Need more light!

Max93 · Sep 16, 2022

I currently run over my six foot tank:

one reefbrite 36” 400w halide with 4 XHO reefbrite blue led strips.

I run these right in the middle of my six foot tank, and I still get 250 par on the edges of the tank when the halides are on. Although still looks slightly shaded on the sides.

Over the last few months I haven’t really liked the intense blue only the XHO LEDs provide - tank only looks the greatest with the orange glasses on. Even if I don’t get the same effect as the sunglasses I want some more blending of colors from additional LEDs.

my options:

2 Kessil A500 one on each side of the halides on their own necks, angled towards the center of the tank using the angle piece.

2 Radions xr30 on their own mounts but not angled towards the center since their mount is only flat. one on each side.

any other options/what would you pick or do?

Jekyl · Sep 16, 2022

Kessel fan here.

mtraylor · Sep 16, 2022

It is very unrealistic to try and run one 400w mh on a 6ft tank. It simply is not going to give spread across the 6ft.

So you are getn 250 par at the surface on the edges? Are you planning sps dominant tank? Most fixtures for MH'S for 6ft tank would have 3 MH's for the spread.

That is what I used to run on my 6ft long aquarium. There were no dead spots. Plenty of even spread everywhere.

Not much information on what you are trying to achieve. But if it's high even par across the tank. I would add more MH'S

If you don't want to run into heat issues. 3 250w MH's will serve you better than 3 400 watts. Which will most likely need chiller at that point.

Max93 · Sep 16, 2022

mtraylor said:
It is very unrealistic to try and run one 400w mh on a 6ft tank. It simply is not going to give spread across the 6ft.

So you are getn 250 par at the surface on the edges? Are you planning sps dominant tank? Most fixtures for MH'S for 6ft tank would have 3 MH's for the spread.

That is what I used to run on my 6ft long aquarium. There were no dead spots. Plenty of even spread everywhere.

Not much information on what you are trying to achieve. But if it's high even par across the tank. I would add more MH'S

If you don't want to run into heat issues. 3 250w MH's will serve you better than 3 400 watts. Which will most likely need chiller at that point.

Hi!
Thanks for the reply. Let me clarify -
The 36” halide I use has TWO 400w halides.
I get 250 par on the edges on the sandbed. The par is 300-800 on the middle 36” of the tank from top to bottom.

I’m trying to add 2 LEDs, one on each side to add better color blending because the XHO is just straight blue/actinic there’s no purples, whites, reds. This would also avoid having to add a third Halide.

the tank is already SPS dominant and the acros in here are growing/encrusting great - I just can’t put any acros on the sides yet

Falc! · Sep 16, 2022

Get a 2nd halide to match everything perfectly

nbooks · Sep 16, 2022

take a look at the quanta pro bars. not a whole lotta press, but a whole lotta light.

mtraylor · Sep 16, 2022

Ah I see. Well I would still just add a third MH. I think that would look the best.

Max93 · Sep 16, 2022

My issue is that I don’t want to add a third halide - I only run halides for six hours. The rest of the day it’s blue only so I’m trying to add a blend of LEDs versus this very blue only. If that makes sense.

viewing hours from 7pm to 12am the tank is a very intense actinic - I want a more blended look. I have enough par - the issue isn’t the par, it’s that I want something more easy on the eyes via supplementing with LED.

hence wondering if I should get kessils or radions as a supplemental light only to get a better blend of colors.

Jekyl · Sep 16, 2022

Max93 said:
My issue is that I don’t want to add a third halide - I only run halides for six hours. The rest of the day it’s blue only so I’m trying to add a blend of LEDs versus this very blue only. If that makes sense.

viewing hours from 7pm to 12am the tank is a very intense actinic - I want a more blended look. I have enough par - the issue isn’t the par, it’s that I want something more easy on the eyes via supplementing with LED.

hence wondering if I should get kessils or radions as a supplemental light only to get a better blend of colors.

Can't beat the look of Kessel imo