Questions about shadowing

[BranchingHammer]

Hi everyone,
I have a 65g marineland Corner-flo mixed reef (acros, SPS, LPS and some softies) and I am lighting it with a 24in Reefbreeders Phtoton V2. The dimensions of the tank are 36in wide, 18in deep, and 24in tall. The acros are all around 7-12 inches under the water surface, so definitely getting enough par. The reefbreeders lights are only 10in from the surface as well. There are two problems that I want to address, and that I need advice for:

I was planning on raising my lights to a height of 15 inches or higher to get higher spread in the tank and reduce shadowing in the sides of the tank. I was also looking at possibly purchasing a 24in or 36in aquatic life T5 hybrid or led bar to supplement for shadowing. However, I don't want to waste my money lighting my corner overflow as it is quite large. I was thinking of raising the lights above the water, mounting them slightly closer to the front of the tank, and slanting them towards the back of the tank slightly. Let me know your thoughts on this...

Second issue: The center brace on the tank blocks light from the reefbreeders. I tried to center the light so that the two clusters of LEDs were on either side of the brace and not over it. I still am experiencing shadowing from the water's surface to about 10in under. By raising the lights, wouldn't the new spread just be wasted by the center brace? I saw a thread where a member recommended to someone that they should put a piece of reflective material on the centerbrace closest to the water, so some light would be reflected back into the water. What reflective surface could I use? Aluminum foil wrapped in plastic wrap or some other insulator? I could also supplement with more lighting to get rid of the shadow. What would be the easiest way to do this? The shadow doesn't impact anything really light-wise but it is pretty unsightly. You can see it in my latest FTS quite clearly.

Thanks again for all of your help!

 

[tsouth]

However, I don't want to waste my money lighting my corner overflow as it is quite large. I was thinking of raising the lights above the water, mounting them slightly closer to the front of the tank, and slanting them towards the back of the tank slightly. Let me know your thoughts on this...

When you say you don't want to waste your money - are you referring to possibly purchasing an extra lighting setup that isn't going to fit your needs, or are you referring to not wanting to waste money because you don't love the corner overflow and the tank itself? Just wanted to double check here! I could always say "UPGRADE!" but I won't jump to conclusions yet

Raising and slanting from front to back aren't going to solve the shadowing in my opinion. I think you are going to best figure this out by trying it out though. Ultimately we can all say "nah it won't work" but until you prove it for yourself - I encourage you to raise it and slant it using two people to hold it and you observing just to get an idea of what it looks like but again it's not much different. You could take a flash light and do the same. The shadow is just going to blend in with the back of the tank instead.

From my experience, raising the lights is going to assist in giving you more width. There will be more light leak off to the sides as you raise the fixture. The brace still exist and is always going to still block light from reaching the area directly under it.

I've never experimented with the foil, that's easy enough to try! Go for it!

Supplemental wise, there are a couple that come to mind. Yes - a t5 hybrid is well worth a shot here. I run one and can attest that it's an awesome and elegant solution. This will resolve your issue 100%.

Spotlights can also be added! I see many users that have kessil's pointing in at the sides from each corner. Maybe a couple of a80's or 160's could help? Try using a flashlight again and getting an idea of what types of angles you need to put down in your tank to make it work.

 

[BranchingHammer]

Thanks for the awesome reply! I tried the foil thing, but it didn't really work as I could still see the shadow . I was thinking about what else I could do about it, and then I thought of the tunze submersible led light. I could magnetically mount it right below the brace and it would get rid of all of my shadowing. One problem is that this is mostly for cosmetics, and therefore I don't want to spend too much money. There are no light demanding corals directly under the brace, just a clam on the sandbed who gets plenty of light once it penetrates that far down. I was looking on amazon, and found some cheap submersible aquarium lights, but I am having trouble finding a full spectrum one and not just a white or blue look. Anybody have ideas for full spectrum submersible lights?

The T5 or LED supplement is definitely in the back of my mind constantly to help with general shadowing, so we'll see if I ever purchase one.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hi everyone,
I have a 65g marineland Corner-flo mixed reef (acros, SPS, LPS and some softies) and I am lighting it with a 24in Reefbreeders Phtoton V2. The dimensions of the tank are 36in wide, 18in deep, and 24in tall. The acros are all around 7-12 inches under the water surface, so definitely getting enough par. The reefbreeders lights are only 10in from the surface as well. There are two problems that I want to address, and that I need advice for:

I was planning on raising my lights to a height of 15 inches or higher to get higher spread in the tank and reduce shadowing in the sides of the tank. I was also looking at possibly purchasing a 24in or 36in aquatic life T5 hybrid or led bar to supplement for shadowing. However, I don't want to waste my money lighting my corner overflow as it is quite large. I was thinking of raising the lights above the water, mounting them slightly closer to the front of the tank, and slanting them towards the back of the tank slightly. Let me know your thoughts on this...

Second issue: The center brace on the tank blocks light from the reefbreeders. I tried to center the light so that the two clusters of LEDs were on either side of the brace and not over it. I still am experiencing shadowing from the water's surface to about 10in under. By raising the lights, wouldn't the new spread just be wasted by the center brace? I saw a thread where a member recommended to someone that they should put a piece of reflective material on the centerbrace closest to the water, so some light would be reflected back into the water. What reflective surface could I use? Aluminum foil wrapped in plastic wrap or some other insulator? I could also supplement with more lighting to get rid of the shadow. What would be the easiest way to do this? The shadow doesn't impact anything really light-wise but it is pretty unsightly. You can see it in my latest FTS quite clearly.

Thanks again for all of your help!

Foil does offer a bounce back effect but the brace shows minimal interference.

 

[BranchingHammer]

Yeah the brace shadowing is more of a "looks" thing than anything else, that's why I'm looking into the submersible LEDs a bit. I didn't really see much of a difference with/without the foil, so I'm still debating about that one.