4FordFamily
Tang, Angel, and Wrasse Nerd!
Wow that is truly gorgeous!!
My Aquarium
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Fudsey
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My Tank Thread
Absolutely stunning!!!
Braves Fan
Valuable Member
Beautiful tank 
I have a question though,,, I am no lighting expert,,, so most reefers,,, myself included,,, would buy all four puck LED light units,, space them out over the tank,,, that's not what you did,,, back row looks like four puck, 2 puck, four and two then another two ,,, front row,,, just a couple of two pucks,,, I can understand the front row,, maybe just didn't want as much light at the front of the tank,,, the back row though,,, thats what gets me,,, its not like you have a big gap in there,,, could have just run 4 puck units all the way across,,,, so there has to be a reason
So educate us,,, why this set up?
I have a question though,,, I am no lighting expert,,, so most reefers,,, myself included,,, would buy all four puck LED light units,, space them out over the tank,,, that's not what you did,,, back row looks like four puck, 2 puck, four and two then another two ,,, front row,,, just a couple of two pucks,,, I can understand the front row,, maybe just didn't want as much light at the front of the tank,,, the back row though,,, thats what gets me,,, its not like you have a big gap in there,,, could have just run 4 puck units all the way across,,,, so there has to be a reason So educate us,,, why this set up?
Hi Braves fan, A couple of reasons
1. The tank is almost 3 feet wide , yes i could have gone two rows but 3 is better ( explanation below)
2. I have always used the 4 puck footprint variation of AI lighting , Hydra, Vega and i ran this tank on all Hydra 52 at first. As the tank started to grow out many corals were starting to shade others due to growth patterns. I then ran 8 x Hydra 52 HD but it was just over kill, whilst i was getting the wrap around lighting it was pointless as i couldnt use all that power. So in that i decided to move on 2 of the units and try 2 x Hydra 26 units instead , this made more sense as i could use the power better . That was still too much for the tank power wise however so i moved on another 3 x 52's and replaced them with 2 x 26 HD. I still have more than enough power whilst allowing me to stagger the lights allowing for more spread/intersecting light.
If i was going to do it all again id probably light the whole tank on 26 HD's and probably go for 8, cheaper option that provides multi light spread to stave off future shading. The Hydra 26's are also more powerful on a puck to puck basis as the power supply has some redundancy ( 90 watt compared to the 120 watt of the 52 HD) so the LED's can be hyper driven too higher currents whilst still running whithin manufacturuers tolerance ( Cree , Osram etc )
best regards Tony
1. The tank is almost 3 feet wide , yes i could have gone two rows but 3 is better ( explanation below)
2. I have always used the 4 puck footprint variation of AI lighting , Hydra, Vega and i ran this tank on all Hydra 52 at first. As the tank started to grow out many corals were starting to shade others due to growth patterns. I then ran 8 x Hydra 52 HD but it was just over kill, whilst i was getting the wrap around lighting it was pointless as i couldnt use all that power. So in that i decided to move on 2 of the units and try 2 x Hydra 26 units instead , this made more sense as i could use the power better . That was still too much for the tank power wise however so i moved on another 3 x 52's and replaced them with 2 x 26 HD. I still have more than enough power whilst allowing me to stagger the lights allowing for more spread/intersecting light.
If i was going to do it all again id probably light the whole tank on 26 HD's and probably go for 8, cheaper option that provides multi light spread to stave off future shading. The Hydra 26's are also more powerful on a puck to puck basis as the power supply has some redundancy ( 90 watt compared to the 120 watt of the 52 HD) so the LED's can be hyper driven too higher currents whilst still running whithin manufacturuers tolerance ( Cree , Osram etc )
best regards Tony
Daniel@R2R
Living the Reef Life
Awesome!!! Absolutely STUNNING!!!
