What Are You Doing to Reduce Shadowing?

[Nick Kohrn]

I'm curious as to what you are doing to reduce shadowing in your systems, but more specifically, systems that are SPS-dominated. I have seen many plating Montipora corals with shadowing on their inner surfaces that are closer to the rockwork, caused by corals shadowing from above.

What are you doing to reduce or eliminate the shadowing when using LED fixtures? It has had me considering going T5, but I have also seen some gorgeous, seemingly healthy, systems lit by LED fixtures. I'm just worried that the LED fixtures aren't able to provide the diffused lighting that T5 fixtures are able to.

Are you packing fixtures closer together, using wide-angle lenses, something else, or are you not even thinking about that? Do you measure PAR, or do you just guess?

I want to ensure that I'm going to be able to provide a suitable habitat for my system'a inhabitants in the future, and I'm hoping for your advice regarding what is working for you.

 

[dbrewsky]

I combined both! t-5 for the primary and Kessils for supplemental light. Saw a huge improvement in health,growth, and color going from led only to this combo. How many led fixtures do you have, and how close are they together? If I were to go back to LED only, I would have high quality leds spaced 6-8" apart rather than the 12-24" advertised to help reduce shadowing and improve par consistency.

 

[coker98]

From what I understand, adding more fixtures helps. Not sure if that's an option for you but if not then T5 might be your best bet.

 

[Nick Kohrn]

I combined both! t-5 for the primary and Kessils for supplemental light. Saw a huge improvement in health,growth, and color going from led only to this combo. How many led fixtures do you have, and how close are they together? If I were to go back to LED only, I would have high quality leds spaced 6-8" apart rather than the 12-24" advertised to help reduce shadowing and improve par consistency.

I currently have only one small system, which is an Innovative Marine 10g that is cycling for use as a frag system. It is covered by a G3 EcoTech Radion XR15w Pro. I am thinking about my future system, which I will start after I have a more permanent residence. I like the idea of the T5/LED combination. I agree with what you stated regarding moving the fixtures closer together than the recommended distance. I would rather run at a lower percentage with the fixtures closer together to get a more consistent PAR than to space them further apart and have hotspots.

 

[Brian Kim]

I currently have only one small system, which is an Innovative Marine 10g that is cycling for use as a frag system. It is covered by a G3 EcoTech Radion XR15w Pro. I am thinking about my future system, which I will start after I have a more permanent residence. I like the idea of the T5/LED combination. I agree with what you stated regarding moving the fixtures closer together than the recommended distance. I would rather run at a lower percentage with the fixtures closer together to get a more consistent PAR than to space them further apart and have hotspots.

G3 should be enough for a 10g
Yeah, T5 with led is the way to go!

 

[dbrewsky]

for a 10 gallon you will probably be ok with the radion by itself. You can look at some of the small led spotlights that can be aimed at certain areas as a fill light option for relatively cheap! Montiporas and other dense growth corals will eventually shade themselves and those areas will loose tissue. Even the most disperse light will only delay this, not prevent it over time

 

[reeferfoxx]

T5 and led isn't always necessary. If your going T5 add a metal halide. If your going led, avoid cluster puck leds for sps. Get something with more coverage. Similar to orphek or reef breeders photon v2. Those give best spread.

 

[Nick Kohrn]

for a 10 gallon you will probably be ok with the radion by itself. You can look at some of the small led spotlights that can be aimed at certain areas as a fill light option for relatively cheap! Montiporas and other dense growth corals will eventually shade themselves and those areas will loose tissue. Even the most disperse light will only delay this, not prevent it over time

That's a great point. I guess I didn't even consider the fact that they will shade themselves regardless of the lighting used. Maybe I will just stick with LED fixtures and be very intentional with coral placement.

 

[reefwiser]

I am going with T5's for better growth and a more even par spread. Maybe a led fixture. One of my goals at MACNA is talking to the lighting companies. Right now I have a Ecotech G3 xr30 w

 

[Lenny_S]

I'm trying out a Hydra 26 and TruLumen combo. Having the lights up high helps, but I still have more shadow than I like. I mounted the 48" Marine Fusion strips 10" from center (front and back) and angled them in slightly. Just to see how it looked I jacked them up to 100%. It was better for sure and added a little PAR. I still think LED plus T5 would be better, but my lights are suspended and adding T5s for me would be problematic especially for aesthetics. Right now I'm only running them at 15% and will increase 5% every few days over the next few weeks to bring them up to 100%. Pic below

 

[Paul B]

I don't do anything. They grow, they shade themselves and that part dies but the outer parts keep growing, then a new shoot will fill in the dead parts.


