shaped Spider Reflectors can have some issues, but they are not really worth using. Get a Lumenbrite or a Cabo/Cayman Sun from Hamilton. 20" have the best coverage, but 16 are pretty good.

I do not get any shadowing under my SPS using my MH. I would worry if the Poci continues to stay white on the bottom, but it can take many months to color back up so if you switched lights lately, then I would not worry yet.

 

[A. grandis]

I was meaning the reefbrite are most expensive. They Re about 4-500 each for the 60". Yes thanks for your input I had already planned on running t5 or led supplement from about 1pm-11pm and the halides from 430-1030pm

I know... no Reefbrites here!
I was referring to the changing of the t5 bulbs.
Get your halide/T5 going and be happy!

 

[Knapp870]

As an update I'm trying MH and "Chinese black box" led bar for lack of a better term. The bar arrives today!