Considering a Lighting change to AI or Kessil or Ecotec

[pickupman66]

I am considering a swap this christmas to some new lights over my 66 gallon tank. It is 32 wide x 24 deep x 20 " tall. water is roughly 18" deep running bare bottom. main set of rocks are between 6 and 10" deep in the tank.

So ever since getting this set, I cannot keep SPS. they just DONT do anything. I dont feel it is water necessarily but it could very well be. I can grow LPS and Zoas all day long, but that it. I am starting to feel my Reef radiance has outlasted its usefulness.

I used to keep SPS very successfully under LED until I got a bug that wiped them all out. I had stunning growth under a custom built LED setup.

I am considering one of the three top lights.

1. Kessil AP700. I like this light as I feel it would offer the spread of what I need across the tank. I like their new filters and such on it but I am just not 100% sure yet. I would want to hook this into my Archon for control of the Blue and white channels.

2. Eco Tech Radion - I have these under consideration because they are what they are and lots of folks swear by them, but they are the priciest of the bunch. Also, there is no way for me to hook them to PWM or analon signaling from my controller. Not sure if that is a big killer, but still not 100% sold on them.

3. AI Hydra 52HD. I like this light and feel it offers alot of flexibility in the controls. I like what I see in their software, but again, I would need to use it as opposed to my controller (which may be better). BUT, will this single fixture allow me the coverage i need on my tank. Will it punch all the way to the bottom for my clam.

4. Ai Hydra 26HD - Pair. Cost wise a bit more than the 52, but would give me more spread as I would add some seperation between the two sets of 2 clusters. Cost is in line with the AP700. same concerns as above with the 52.

Photo of my tank:

 

[Nano101]

I'd personally go with two hydra 26 HDs

 

[MaiReef]

2 x Aquatic Life XS-UV 14". Can get them direct from Aquatic Life and I have watched amazing coral growth in my friends tank. I just bought 2 for my 100 gallon. One seems limited to 24-26" coverage, so 32" tank, you could run them on 3/4 power and easily have sps.

 

[pickupman66]

2 x Aquatic Life XS-UV 14". Can get them direct from Aquatic Life and I have watched amazing coral growth in my friends tank. I just bought 2 for my 100 gallon. One seems limited to 24-26" coverage, so 32" tank, you could run them on 3/4 power and easily have sps.

yea, not what I am looking for. basically now I have a 240 watt LED panel.

 

[gus6464]

None of your options can connect to archon at all. If you want something to control from Archon a nanobox wide quad with the apex 10v interface option will let you do it. Plus it will blow away the ai and ecotech in color.

 

[MaiReef]

The Aquatic Life fixtures look good to me.

 

[mcarroll]

I am considering a swap this christmas to some new lights over my 66 gallon tank. It is 32 wide x 24 deep x 20 " tall. water is roughly 18" deep running bare bottom. main set of rocks are between 6 and 10" deep in the tank.

So ever since getting this set, I cannot keep SPS. they just DONT do anything. I dont feel it is water necessarily but it could very well be. I can grow LPS and Zoas all day long, but that it. I am starting to feel my Reef radiance has outlasted its usefulness.

I used to keep SPS very successfully under LED until I got a bug that wiped them all out. I had stunning growth under a custom built LED setup.

If you aren't using a light meter of some kind, you're probably not using the lights you have as well as you could.

Light meters range in cost from free, to $15 for the basic lux meter options, all the way up your budgetary scale to as much as you'd want to pay for something.

The fact that you're growing "less-demanding" corals tells me it's probably not the light though.

Do you already have a non-lighting thread going where you've posted water parameters and such??

 

[pickupman66]

The Aquatic Life fixtures look good to me.

Yea, but for what it is, it's not much more than I have now. Kinda digging a little of the clustering as opposed to the panel.

 

[pickupman66]

If you aren't using a light meter of some kind, you're probably not using the lights you have as well as you could.

Light meters range in cost from free, to $15 for the basic lux meter options, all the way up your budgetary scale to as much as you'd want to pay for something.

The fact that you're growing "less-demanding" corals tells me it's probably not the light though.

Do you already have a non-lighting thread going where you've posted water parameters and such??

No I don't. Last time I tested par out which was a year ago, I had 450 at the top and 200 at the bottom.

I'll try and run some tests this weekend to see where the water is right now, but this has been ongoing with this tank for over 2 years. Basically since I set it up when we dismantled the 180.

 

[mcarroll]

So it looks like you have three china shoeboxes over the tank giving close to 100% coverage of the surface area of your tank, and creating a giant virtual hot-spot in the center that overall mass of LED's.

Even though you've got em up off the tank, I'd still like to hear what you get for lux (or PAR) readings.

To me this sounds like an over-lit/under-fed reef. (You've mentioned other corals "starving" in another thread.)

New lights might be desired and I don't want to tell you not to upgrade, but I don't think it would help your corals all else being equal.

What might happen is that you'd have less light after the switch with any of those options bringing the balancing the nutrient equation more in favor of your corals.

 

[pickupman66]

Mcarroll,

Not quite. I have a single LED fixture over my tank (http://ricksdiet.net/lumentek-pro-240.html) and it is well fed so plenty of food for the corals. I feed mostly frozen as it keeps the clownfish laying eggs. I have attached a photo of Par readings on this tank. mind you they were taken about 2 years or so ago. fixture hangs approx 15 inches above the water.

 

[gar732]

Of the options you have listed I'd say the 2 hydra 26. I have a hydra 52 over a 34 solana and the corals on the edges are want for light as told by their color. I just don't think the 52 or the radion will give you a spread on a 32" tank that you'd be happy with unless you hung the light higher off the water (which personally I'm not s fan of) I don't know anything about the AP700 so I can't comment on that. I'm about to upgrade to a 45 cube and will be adding a couple T5 to the hydra to help it along. If I had to do it over again I'd skip the hydra and go with an ati led power module.

 

[aquaman67]

Tagging along for any updates.

I have a Oceanic 50 gallon tank so this thread is relevant to my interest.

Right now I'm running TrueLumen Pro LEDs. I've had them for about 4 years. So it's time to start planning their replacement. I'm really enthralled with being able to adjust the color to anything I want. Not really a good reason to spend hundreds of dollars, but so much of this hobby isn't about fiscally sound decisions....

 

[nursedude]

I have the ap700 over my 66 gallon, same dimensions as your tank, and I love it. The spread is perfect for my tank. I appreciate Kessil invested a lot of time into spectrum. You can adjust to your preferred color and still have best spectrum. I am growing sps, lps and some softies, with noted growth in all. Some are put off by the glitter effect, personally I like it. You do get shadowing, this is a real concern. For instance my green slimer has a couple spots where it shades a branch and you can see the polyps are not robust like those in direct light. Just my two cents.

 

[pickupman66]

So, a little update. I went with the Radion XR30W. initially I used the standard TIR lenses but they were too narrow. I got ahold of a set of wide angles and it is much better. I get a pretty good spread and most everything is plesaed at this point. Here are a few shots.

that said, I am still considering a swap to a pair of Hydra 26's.

 

[hart24601]

To this day I have not used another lighting system I liked more than the color and performance of multiple hydra 26s and that includes radion g3, geismann t5 fixture, and kessils. Although ironically enough I own 0 AIs now and 5 kessils... 3 a160 tuna suns for my discus tank, a h380 for growing pitcher plants and a160 for my jar reef as I was worried about disco colors with the lid.