ca1ore
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Two years ago, when I was upgrading the size of my tank to it's current dimension, I decide that I was going to do a few things differently. In particular, I planned to light the tank differently than conventional wisdom would have dictated. In part, this was driven by a lack of interest in buying a whole raft of new lights to accommodate a 70% increase in the surface area of the new tank; in part it was driven by a desire to reduce the amount of light that strikes the front panel thus reducing algae growth; and in part it was an attempt to reduce the light spill into the room. It has long occurred to me that we over-light our reef tanks. Not in terms of intensity or duration necessarily, but in terms of the amount of light that falls beyond the dimension of the tank.
My prior tank was glass, 265 gallons 84" long by 24" wide/deep (thus nominally 14 square feet of surface area). The new tank (in 2017) was acrylic, 450 gallons 96" long by 36" wide/deep (thus nominally 24 square feet of surface area). Both tanks were 30" tall. It occurred to me that if I lit the new tank as if it were only 24" wide/deep, I would be able to significantly reduce both the amount of light hitting the front panel, thus reducing the chances of scratching the acrylic, and mostly eliminate light spill into the room. I'd be conceding the ability to grow high light animals right up to the front panel, but I don't like that aesthetically anyhow. The following pictures illustrate the difference ….
The 'traditional' approach to lighting a reef tank is to hang the fixtures such that they radiate equally front to back. For the purposes of the above illustration, I've assumed a point source, but a line source could be substituted instead. My 'different' approach is illustrated below. Instead of hanging the lights at the front-to-back midpoint (18" in my case), I hang them at the 1/3 point (12"). The black horizontal line are 12" wide blanking panels that run the length of the tank to ensure that no light hits the majority of the front panel. I assumed that this approach would limit the front section of the tank to just LPS or softies, and it has, but since I like sand and LPS, this is of little consequence to me.
There are inherent advantages, and disadvantages, to this revised approach - though for me, the former have significantly outweighed the latter. Although I did have to purchase a couple of additional lights for the eight versus seven foot length of the tank, it was far less than I might otherwise have had to buy. I get only minimal algae growth on the front acrylic panel which has, in part, enabled me to keep it scratch free after two years. And light spill from the tank has been dramatically reduced. So in terms of my original design goals, its been a smashing success. I am somewhat limited in what I can keep in the front six inches of the tank, though this is largely in keeping with my aesthetic goals. When fish are swimming in the front area, towards the top, they are back lit which makes them a bit harder to fully see and appreciate, though mostly just harder to photograph. Not a major problem. Mostly you just see the advantages and not the disadvantages, thusly ….
My prior tank was glass, 265 gallons 84" long by 24" wide/deep (thus nominally 14 square feet of surface area). The new tank (in 2017) was acrylic, 450 gallons 96" long by 36" wide/deep (thus nominally 24 square feet of surface area). Both tanks were 30" tall. It occurred to me that if I lit the new tank as if it were only 24" wide/deep, I would be able to significantly reduce both the amount of light hitting the front panel, thus reducing the chances of scratching the acrylic, and mostly eliminate light spill into the room. I'd be conceding the ability to grow high light animals right up to the front panel, but I don't like that aesthetically anyhow. The following pictures illustrate the difference ….
The 'traditional' approach to lighting a reef tank is to hang the fixtures such that they radiate equally front to back. For the purposes of the above illustration, I've assumed a point source, but a line source could be substituted instead. My 'different' approach is illustrated below. Instead of hanging the lights at the front-to-back midpoint (18" in my case), I hang them at the 1/3 point (12"). The black horizontal line are 12" wide blanking panels that run the length of the tank to ensure that no light hits the majority of the front panel. I assumed that this approach would limit the front section of the tank to just LPS or softies, and it has, but since I like sand and LPS, this is of little consequence to me.
There are inherent advantages, and disadvantages, to this revised approach - though for me, the former have significantly outweighed the latter. Although I did have to purchase a couple of additional lights for the eight versus seven foot length of the tank, it was far less than I might otherwise have had to buy. I get only minimal algae growth on the front acrylic panel which has, in part, enabled me to keep it scratch free after two years. And light spill from the tank has been dramatically reduced. So in terms of my original design goals, its been a smashing success. I am somewhat limited in what I can keep in the front six inches of the tank, though this is largely in keeping with my aesthetic goals. When fish are swimming in the front area, towards the top, they are back lit which makes them a bit harder to fully see and appreciate, though mostly just harder to photograph. Not a major problem. Mostly you just see the advantages and not the disadvantages, thusly ….
