Okay so hoping I can get a little bit of insight from a couple of people. I am currently running a 48 inch Aquatic Life fixture with three Hydra 26's over a 59 inch Reefer 450. The mount is hanging 9 inches above the tank.
I am running a 12 hour schedule one hour ramp, peak for only 6 hours, shift to blues only then ramps down from 9pm till midnight.
I am currently running 3 B+ and one P+ for 6 hours during peak.
My Hydras at peak are
UV 70
V 60
RY 60
B 60
G 4
DR 4
CW 11
I am insanely happy with my even distribution of par in the tank except on the sand bed. Top of my rock structures is from 300-330, middle is 230 - 290 and here is the problem sand bed 250-300.
I messed up by trying to aquascape a lot of rock along the back walls and left the front of the sand open for LPS. I have a 7 inch indo meat coral, a 5 inch Trachy, and a couple other big pieces. Half of my LPS is really unhappy, and the others are thriving in high light. All of chalices have given me the middle finger along with a couple of other low light corals. I really want to lower the par on the sand bed but not lower the par on the rocks where my acros are growing and encrusting and are very happy. ( I do have a vivids rainbow that is the fastest grower in my tank that wont color up. I think it needs more light)
I don't want to lift the lights higher off the tank because as is now it can be blinding while sitting on the couch and looking over at the tank. Will need to have to build some sort of shield. Could I replace the front ATI B+ with an Antinic bulb to lower par along the front of the tank?
I truly want a mixed reef and have so far had a lot of success minus the high par on the sand bed. Thoughts?
I am running a 12 hour schedule one hour ramp, peak for only 6 hours, shift to blues only then ramps down from 9pm till midnight.
I am currently running 3 B+ and one P+ for 6 hours during peak.
My Hydras at peak are
UV 70
V 60
RY 60
B 60
G 4
DR 4
CW 11
I am insanely happy with my even distribution of par in the tank except on the sand bed. Top of my rock structures is from 300-330, middle is 230 - 290 and here is the problem sand bed 250-300.
I messed up by trying to aquascape a lot of rock along the back walls and left the front of the sand open for LPS. I have a 7 inch indo meat coral, a 5 inch Trachy, and a couple other big pieces. Half of my LPS is really unhappy, and the others are thriving in high light. All of chalices have given me the middle finger along with a couple of other low light corals. I really want to lower the par on the sand bed but not lower the par on the rocks where my acros are growing and encrusting and are very happy. ( I do have a vivids rainbow that is the fastest grower in my tank that wont color up. I think it needs more light)
I don't want to lift the lights higher off the tank because as is now it can be blinding while sitting on the couch and looking over at the tank. Will need to have to build some sort of shield. Could I replace the front ATI B+ with an Antinic bulb to lower par along the front of the tank?
I truly want a mixed reef and have so far had a lot of success minus the high par on the sand bed. Thoughts?
