SPS coral before/after T5 Hybrid LED

[SeaDweller]

Your tank is a solid argument for led only as are a few others here that I’ve seen. I believe MrV also is led only (radions) as well as some people showing off in the Reefi led thread.

I believe the key is simply having enough power to maintain adequate par at a height that is higher than usual.

For example: 1 AI prime, 1.5ft up over a 50g display isn’t going to cut it.

I think when people have issues with LEDs it’s because they don’t have enough of them. Bubba runs 10 XR15s and t5, Chaswood runs 2 AIs over a small cube, I run 4 48” Photon V2s, so the overlap that’s created helps tremendously. I don’t have shading issues, and none of these guys really do too.

 

[DenverSaltyFarm]

I started out with two Chinese black boxes on my 120 and coral grew but didn’t pop, I then got hydra 26 led with 4 t5 hybrid light and the corals really colored up but didn’t grow well I just recently added 2 more t5 lights so 6 total and my corals are taking off. Calcium alk consumption is way high now. I have a tank start up pic and one of the tank today not really a comparison of lights just time and growth. I love the leds on blue before lights out making hybrid setups amazing

here is cheap led only lights

Here is current hybrid

 

[Barnabie Mejia]

I started out with two Chinese black boxes on my 120 and coral grew but didn’t pop, I then got hydra 26 led with 4 t5 hybrid light and the corals really colored up but didn’t grow well I just recently added 2 more t5 lights so 6 total and my corals are taking off. Calcium alk consumption is way high now. I have a tank start up pic and one of the tank today not really a comparison of lights just time and growth. I love the leds on blue before lights out making hybrid setups amazing

here is cheap led only lights

Here is current hybrid

I am thinking about making a move to go T5 Hybrid, but would I have to make a canopy for the fixture? or is the canopy more user preference?