Lighting for a sps tank
- Thread starter jose hernandez
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BoomCorals
2500 Club Member
I see no reason not to use the G4 Pro. T5/halide are superior for sps in several ways, but you’ll be fine with those radions for sure.
BoomCorals
2500 Club Member
Yea if you can afford it the T5 led hybrid is perfect
What kind of SPS? It matters. MPB&S and some easier acropora, then G4 alone might be OK. If you want some more light demanding and more difficult/delicate stuff once they get to colony size, then you better plan on 4x T5s. A single G4 over a 2x2 area is not enough coverage as stuff grows.
What are your expectations for the tank? If you just want the best possible performance for the coral than all T5 and/or some MH are in your plans. It you want to play with the illumination colors, have thunderstorms and otherwise mess with your lights from your couch, then you need some high-priced LEDs with an app - this kind of "playing" is oft to the detriment of the corals, IMO.
What are your expectations for the tank? If you just want the best possible performance for the coral than all T5 and/or some MH are in your plans. It you want to play with the illumination colors, have thunderstorms and otherwise mess with your lights from your couch, then you need some high-priced LEDs with an app - this kind of "playing" is oft to the detriment of the corals, IMO.
reefaboo
Valuable Member
There are a multitude of factors playing when you talk about an sps tank 
i am a strictly LED guy .. and run a Radion G4 pro on a 24 x 24 cube .. ( NO T5 for me )
all this is IMO :
would t5s bring out better coloration ( more shades ) in sps -- Definitely yes.
are Radion G4s capable of coloring up sps the way T5s does - a little lesser colors than T5 ..
would SPS be more happy under T5 than Leds ? -- Absolutely NOT both lightings can keep sps happy
having said that LEDs take longer to pull out the colors than t5s for sure .. but patience is the one thing thats utmost important in this hobby ..
to have some we have to give up some .. i give up that extra colors and faster growth under t5 for sleeker look and controllability of leds ..
below are some of my tank pics ( again all growth and colors are solely from under leds only)
i am a strictly LED guy .. and run a Radion G4 pro on a 24 x 24 cube .. ( NO T5 for me )
all this is IMO :
would t5s bring out better coloration ( more shades ) in sps -- Definitely yes.
are Radion G4s capable of coloring up sps the way T5s does - a little lesser colors than T5 ..
would SPS be more happy under T5 than Leds ? -- Absolutely NOT both lightings can keep sps happy
having said that LEDs take longer to pull out the colors than t5s for sure .. but patience is the one thing thats utmost important in this hobby ..
to have some we have to give up some .. i give up that extra colors and faster growth under t5 for sleeker look and controllability of leds ..
below are some of my tank pics ( again all growth and colors are solely from under leds only)
This makes me sound like a dooche every time, but you slide the contrast and saturation buttons over after you take the photos. You slide them until your frag plugs look like those do.
BoomCorals
2500 Club Member
BoomCorals
2500 Club Member
This is very general advice about looking at coral, not directed at anyone specifically.
Youll see a lot of photos that pop and the colors look crazy. Sometimes it’s because of lighting and photo editing. And sometimes the corals really do look that amazing under normal day time lighting.
The way to tell - look at the background. Is the color and tone correct? You know what coralline algae looks like, so does it look correct in the background? What about things in the background that should be more white - do they have a red or blue or purple hue to them? If they do then it means there was a large change done to colors etc to modify how the coral looks.
Youll see a lot of photos that pop and the colors look crazy. Sometimes it’s because of lighting and photo editing.
And sometimes the corals really do look that amazing under normal day time lighting. The way to tell - look at the background. Is the color and tone correct? You know what coralline algae looks like, so does it look correct in the background? What about things in the background that should be more white - do they have a red or blue or purple hue to them? If they do then it means there was a large change done to colors etc to modify how the coral looks.
reefaboo
Valuable Member
not gonna get into a fight .. but tell me what gives in this pic ?? the polyps in the upper left corner are scrambled eggs .. do they look too yellow ?
i agree some pics i just play with colors like the candy apple reds .. some times i take pics under blues .. and they come out like that .. ohh and the sc orange passion pic ( the last one ..) i think is taken with iphone 7 under 20k led setting .. hence the red/blue color bands i guess ..
yea right we all want daylight pics of corals
i dont 
as much as i like sps i enjoy looking at them under day light as well as just royal blues
reefaboo
Valuable Member
i dont want to make this thread as to how to take better pics
all i meant to say was LEDs can grow and color up corals equally well as T5 lighting if not better ( some corals yes they look better under leds )
then again both lighting systems have their pros and cons ..
all i meant to say was LEDs can grow and color up corals equally well as T5 lighting if not better ( some corals yes they look better under leds )
then again both lighting systems have their pros and cons ..
reefaboo
Valuable Member
to answer your question ..
again T5s provide uniform lighting thru out the tank and as some one above said you wont have issues with shadowing and having to worry where to place the coral in the tank ( not as much as with leds )
with Leds there will be shadowing regardless, some leds have more shadowing than others .. and you have to place the corals as per its needs .. not all sps like/need high lighting .. some may like high lighting under t5 but may not like high light from leds as the intensity is more ..
so to compare.. T5 is like plug and play ... leds you have to work with the coral . .. but again both can grow coral very nicely as long as all other params are in good place.
BoomCorals
2500 Club Member
That picture looks totally normal to me. A few others looked off.not gonna get into a fight .. but tell me what gives in this pic ?? the polyps in the upper left corner are scrambled eggs .. do they look too yellow ?
i agree some pics i just play with colors like the candy apple reds .. some times i take pics under blues .. and they come out like that .. ohh and the sc orange passion pic ( the last one ..) i think is taken with iphone 7 under 20k led setting .. hence the red/blue color bands i guess ..
yea right we all want daylight pics of corals
But I digress. Back to lights for the original poster!
IMO, reefaboo's tank and post are the perfect SPS/LED example. He know that shadowing will be an issue when his stuff grows and is willing to give and take some color for some control-ability. The sleek over-the-tank look was important to him. This is perfect. He/She might even tell you that some T5s might be in the future when some of those frags turn into mini-colonies... or trade in the XR30 for a pair of XR15s so that they can be spread out more to cover better. IMO, this is one of the better examples of people who get how to do SPS with LEDs... most are in denial that shadowing and give/take with color/features is not real. Well done.
Ashish Patel
2500 Club Member
I just added T5 to supplement my Gen 4 radions after running radions on there own for 8 months. You can grow SPS with radions alone doesnt mean a combination is not better, Some corals like blanket of light over spot light. For example a tabling acro or monti cap can do just fine with LED alone. On the other hand Bushy and staghorn prefer blanket of lighting so they grow out evening with multiple light source. I went with T5 since it was the most economical way to supplement my radions and the T5 are angled 45degrees front and back. With Radions alone I was getting good PAR but felt I had to run them higher then I'd like and the areas between 2 fixture had 300-400 PAR while the corners had 200 and less. I also reduced my radion intensity and photoperiod significantly after adding the T5 so the spread of light throughout the tank is better.
