Is it worth messing with?

[jack_aubry]

I have a IM 40 with the a black box led that came with the tank. The tank has been up about a year and a half and it is doing pretty well. Corals are growing color looks good, but I really don't like the led lights.

I don't like the hard shadows I don't care about shimmer and I think the coal are growing in unnatural shapes in responce to the hard directional light. I already have it set a foot higher than the manufacturer instructions, but it is only a partial fix.

I want to put a 6 or 8 bulb t5 fixture in to get that nice flat, blanket spread of light, but I think that changing the light is going to be a major change and could cause some problems with the corals.

How would you make this change? Is it even worth it? Just keep the leds which are working and when I upgrade to a bigger tank do it right on that one?
Any thoughts would be appreciated.
thanks.
Cheers
Jack

 

[Jekyl]

T5 will be much better coverage and are more forgiving than LED. 36" fixture will transfer to a bigger tank when you're ready

 

[jack_aubry]

T5 will be much better coverage and are more forgiving than LED. 36" fixture will transfer to a bigger tank when you're ready

So you think just wait for a next tank and not try to mess with this one?

 

[Jekyl]

I'd say get the light now and use it on the new tank too

 

[Jekyl]

I started with black box and went to kessil. The black box didn't look near as good

 

[jack_aubry]

I started with black box and went to kessil. The black box didn't look near as good

how was the transition did you lose anything?

 

[xxkenny90xx]

Fwiw you can easily remove the lenses on the leds to get a wider spread of light (might help a bit)

 

[burningmime]

I started with black box and went to kessil. The black box didn't look near as good

Kessil certainly is going to look better than a black box big array of LEDs. However, if OP's main complaint is the hard shadows, Kessil isn't really going to help with that. Kessil sort of embraces the shadows by making them shimmering with hard caustic lines on the bottom of the tank that make it look like you're snorkeling. It makes the shadows fun to look at instead of getting rid of them.

If you want an even blanket of light, a T5 is probably a good bet. LED equivalents of that would be like Radions with diffuser lenses (what I'm using now) or maybe that Phillips Coral Care thing. But T5s are muchcheaper (not factoring in electricity costs or replacement bulbs)