OK guys, I've been promising to post this for awhile but have been just so lazy.
Background:
This is a 36x36x16 square tank with 14 inches of water height counting bottom glass, sand, height below the rim. Most corals are on the lower half of the height, about 10 inches below the water level. The corals along the back 1/3 of the tank are a little higher up, about 6 to 8 inches below the water level. The lights are hung an average of 10 to 14 inches from the water level; the lights are tilted as you'll see in the pics.
Lights:
The lights are 2x SB Reeflights 16" mounted centered, front to back, 10 inches in between them. They are tilted towards the middle approx. 20 degrees. They are also tilted front to rear in an effort to gain some more usable lighting foorprint. 2x 24" t5 tubes run left to right in front of the LEDs and 2x 36" t5 tubes run behind the LEDs. B+ and C+.
*** I removed all of the 90 degree lenses and replaced them with 120 degree lenses. All lenses are 120 degrees. ***
Side view of lights
I measured the SB Reeflights as it came originally and found the light to be extremely focused directly under the light, with PAR dropping off significantly outside of the footprint. I'm talking PAR in the 500's to 150's just inches away. I have to say a PAR meter opened my eyes to how inadequately my tank was being lit up by my lighting set up. So I tried to remove all the lenses, and found the light very nicely dispersed, but PAR unusable for me as PAR was in the 100's everywhere (with t5's on). So the middle ground was replacing all the 90 degree lenses with 120 degree lenses. I found this to be most satisfactory and will keep the 120 degree lenses in place for the forseeable future. results below:
I measured to the top of the coral (broke a piece off my grizzly adams!
). The t5s were ON. I will address the t5s off in a bit. As you can see, directly under the Sb Reeflights PAR is pretty high in the mid 300s. Outside of that 10 inch footprint, you can see par beginning to drop off, but the drop off is MUCH less extreme than with the original 90 degree lenses. Also, the middle of the tank's PAR values are very satisfactory in the 200s towards and the middle and 150s in the front and rear but you must keep in mind this is due to overlap of the two LED fixtures tilted towards one another. The PAR values in the rear third of the tank and front third is heavily weighted towards the t5 lights. With the t5s off, the middle third of the tank remained pretty consistent with about a 10% PAR drop off. However, the front and rear third plummeted about 80-100 PAR on average.
Front view of tank (elevated)
Knowing what I know now, I would either stick with this set up with the t5s or run 4 SB 16" lights arranged 2 by 2. Perhaps with the 36" twin t5 down the center. Overall, I'm pretty happy with the set up. This is a BUDGET solution that works for my wider and shallower tank size, I make no excuses about that. If I didn't restrict myself to a budget, I would probably hang 4 Radion G4s. My acros have not lost any color, but I'm only starting to notice frags coloring up as they grow. I have a few "brownies" that are coloring up very nicely. Feel free to ask questions; I know I was scouring the forums and web for this kind of post before I bought my lights but did not find very many at all. I'll post more pictures later, I'm only starting to figure out reef photography.
If anyone is interested, I have an extra brand new, sealed Seneye Reef for sale also. PM me.
Background:
This is a 36x36x16 square tank with 14 inches of water height counting bottom glass, sand, height below the rim. Most corals are on the lower half of the height, about 10 inches below the water level. The corals along the back 1/3 of the tank are a little higher up, about 6 to 8 inches below the water level. The lights are hung an average of 10 to 14 inches from the water level; the lights are tilted as you'll see in the pics.
Lights:
The lights are 2x SB Reeflights 16" mounted centered, front to back, 10 inches in between them. They are tilted towards the middle approx. 20 degrees. They are also tilted front to rear in an effort to gain some more usable lighting foorprint. 2x 24" t5 tubes run left to right in front of the LEDs and 2x 36" t5 tubes run behind the LEDs. B+ and C+.
*** I removed all of the 90 degree lenses and replaced them with 120 degree lenses. All lenses are 120 degrees. ***
Side view of lights
I measured the SB Reeflights as it came originally and found the light to be extremely focused directly under the light, with PAR dropping off significantly outside of the footprint. I'm talking PAR in the 500's to 150's just inches away. I have to say a PAR meter opened my eyes to how inadequately my tank was being lit up by my lighting set up. So I tried to remove all the lenses, and found the light very nicely dispersed, but PAR unusable for me as PAR was in the 100's everywhere (with t5's on). So the middle ground was replacing all the 90 degree lenses with 120 degree lenses. I found this to be most satisfactory and will keep the 120 degree lenses in place for the forseeable future. results below:
I measured to the top of the coral (broke a piece off my grizzly adams!
). The t5s were ON. I will address the t5s off in a bit. As you can see, directly under the Sb Reeflights PAR is pretty high in the mid 300s. Outside of that 10 inch footprint, you can see par beginning to drop off, but the drop off is MUCH less extreme than with the original 90 degree lenses. Also, the middle of the tank's PAR values are very satisfactory in the 200s towards and the middle and 150s in the front and rear but you must keep in mind this is due to overlap of the two LED fixtures tilted towards one another. The PAR values in the rear third of the tank and front third is heavily weighted towards the t5 lights. With the t5s off, the middle third of the tank remained pretty consistent with about a 10% PAR drop off. However, the front and rear third plummeted about 80-100 PAR on average.Front view of tank (elevated)
Knowing what I know now, I would either stick with this set up with the t5s or run 4 SB 16" lights arranged 2 by 2. Perhaps with the 36" twin t5 down the center. Overall, I'm pretty happy with the set up. This is a BUDGET solution that works for my wider and shallower tank size, I make no excuses about that. If I didn't restrict myself to a budget, I would probably hang 4 Radion G4s. My acros have not lost any color, but I'm only starting to notice frags coloring up as they grow. I have a few "brownies" that are coloring up very nicely. Feel free to ask questions; I know I was scouring the forums and web for this kind of post before I bought my lights but did not find very many at all. I'll post more pictures later, I'm only starting to figure out reef photography.
If anyone is interested, I have an extra brand new, sealed Seneye Reef for sale also. PM me.
