Lighting a Red Sea Reefer 450

[AA79]

I am in the process of putting to get a Red Sea Reefer 450 (60x20x22high) and leaning towards t5+LED as many seem to have great results. Shooting for a nice mixed reef and don't want lighting to limit me in the future.

So my idea was to do an ATI Sunpower in 6 or 8 bulb and then adding AI 26HD to each end angled inward. Any advice or problems you can see? One issue will be changing bulbs, I'll have to remove one fixture to remove the clear shield but that should be a big deal. Will the shimmer be odd from the way they are mounted?

The sketch is drawn to scale. I also showed the 80* angle that the AI light lenses should spread the light.

 

[Reefing Madness]

 

[Broadfield]

It seems like a lot of light, considering (3) Hydra 26's would light that entire tank easily. Are you doing strictly SPS? I'm running 5 of the AI Primes on my 450 and have no problem growing SPS midway up. Unfortunately I don't have a concrete answer on the shimmer question.

I would also like to invite you to my Reefer specific thread. It's starting to take off recently and should be a great one-stop location for info and to share your setup!

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/show-off-and-discuss-your-red-sea-reefer-series.219309/

 

[AA79]

Thinking of a mixed reef but don't want to limit myself with lighting. The Hydra's would be for fine tuning color, shimmer and morning/evening ramping.

Sometimes, I think it would be best to just get a ATI 48" Powermodule. Then I think just go all LED and not have to worry about bulb combinations and changing them out.

Broadfield, how are you liking the 5 Primes? Any worry about shadowing? Depending on how good the Black Friday sales are, maybe I could do 5 Hydra 26. Way overkill powerwise but would get great spread with minimal shadowing. Obviously would run them lower intensity.

Really having a hard time deciding which way to go with the lighting! I'm all over the place