Light help for 375gallon. 75% sps

[Javelina]

Starting a new build in a few months. My current tank is a 200 gallon and I am using China black box leds. I get great color and decent growth from most of my sps. But some frags will just not grow. Given that my tank now is rimless I do not want to add t5. But on the new build I do.

Now for the 375. Tank is 8' by 30"x 30". I am looking to incorporate leds and t5s. A few options I am thinking of are a line of 5 China boxes or hydras down the middle. And 2 48" 4 bulb ati sunpowers on each side.

Another option is 2 48" 8 bulb sunpowers with the reef rite led strips on each side of each.

Any input or other options that I should consider ? Thanks

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

I thin you'd be happier with 4 to 5 300w 3oin in BB's honestly. Depending on how much par your putting in the tank(or want to) the t5s might just do nothing with the bbs on..
thee bb has more par power than the t5s.

https://sbreeflights.com/3-sbox-reef-lights

Another option is 2 48" 8 bulb sunpowers with the reef rite led strips on each side of each.

this would be super cool too.

its going to be all about budget and par range you want to work with.IMO

Ans with par o course its not always more is better, Id be looking at flow in that lovely beast over light $$.

And welcome to Reef2Reef!

 

[mcarroll]

My current tank is a 200 gallon and I am using China black box leds. I get great color and decent growth from most of my sps. But some frags will just not grow.

My least favorite type of LED light, so don't mistake this for cheerleading – I'm just trying to being honest so you have more good info to take with you to the 300. (And mostly seconding what salty said. )

You can't blame the lights for corals that won't grow or that grow slowly. So get T5's if you want, but IMO this is a bad reason to do it.

As long as you have the system running very stable (appropriate automation; regular water changes), then nutrients are almost always to blame. Too little, not too much.

Where nutrients aren't the culprit, the problem is likely to be flow – especially if you have lots of rock or corals that are grown out.

Can't tell – how old is your 200?

Can you post a pic that including the lighting by any chance?

4 to 5 300w 3oin in BB's honestly.

Trying to imagine how that setup would work...on a 96x30" tank.

Four is only one unit for every 24" of tank length. Seems like the shape of the light output from these would dictate something closer to 12" spacing. (Which would call for more dimming, but seems like it would get the OP the proper coverage.)

I'm assuming you're mounting them perpendicular to the length of the tank here, so correct me if I'm wrong. But I'm not sure the story is much better with two rows of two, is it?

Seems like two rows of three might be better, but I still wonder about each unit having to cover 18" of space front to back AND light the 30" depth.

I know you're a lot more familiar with these lights though.....thoughts?

 

[Javelina]

Thanks. Here is a picture of my elos 160xl. The tank is a little over 2 years old.

For flow I have 2 mp 40. I do believe I could use more flow. I plan to have 2 mp 60s and 2 mp 40s on the upgrade.

And I am not blaming the lights on the frags that won't grow, although it kindof seemed that way. I know a lot of variables come into play. I would just like to give t5s + led a try. I see a lot of nice tanks with them both applied.

 

[mcarroll]

And I am not blaming the lights on the frags that won't grow, although it kindof seemed that way. I know a lot of variables come into play.

Mostly it's a handful though....and usually just one or two is all we have to pay attention to.

If your'e NO3 and PO4 measurements tend to be zero or near-zero AND you have low flow, then you need no more expectation.

And I would even go further in saying that you might actually regret upgrading your lights before handling these issues.

Higher light levels but more even more weight on adequate flow and nutrients.

I would just like to give t5s + led a try. I see a lot of nice tanks with them both applied.

Right....like I said, if you want to try T5's, try em! Many a nice coral have been grown under them. They have an extremely even light-field, more reminiscent of deep water than shallow. But they are not particularly special outside of that.

What to doubt
Some folks who like halides think the light from them looks "dead". If you really prefer halides (or spotlights in general) there's a chance you'll hate T5's. They're different, not better.

What you might consider
LED strips can duplicate 99% of the look of T5's and still keep you in the money-saving realm of LED's.

What I would suggest
However, I would not recommend spending any money on LED's to run with T5's however.

If you really want to try T5's I'd go whole-hog. There's no real advantage to running both.

Most folks who had problems and then added on T5's really just added more light. (It's that balancing act Some LED setups are so expensive that folks deploy minimal setups, so adding more LED's would have had a similar effect in almost all cases.

With only four fixtures, you're borderling on this....I think adding one or two more units like you have (and adjusting dimming to compensate) would also improve things a lot.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Seems like the shape of the light output from these would dictate something closer to 12" spacing.

yea but hanging them higher helps. Kinda like lighting a massive growout tank or public aquarium with MH pendants rather than a home tank where wed go closer with more units or emitters.

The BB's in general are about 100,000 lux(1500 par or so) at 12 in. so four or 5 at 16 to 20in instead to get the spread you'd need..
The SB I have will do 20in wide at 14in. btw. that may help in deciding on how to divide the tank.
So if you wanna get crazy six running in two rows @ 12in , and you could add t5 retros to it , but the leds could/would easily overpower the t5.

 

[Javelina]

Thanks guys.