Another led or add t5s

[Fz1ben]

Hello guys

I currently have 3 kessil a160s over a red sea reefer 250, so one is covering every foot of tank. The tank is sps dominated and on a few of the larger colonies I'm noticing die off from underneath in the shaded areas. I'm looking at ways of overcoming this.

One option and probably the easiest would be to add a forth kessil a160 and spread them out a bit more for more spread.

The second option is adding a t5 hybrid unit like the aquatic life fixture, however I have a few concerns with this. Firstly I'm in the UK so cost of importing one is pretty high and secondly I'm worried about the 4 t5 tubes adding to much heat to the tank.

Any advice or experience would be great in helping me pick which way to go

 

[Ranjib]

t5 would be good. This is one of the pain with the pendant style lights, its point source. I think you have little less than target amount of PARs (3x40 watts, you should shoot for 54x5 watts). I think it will be good to have couple of reefbrite strips as well

 

[jda]

The T5 will not add any appreciable heat unless you have a super-tight canopy with no ventilation.

Heat from any light source is usually easy to mitigate as long as you WANT to solve the problem - most of the posts that you see are people just whining or trying to justify a purchase. This is not so much true if you live in South Florida or one of the Deserts, but you do not. In any case, T5 are no problem for heat, so don't worry about that part of it.

The T5s are what you are wanting if shadowing and death from the bottom is an issue.

 

[Fz1ben]

Thanks both, I'm pretty convinced that going t5 is the better option now, I was worried about the heat side of it but I'll be mounting the fixture around 8inchs from the surface so shouldn't be a problem hopefully

I've narrowed it down to the giesmann stellar or aquatic life hybrid but can't really make up my mind as both seem to have a few issues.

 

[Mpierce]

Could do retro t5 if you have a canopy or something you are housing them in

 

[Fz1ben]

I dont have a canopy unfortunately I just have them mounted on goose necks

 

[jda]

Without a canopy, no worries about any heat with T5s... even MH would struggle to heat up your tank with an open top.

 

[Amoo]

On the contrary, I live in SW GA which means we run our AC pretty much 24/7. We keep the house at 74 during the day. The main tank is in a master bedroom sized room/office and I keep the tank at 77 degrees. I have an Aquatic Life T5 Hybrid, not in a canopy and no top on my aquarium along with very aggressive surface agitation. As a result if the doors in this room are closed, that room itself will run between 75-76 (100g system).

For the 6 hours the T5s are on the tank temp climbs to close to 78 degrees. I have mine mounted 16" off the waterline.

 

[Fz1ben]

Interesting stuff... I can't really afford any extra heat as it runs nearly 28c in summer... maybe adding another a160 might be the answer

 

[jda]

Just a simple fan from Wal Mart keeps the 5 MH over my tank from raising it even .5 degrees. Heat can be solved if people want to solve it. You just cannot do nothing and expect something to happen.

 

[Bpb]

Have you ever used t5ho before? A $6 clip on fan blowing into my canopy is enough to negate any and all warmth added by my 8x54 watt ati sunpower T5ho don’t add anywhere close the amount of heat people think they do. You can handle the bulbs after they’ve been on for several hours. They get warm to the touch but not skin melting hot like a metal halide bulb does.

Kessils look nice and can produce colors from the top. I’ve seen it plenty. I’ve never used them. But I CAN verify that none of my large branching acro colonies have any bleaching or die off on the under sides. Even my red planet table is red underneath on the down side. T5ho produce sooooo much light scatter, that even if something appears darker or slightly shaded, there’s enough light hitting it to produce color

 

[DSC reef]

There's no need to go on the attack for people having heat issues when using T5 or halides, in fact this nonsense is getting really old. I'm tired of reading when someone mentions heat issues its considered whining, enough already! You guys do realize we all live in different areas and keep our houses at different temperatures so get off your soap boxes and realize a simple fan isn't a CUREALL for everyone. A fan would do jack squat for where I live hence why I'm done with halides and T5. How about members start respecting others experiences and opinions instead of demeaning and attacking for once.

 

[Big G]

One option and probably the easiest would be to add a forth kessil a160 and spread them out a bit more for more spread.

Yes. And if you can stagger/zigzag them a bit it will go a long way toward eliminating shadows, depending on needs of your aquascape of course. Best of luck.

 

[Crabs McJones]

I think you'd really like the Kessils with T5 suppliments. I used it on my tank for a while, and really liked it. I would still be running that setup today under different circumstances. But adding another to limit the shadowing would be good as well

 

[Bpb]

There's no need to go on the attack for people having heat issues when using T5 or halides, in fact this nonsense is getting really old. I'm tired of reading when someone mentions heat issues its considered whining, enough already! You guys do realize we all live in different areas and keep our houses at different temperatures so get off your soap boxes and realize a simple fan isn't a CUREALL for everyone. A fan would do jack squat for where I live hence why I'm done with halides and T5. How about members start respecting others experiences and opinions instead of demeaning and attacking for once.

Maybe that was directly strictly at JDA, but I felt like it was aimed at me as well.

I live in the south. Central Texas region. It’s over 90% relative humidity today with a high of 90. Our AC has to run constantly without rest during daylight hours to even keep the house at 75 degrees. And it often can’t even make it there.

Nowhere in my post did I attack anyone’s experience or opinions. I’ve re-read my post several times. If anyone finds what I personally said to be offensive or attacking in nature then I will boldly call them too sensitive and suggest you thicken your skin. I’ll gladly take a mod warning for that. People are too easily triggered.

I simply asked the OP a straight forward question, and followed that with my own personal experience. No more. No less.

 

[Crabs McJones]

Before this thread gets thrown out into left feild, i'm going to ask that we please get it back on track, and keep on point to the OP's original question.
Thanks

 

[Big G]

Can you post a picture of your current setup so we can see those shadows and effected corals?

 

[Fz1ben]

Yes I have used t5 before for years on high tec planted tanks and I ran a 6 bulb 2ft unit over a small frag tank and had major issues with heat...... but that was a relatively small tank and the lights were only 4 inches from the surface.

The shadowing is a funny one as I have a strawberry shortcake that is growing out from my rock work horizontally and the bottom revives no light but is not white it's a medium brown and the colony looks amazing. I'll try and upload a few pictures in a minute once I'm home. Thanks for all the replies it's defiantly food for thought.

Oh and the cooling the t5s with fans isn't really an option as the tank is open top and in my living space so needs to look good too

 

[Fz1ben]

 

[Fz1ben]

You can see it on best on the pocilipora, but I get get good colour and growth from the kessils