Poll: Light Height Above Water Line

dbl · Sep 25, 2017

Curious to see what the average height above the water line members keep their lights. Obviously this can vary greatly depending on individual circumstances and equipment used, but just looking for an average.

jsker · Sep 25, 2017

I had my light lower, but I raised them to 12" for a better spread. I also notice better growth.

Jayp5117 · Sep 25, 2017

My 2 AI Hydra 26hd are a little over 12 inches over my tank to help with spread and everything seems to enjoy where they are.

Fitzreefer · Sep 25, 2017

4 Kessil A360WE over standard 75 g, 8 inches above water. At this point I get no salt spray on the lenses from return agitation. Better spread with WEs and acceptable spill over. Any higher and it would spill over quite a bit.

kireek · Sep 25, 2017

I am at 12" as well with my Black box LED.I honestly love the spillover.

Rufus’ goofs · Sep 25, 2017

I've got a black box over a smaller tank at about 14 1/2" from the water line, and a t5 fixture over a 40 gallon at about 12 1/2" over the water line.

My smaller tank has a lot of spillover, and the 40 almost none. I like the spillover of the blue leds, not as much when it's full spectrum.
I think the t5 spillover would bother be more.

iemsparticus · Sep 25, 2017

I use a hybrid of 4x t5 and 2x Kessil A360WE, and I have the lights at about 8" off the surface of the water.

I hate spillover, and therefore use a hood.

Bouncingsoul39 · Sep 25, 2017

I recently lowered my 250w Radium metal halide from 10" to 6". The spill-over was annoying the heck out of me. But it was too much for the SPS, a couple of them started to bleach so I had to put a piece of opaque lexan over them to acclimate to new higher light.

Amoo · Sep 25, 2017

3AI Hydra 26s at 18 inches mainly for blending

Anthony kolodziej · Sep 25, 2017

2 hydra 52 hd over standard 75 about 12 inches more for the look and access to the tank . At that height the spill over line ends up about 5 ft from the tank which is almost exactly a 45 degree angle

jd371 · Sep 25, 2017

I raised and lowered my lights until the spillover was minimal. I'm somewhere between 8" - 9".

erk · Sep 25, 2017

I created my own hybrid LED/T5 setup. Two Lumia 5.2 pucks with six T5s. I tried lowering down to 10", but the corals started to bleach. Moved it back up to 12" and everything is rebounding.

AdamNC · Sep 25, 2017

Maxspect R420r 16k 160 watt on its 8 inch legs and the water line is about 1 inch from the top. So about 9 inches.

cgdcinc · Sep 25, 2017

13" Ocean Revive T247 over a 50 cube.

Rakie · Sep 25, 2017

6x24" ATI, 5" above the water. When I raise it to where I like it, around 8-10" off the water, it looks too dim for me.. I think to have my lights off the water where I want them, i'll need an 8 bulb. it's just my eyes, but I noticed increasing the par by lowering the fixture doesn't harm my corals at all.

stevieduk · Sep 25, 2017

dbl said:
Curious to see what the average height above the water line members keep their lights. Obviously this can vary greatly depending on individual circumstances and equipment used, but just looking for an average.

I have mine actually resting on the tank about two inches above the water. corals love it