Brand New 8 gallon bio cube

[brett_schn]

Are you set on those? I see lots of people going the T5 hybrid route. Not sure what would be the best. Lighting is a bit above my head.

Not set on any yet. But I’m not sure the 8-12 month replacing of t5s is worth it for me.

 

[Katrina71]

I think the life span is about 9 months for T5. I could be wrong.

 

[brett_schn]

I think the life span is about 9 months for T5. I could be wrong.

6-8 if it’s an sps dominated tank

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

All those will work. I'm not much of a puc fan , but I'd go with the Radions. They have a larger emitter so you'll get much less shadowing.

A feiw, a whole lot of sps are low and medium light. In fact 3 160s at about 8-9 inches for 10 hours will grow med light coral just fine.

The only other option is multi emitter arrays. Like the orphek , reefbreeders , sbreeflight ultras , and Mitra(?). I use black boxes for that reason. Some simulated MH shimmer and few shadows , like a t5 does.

The new hybrid is pretty cool. In fact the two 360s alone would grow med/high light corals alone , then the t5 could come on for 2-4 hours at the peak. Save on tubes , prob double the life, so close two years. You'd mount those at about 8-10 inches in belive.

There's pros and cons to everything.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

6-8 if it’s an sps dominated tank

Depends entirely on burn time.
The lights that are on the least , last longer.

But yea, 8-9 months at about 10 hrs a day. Probably longer really with any significant noticeable effect to coral.

 

[Katrina71]

Gosh he beat me to it! Lol I had to Google some of that.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

One of the guys from Ati I've chatted with a lot here.

He's old school.

And I'm a freak.

 

[brett_schn]

Why is this so hard!?! Lol. I could do the radions or hydras and add some t5s down the road for th best of both

 

[brett_schn]

One of the guys from Ati I've chatted with a lot here.

He's old school.

And I'm a freak.

We are all freaks that’s why we are here

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Why is this so hard!?! Lol. I could do the radions or hydras and add some t5s down the road for th best of both

It's not. You probably have already picked one.

On an led only tank , is choose the radions.

You'll want to buy a meter to set them. A pap meter is $190 or 125 for xmas sale, a good Lux meter is $15.

I'd spend as little as I could so I can buy more coral though really.

 

[Katrina71]

I may be changing my lighting up a little in the spring. Not sure yet.

 

[brett_schn]

It's not. You probably have already picked one.

On an led only tank , is choose the radions.

You'll want to buy a meter to set them. A pap meter is $190 or 125 for xmas sale, a good Lux meter is $15.

I'd spend as little as I could so I can buy more coral though really.

Yeah. I’ll borrow a par meter because it honestly isnt worth the investmenr for me. I just don’t want to go out and drop a ton of money and it lacks something that would be nice to have

 

[SashimiTurtle]

I love Kessils for the color and shimmer, but I'm adding T5 for coverage. The dense LEDs are great for shimmer and color blending, but its a spotlight effect where T5 is a blanket effect. My plan is to use my 2 A160s for the main punch, and use a 4 bulb T5 with 2 blue+ 1 coral+ and 1 actinic for coverage at peak. Maybe 4 hours a day on the T5 and 10 hours peak for the Kessils. Or, I'll run the T5s longer and back the Kessils off and have all the lights on all day.

 

[SashimiTurtle]

I think the biggest thing we need to remember with LEDs is to leave them alone. With the older MH and T5 you plugged in the light, set your timer and left it alone. These LEDs have so many settings to tweak corals cant adjust before we're not happy with something and go tweaking again. Another reason I like Kessil, two knobs. One for color and one for intensity. Even on my spectral controllers theres only two bars. I try and take a set it and forget it approach with my lights. Corals are amazingly adaptive animals, but not over night. The more you tweak the more they have to adjust and they don't like having to adjust.

 

[brett_schn]

I think I have decided on some sort of a hybrid with t5 and led. How I don’t know yet but I’m going to be searching around

 

[Katrina71]

My biggest LED problem is reaching the top of the tree.

 

[SashimiTurtle]

Look at the Aquatic Life T5 hybrid. 36" for your 40B. It's a 4 bulb T5 that you put your LEDs in. Comes with mounts for Kessil, Radion or AI.

 

[SashimiTurtle]

My biggest LED problem is reaching the top of the tree.

#shortpeopleproblems

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Yeah. I’ll borrow a par meter because it honestly isnt worth the investmenr for me. I just don’t want to go out and drop a ton of money and it lacks something that would be nice to have

Trust me on this one buddy. The $15 Lux meter.
I know a lighting freak.

 

[Katrina71]

#shortpeopleproblems

Still taller than you in most of my shoes. Lol