What would be the best small fixtures you would use to cover the 36" X 36"? You most likely would have to add some T5s too, right? That would be great!
I have 3 Orphek blue plus bars that I could use or I might use a few of my Kessil's in the corners pointed in with 55 degree lenses? I would use a LED bar instead of T5, but that's just my preference. The goal is not to add a chiller. The Orphek's on their own are too blue for me, but the way I set my Kessil's (more white) they balance out quite a bit. I'm not a fan of the deep blue look accept for ramp up/down.
Those are some gorgeous pieces! Unfortunately I don't have any pics with white light, they were taken with my iPhone 4 (I think), so they kinda suck. I would love to set up a very shallow big lagoon tank and only have flat pieces of live rock on the bottom with all shallow water species (and clams). 4' or 5' square and only 14" high with only 11" or 12" of water so I could crank the flow. I just need the space.So nice!!! Do you have pictures with "white" light? Close ups, please?
I think to have corals like A. humilis and A. gemmifera would be great if you plan the strategic spot you will place them since the beginning and they would have to have to be the center of the attention in terms of flow and light, so they could develop structure/colors similar to it's nature formation. The pictures we see online that shows them very compact in the ocean are the ones found in heavy wave action. They are the prime corals to me as well as some other tables. Surge device with many small pumps would be the best to reproduce the need in regards to current. Then get those Lumenarc spaceships with some 14K halides/Blue Plus tubes over them and a calcium reactor to boost it's glory!!! Oh man!!!
love all tables. I loose breath when I see some of the pictures online!!!! I also love stags to death and the echinata group. I love them all!!!!! LOL!
Thanks for sharing the pictures!!!
This is what I can share found online:
A. gemmifera:
Acropora humilis - Marine Savers
marinesavers.com
This is an example of how hard is to get the A. humilis to grow like they do in their natural habitat:
The A. humilis in the video above was probably from a mariculture facility and even though the light might be great (not sure how turbid that particular area could be), because of lack of proper current it has it's shape totally different than we would want.
A. humilis:
Acropora humilis - Marine Savers
Acropora humilis - Marine Savers
Acropora humilis - Marine Savers
Best example of A. humilis:
Acropora humilis - Marine Savers
acropora humilis - Google Search
www.google.com
OUCH!!!!
A. echinata:
“True” Australian Acropora echinata being imported in reasonable numbers, fair prices | Reef Builders | The Reef and Saltwater Aquarium Blog
Australian Acropora echinata has to be one of the most iconic Acro and SPS corals of all time. Every die hard small polyp stony coral junky at one time or another has caught the site of one of these…reefbuilders.com
SPS - ORA Hawkins Echinata Acropora
Truly a classic coral that has withstood the test of time! Hardy - check! Neat growth pattern - check! Beautiful blue-green color - check! Regular sized frags will be 3/4" or larger Large frags are 1 1/2 or chunkyboomcorals.com
And this is what stops my heart!! Hope Greg still has it!
I better stop dreaming!
The tale of the Ultimate Efflo tabling acropora | Reef Builders | The Reef and Saltwater Aquarium Blog
Few other coral in our hobby captures the image we have about massively plating coral like Acropora efflorescens. We have seen tabling corals such as Acropora granulosa or Acropora millepora but in…reefbuilders.com
Sorry, I've got carried away in my thoughts... Back to lighting!
I though you wanted to go back to halides. (post #12) I was referring to small halide fixtures, if you want to go back.
Yes, I do. I'm referring to supplemental led lighting. I essentially have two choices, led bars (Orphek) or some of my Kessil's. I would only use them before and after the halides are on. I kinda like the idea of kessil /halide, that way I never lose the shimmer.
A 36" Giesemann Spectra would be great for your application!
Here's a crappy pic of my tank. I'm replacing the canopy with 8020 and raising it. I'll make a facade (out of matching wood from my stand panels which aren't finished) but it will be open air for maximum air flow. As long as I can hide the fixtures behind the facade, I'm good. The Reef Brite fixtures are only 4 1/2" tall and my current canopy is 4", so those would work just fine. Ideally one halide fixture would be awesome, but the reflector would probably be too big to cover that much area efficiently? The bottom of the RB fixture('s) would probably be 14" to 15" from the water surface. I can keep it real simple and just use the Orphek bars before and after halides are on and be done with it? I really have too many choices. The bigger question is, two 175w or 250w? Crap, I really opened Pandora's box on this one.
It would cover 36x36? Or is it more 36x24? Those are great fixtures, but finding one used may be hard?
Are the LEDs on a separate channel from the halides on your hybrids? I am thinking about getting these for a future acro tank and would like to run the halides 4 hours per day and the LEDs 10 hours per day.
If you use BRS pendant style leds as a reference you will se that even spacing generally favors a hot spot w/ falloff at the ends.
Each pendant covers roughly 2’ x 3’ area. I have a 36x36x16 tank and I have mine roughly 8” from each other oriented front to back. Here’s a temp mock up of how I have mine. The canopy frame is partially put together, so it’s not square or complete.
