Waboss
Valuable Member
Ok, so I'm notorious for tinkering, which we all know isn't great for our tanks. I've cut it back a LOT, but am now back at it with my lighting.......I just can't get what I feel will be "good" lighting, so I figured I would ask you good folks for some opinions.
Currently my tank is a 40 breeder. I think it's going to become SPS dominant, with a little LPS thrown in. I had 2x Kessil A360NE's over it and wasn't happy at all with how bad the shading was. So I added an Aquatic Life 36" T5/Hybrid to pair up with the Kessils. Then, after a chat with the fiance, it was brought to my attention that I had over $700 in Kessil gear, plus over $350 in T5 gear (fixture plus bulbs) for a 40 breeder.
This leads me to where I am now. I've gotten rid of the Kessils and added, in their place, a Reefbrite XHO 24" strip, that I got from a local club member at a really good price. So I was thinking of just adding another XHO when I found a good deal on one and leave it alone. BUT, I'm noticing now, that the width (front to back) of the Aquatic life fixture may be an issue. I'm seeing algae growing in my overflow now as it puts a fair amount of light on and over the back of the tank.
So now I once again am bit stuck. Either I figure out a way to retrofit the brackets connecting the front and back of the Aquatic Life fixture to make them shorter, and thus "shortening" the front to back width of the fixture, OR I just get a different fixture.
If I get a different fixture, I'm going to have to keep it in the "budget friendly" range to keep my other half happy. So I'm leaning towards either a 24" or 36", 4 bulb T5 fixture. I can add the 24" XHO strip I already have to either (I can make/modify a little bracket for that). I already have 4, 36" bulbs that are new, so that would help if I went the 36" route, but I'm thinking it might be nice to have some "darker" areas on the ends for lower light corals (like if I picked up the 24").
So I guess this is the very, very long winded way of saying, "Do you think 24" or 36" over the tank would be best"?
Wow, if anyone reads this whole thing, I'll be impressed.....or feel guilty for typing so much. Haha!
Currently my tank is a 40 breeder. I think it's going to become SPS dominant, with a little LPS thrown in. I had 2x Kessil A360NE's over it and wasn't happy at all with how bad the shading was. So I added an Aquatic Life 36" T5/Hybrid to pair up with the Kessils. Then, after a chat with the fiance, it was brought to my attention that I had over $700 in Kessil gear, plus over $350 in T5 gear (fixture plus bulbs) for a 40 breeder.
This leads me to where I am now. I've gotten rid of the Kessils and added, in their place, a Reefbrite XHO 24" strip, that I got from a local club member at a really good price. So I was thinking of just adding another XHO when I found a good deal on one and leave it alone. BUT, I'm noticing now, that the width (front to back) of the Aquatic life fixture may be an issue. I'm seeing algae growing in my overflow now as it puts a fair amount of light on and over the back of the tank.
So now I once again am bit stuck. Either I figure out a way to retrofit the brackets connecting the front and back of the Aquatic Life fixture to make them shorter, and thus "shortening" the front to back width of the fixture, OR I just get a different fixture.
If I get a different fixture, I'm going to have to keep it in the "budget friendly" range to keep my other half happy. So I'm leaning towards either a 24" or 36", 4 bulb T5 fixture. I can add the 24" XHO strip I already have to either (I can make/modify a little bracket for that). I already have 4, 36" bulbs that are new, so that would help if I went the 36" route, but I'm thinking it might be nice to have some "darker" areas on the ends for lower light corals (like if I picked up the 24").
So I guess this is the very, very long winded way of saying, "Do you think 24" or 36" over the tank would be best"?
Wow, if anyone reads this whole thing, I'll be impressed.....or feel guilty for typing so much. Haha!
Is there a reason that after you got the equipment you got rid of it? Money is already spent and you can't get out of it what you put into it. I would have stuck with what you had personally. But to answer your question for total coverage do the 36" fixture 
