Thinking about moving away from Kessils

[Fence13]

On my current 75g (the standard 48" long version) I have two Kessil 360W, one over each 2ft section. The lights have been good to me for about 2 years. Before the 360's I ran 350's, so this tank hasn't been bounced around to a lot of different lights. This tank has only ever been run by Kessils, and has been a large part of my devotion to the brand. Here is my apex schedule. The color mirrors this in that the blue part comes at lower intensity, and it's more 10K when up at higher intensity. I've always tried to mirror the run longer lights at lower intensity.

My concerns are thus:
1. As my coral colonies get bigger my shadowing issues are getting bigger as well.
2. I'm getting concerned that 2 360's are not enough light for an all SPS tank, even though I have an ORA Mint Pavona that sits on my sand bed which is perfectly happy. So maybe I'm just getting paranoid about this fact.

There is no canopy so any "additional" lighting would have to be tank mounted. The kessils are on goosenecks and hang maybe 6-8" above the water? This gives my PAR about 300ish at the top and 100ish on the sandbed.

Thoughts?

 

[luke33]

I'll give my thoughts but take them for what they are, thoughts : ) If your sps are growing and colored up nicely then why change? Light is important but many other things come into play when your talking sps. Water quality, elements, alkalinity, calc....etc. You can grow a sps at 150 par in some tank's and 1000 par in other tanks.

But imo if I were to start a sps tank I would more than likely not select kessil's to use. They are not intense enough(for me) and have to little coverage for my liking. I prefer T5 or MH for SPS with LED supplemented for that blue pop. If I do use LED exclusively I like your SB light or reefbreeders type where you have less shadowing vs your cluster led like kessil, AI or Ecotech. I prefer to keep my sps between 300-600 par.

 

[ReeferMaddness843]

If want to fill in the shading, could add supplemental t5s. Thats what I use and have good growth from softies to acros as well as coloration I'm happy with.
Although I only have dual 160we on my 90, I added 4xt5 with ati bulbs. Shading is covered and the shimmer is still there.

 

[Fence13]

I'll give my thoughts but take them for what they are, thoughts : ) If your sps are growing and colored up nicely then why change? Light is important but many other things come into play when your talking sps. Water quality, elements, alkalinity, calc....etc. You can grow a sps at 150 par in some tank's and 1000 par in other tanks.

But imo if I were to start a sps tank I would more than likely not select kessil's to use. They are not intense enough(for me) and have to little coverage for my liking. I prefer T5 or MH for SPS with LED supplemented for that blue pop. If I do use LED exclusively I like your SB light or reefbreeders type where you have less shadowing vs your cluster led like kessil, AI or Ecotech. I prefer to keep my sps between 300-600 par.

I like people's thoughts! It's why I ask questions! Unfortunately, all the new T5 fixtures are all made to be hung, so I had thought about the reefbreeders v2 option; otherwise it'd have to be 2 Radions (one for each side) and that feels like a giant amount of more light then the kessils.

If want to fill in the shading, could add supplemental t5s. Thats what I use and have good growth from softies to acros as well as coloration I'm happy with.
Although I only have dual 160we on my 90, I added 4xt5 with ati bulbs. Shading is covered and the shimmer is still there.

I would add some supplemental T5's but there really isn't a good way to mount them on the tank (at least that I'm aware of). The wife won't let me drill the ceiling in this room.

 

[hybridazn]

How about adding a couple more kessils or a couple 50/50 reefbrite strips? No matter what type of lighting you run, eventually corals will start shadowing ultimately.

 

[tjnorthdakota]

coralife still sell 2 bulb t5ho tank mounted fixtures, petco sells them. Could grab two of these and put one on each side of your tank with the kessils in the middle

 

[RunBikeSwim]

How about adding/changing to 360N? Less spread, more focused intensity. Since you already have the mounts.

 

[Highgrade]

Add some T5

 

[Fence13]

So apparently Marineland no longer makes their canopies in a pine color. Looks like this will have to be a custom job I suppose?