Right now I have a 60 inch 8 bulb ati and 3 hydra 26 hds over my 125 gallon tank. I thought that I would be able to avoid the shadows under the two braces, but I guess not. Is there any downside to attaching led strip lights directly on the underside of the braces?
Light Under Center Brace
- Thread starter Jim C
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mcarroll
10K Club member
If you don't light the area immediately over the brace the shadow shouldn't be very apparent. Tough enough with T5's, but definitely keep the spotlights away from the brace.
Do you have corals and/or rockwork really high in the tank that "shows off" the shadow?
Tunze has sweet waterproof LED's BTW.
Do you have corals and/or rockwork really high in the tank that "shows off" the shadow?
Tunze has sweet waterproof LED's BTW.
mcarroll
10K Club member
12" height would light the braces (creating stark shadowing) as well as spilling (even more) light over the front and back of the tank.
Lowering the spotlights so they aren't also lighting up the braces would help.
If this is a 72"x18" tank, then a more ideal height would probably be 7-10". Any chance you can experiment with one or more at that height to see how it looks?
Lowering the spotlights so they aren't also lighting up the braces would help.
If this is a 72"x18" tank, then a more ideal height would probably be 7-10". Any chance you can experiment with one or more at that height to see how it looks?
petemichelle
Well-Known Member
FOLLOWING
mcarroll
10K Club member
Gotcha. What is the intention – to run with the T5's or without? How are the shadows with T5's only?
Dropping the lights even further might help then – I'd try it – but at some point you'll be replacing shadows from the braces with unlit zones in the same space.
(You will probably never fully eliminate the shadows from spotlights, BTW. If you really can't get them to a level where it's acceptable, consider switching to LED strips instead of spots. E.g. Orbit IC's, Lightbar2's, etc.)
Dropping the lights even further might help then – I'd try it – but at some point you'll be replacing shadows from the braces with unlit zones in the same space.
(You will probably never fully eliminate the shadows from spotlights, BTW. If you really can't get them to a level where it's acceptable, consider switching to LED strips instead of spots. E.g. Orbit IC's, Lightbar2's, etc.)
The intention is to have both the t5 and led on someday with as little shadowing as possible. T5 are currently off because I do not want to waste the bulbs while there is no coral in the tank yet. The goal is SPS.