I have more problems with other corals stinging them, like here.

 

[Salty1962]

I put the wide angle lenses on my LEDs to eliminate as many shadows.

 

[Ocelaris]

To answer the OP, I'm thinking of giving the LEDs up, that's what! It's not the shadowing as much as the strong areas and weak areas. I have to move corals around a ton to get decent growth or not burn them.

I have a maxspect razor 320w, 1600k 4' long fixture that I got with my 5' long tank. I'm pleased with it's look and some corals are doing ok, but I don't have a lot to judge by. They make a 120* reflector now for the fixture which I may try, but I definitely burned some, turned it down and they're coming back with vigor. I probably wouldn't have gone with LEDs if I hadn't bought the lights with the tank, but I'm just not sure I want to give up the sleekness of the LED fixture and the shimmer. One thing I miss is the reds, personally I prefer the whiter light but the corals seem to be doing better and the algae on the glass seems to be less with more blue light. Ironically my avatar is what I'd like, and regrettably I'm probably missing some of the other colors.

It's a trade off, if looks and heat/money weren't an issue, MH/T5 all the way. I keep looking at full T5 setups longingly as I know it's the best lighting source for shadowing, but it's not necessarily enough to make me give up my LEDs quite yet. I used to have MH/Actinic T12s way back when, my favorite, but that was with a hood, now I'm open top and not sure I want to go back to a hood. It's so nice to be able to get right in to things. I'd have to do pendants or a hanging fixture if I did it again, no going back to the closed hood.

 

[Steve Tobias]

In my research I have found that that quality LED's provide a great light source and offer greater controllability. I believe where they lack a little is in light diffusion or disbursement. I have Kessils and I love them, but the LED doesn't diffuse the same as the T5. T5 lighting provides the greatest light diffusion and helps to considerably reduce the shadows that you are concerned about. Ideally I wished I gone with a Hybrid T5 and LED, but T5's will greatly reduce the shadow.

 

[120reefkeeper]

I run MH and T-5 Combo. Never a shadowing problem, no disco ball effect, no problems. Plug and play.

 

[Kungpaoshizi]

I found 120 degree lenses to be pretty much the answer.. Turning the fixture up more helps too, but that's after time.

I do have a couple 1-2cm x 1-2cm sections on the bottom of a couple of sps that are dead spots, reinforcing the shading perspective. But the coral doesn't seem to care.
I have 2 xr30w pro's on a 36" tank set length-wise. I would guess if I got a 3rd and rotated them to have the 2 pucks across the depth of the tank the issue would probably go away. Don't think I would add t5's/halides though because of the heat and cost of operation..

 

[Chris Adams]

I am interested in how the G4 do with shadowing!
Will be interesting to see results on people tanks after a couple months.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

I canopy.
First I chose multi emitter array's. Not Pucks. Sbreeflight and Ai Sol. I pulled the lenses selectively. (lenses create a focused beam, by focusing it creates a sharp edge.hello shadow maker) an led with no lens is close to 180 degree spread. so now I have 70 degree for a little punch power and a 180 for spread evenness and less disco.

In my canopy's (one hard w the ai's one floating w the SB) in the canopy I coated the sides with reflective material. (always have) Used to be aluminum foil but now I use a pro lighting product. This bounces the light around in the hood back into the tank. and as its coming from different angles fills in the gaps created by the source. Its similar to the older large MH reflectors method and makes a Larger "source" of light.

on my 48in 55g i have 3 Ai sol 12in by 6in. On my 20 x 18 30 cube I have one 16in x 8in SB. Large sources.

Some considered t5 too "flat" as the spread was soo good. So we put in "stunner strips" it emulated the light of a MH. Large even spread with a smaller Pop of intensity."shimmer"

I cant go T5 or MH right now.$ Not sure I actually would except to experiment. the analog electrochemical generated spectral dispersal in the light of a t5 is still better but.....
Check out the article on Dr Sanjay Joshi's tank. His is multi emitter w wide lenses down low over the water . Radions.

I learned a lot of this by working in television.

Needless to say Ill be at the macna lighting booths too. With my light meter.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

This fwiw would be the dream fixture. IMO.
http://www.giesemann.de/726,2,,.html

And yea I'd set it on the top a canopy.

 

[fishboy11]

I am in the process of building a canopy to add t5s to my AI primes. I have 3 primes on a Reefer 250 and definitely have shadow problems even on small frags. The only way to see the color of the corals right now is to look top down, so hopefully the t5s allow me to see better color when looking through the glass.