Contemplation time. I'm thinking about a lighting change.
It's not that the AP700 does a bad job, or that it does anything less than what I expected from it. I love the light and will continue to sing its praises. I just...miss my T5s. I love the even flood of light that T5 provides, and so I'm now starting my search for a 6-bulb fixture that I can use to retrofit with the AP700. I'm opting for a fixture search for two reasons. First, I'm not in a huge hurry and second, because it's easier than building a floating canopy to mount a couple of retrofit kits.
My thought is to run the T5s for about 4-6 hours per day, sort of as a midday sun approach. I'll probably run a 50/50 mixture of ATI Blue Plus and ATI Coral Plus, or a single Coral Plus and then an Aquablue Special. I've run both of these setups in the past with great results and I like that bright white with a pop of blue look that they provide.
The question that I don't know the answer to yet: I have my AP700 about 13 inches off the water line. That's pretty high for T5 and I don't want to flood the room with light from the fixture. I can't lower the fixture because I need the AP700 to stay high, so I might end up having to do a floating canopy anyway. We'll see when the time gets closer, but I'm going to start looking at some designs just in case.
You will be much happier after you add the T5s. Especially if SPS are your main coral of choice. Always hard to make that sort of thing look clean without a hood or floating canopy, good luck!
