Which Quanta Pros?

[Charley75]

The plan is 2 Quantas and the 1 Reefbrite….all 36” long. I do have 2 other 50/50 Reefbrite XHOs I scooped up for a good deal that are currently running with BlueXHO, but I’m planning to replace those with Quantas and sell them….hopefully recoup some cost and keep my wife from killing me..lol.

 

[Shooter6]

Here’s the setup (mock-up version). The bars will be mounted on custom printed mounts that will allow me to angle the outside bars inward and they’ll be raised to match the pendants. The 3’ bars are perfect for my application.

I'd set up the rockwork then position the lights to cover as much as possible. If there's little to no corals in the back, ( left room for flow behind ) then the lights can be more forward. If the rocks are up against the back glass, then move the lights a little more back. . What's the pendent lights? Mh?

 

[Shooter6]

I'd set up the rockwork then position the lights to cover as much as possible. If there's little to no corals in the back, ( left room for flow behind ) then the lights can be more forward. If the rocks are up against the back glass, then move the lights a little more back. . What's the pendent lights? Mh?

It appears you are running them front to back. This was going to be my plan too, but after talking to Marana reef, he suggested just using 2 4ft in the front, 2 in the rear. That will be cheaper then my plan of 5-8 of the 2ft or 3ft bars running front to back.

 

[minus9]

I'd set up the rockwork then position the lights to cover as much as possible. If there's little to no corals in the back, ( left room for flow behind ) then the lights can be more forward. If the rocks are up against the back glass, then move the lights a little more back. . What's the pendent lights? Mh?

Yup, two Reef Brite MH pendants running 250w Hamilton 14k SE. This tank has been running since 2017 with Kessil's and Orpheks, just rebooting after having too much unwanted coral from helping a friend that disappeared on me. The reboot will be 99.9% acropora and clams (and one duncan for my clowns). Solomon Island live rock only in the display. I might add two Tropic Quanta's down the road, but current lighting setup will take care of me for a long time.

 

[Shooter6]

Yup, two Reef Brite MH pendants running 250w Hamilton 14k SE. This tank has been running since 2017 with Kessil's and Orpheks, just rebooting after having too much unwanted coral from helping a friend that disappeared on me. The reboot will be 99.9% acropora and clams (and one duncan for my clowns). Solomon Island live rock only in the display. I might add two Tropic Quanta's down the road, but current lighting setup will take care of me for a long time.

Hell yeah the mh alone should be enough lol

 

[Charley75]

Just curious as far as the length goes, my tank has glass braces across the top sides that come in about 3.5”. Would that make a difference? Also I do run a fully enclosed canopy.

 

[Charley75]

So looks like I’ll be going with the Blue XHO I already have and the 1 QP Reef crest and 1 QP Meso blue. What do you guys suggest for order..front to back, spacing, and lighting periods. I was running the Reefbrite for 10 hrs and the T5s for 5 of those 10.

 

[minus9]

So looks like I’ll be going with the Blue XHO I already have and the 1 QP Reef crest and 1 QP Meso blue. What do you guys suggest for order..front to back, spacing, and lighting periods. I was running the Reefbrite for 10 hrs and the T5s for 5 of those 10.

Can you post a FTS with the current lighting? Then we can see how your corals/rock are positioned in the tank.

 

[Charley75]

Not the best pic…only the blue XHO on. Can see the lovely tufts of hair algae that I never had until I started running the 2 XHO 50/50s too. That was the only change when from the blue XHO with 2 T5 Blue + to the blue XHO with the 2 50/50 XHOs. T5 ballast died and someone was selling the 2 50/50s cheap, so I figured I’d give them a shot.

 

[minus9]

I would look into beefing up your CUC or nutrient export to combat algae growth. Is the T5 a retrofit? How many bulbs?

 

[Charley75]

Just did a water change yesterday and scraped a bunch off the back glass too. Should have never gone the 2 XHO 50/50 route. There’s actually a local guy Selling a Reefbrite 4 bulb T5 Fixture with relatively new bulbs and a Reefbrite XHO blue like the 1 I already have for like $200. It’s a steal of a deal, but then I’d still be looking at replacing bulbs, and the potential for ballasts dying.

 

[Charley75]

Was actually just the Reefbrite Supra 2 bulb with the Blue XHO mounted down the center. Sounds crazy, but grew everything like crazy, and no algae. And it was a 36” fixture. B4 that I had a. 48” 6 bulb ATI fixture. The 36” XHO with the 1 XHO seemed to do better. Doesn’t make since, but it did.

 

[mlivvy]

I purchased the reef crest bar to supplement my AP9X. Maybe I didn’t have it mounted high enough (8-10”) but I didn’t like the blending and disco as you can see in the pic. One side looked green and the other blue. They are sold with a no returns policy and I thought I lost my $ but Luca was awesome via email and swapped my bar for an OG pop.

The OG pop bar is amazing. Great color and probably the best I’ve seen in any bar. My only wish is a way to dim them because they overpower everything. These bars put out a ton of light.

 

[afrokobe]

I purchased the reef crest bar to supplement my AP9X. Maybe I didn’t have it mounted high enough (8-10”) but I didn’t like the blending and disco as you can see in the pic. One side looked green and the other blue. They are sold with a no returns policy and I thought I lost my $ but Luca was awesome via email and swapped my bar for an OG pop.

The OG pop bar is amazing. Great color and probably the best I’ve seen in any bar. My only wish is a way to dim them because they overpower everything. These bars put out a ton of light.

Yea I have a bit of the disco effect with my reef crest, but I kind of expected that with led bars. Can that be avoided? I am running two 24 in bars as the main lights on a 20 gallon long

 

[mlivvy]

Yea I have a bit of the disco effect with my reef crest, but I kind of expected that with led bars. Can that be avoided? I am running two 24 in bars as the main lights on a 20 gallon long

A diffuser might help. You could try the light panels at home depot and cut them to size. I think they have a film you can use too but will have to research that.

 

[minus9]

I think the reef crest bars are supposed to be the ab+ and probably used on their own or with one of the other blue bars. The meso blue and OG Pop are good choices with other LEDs that can go more daylight. Hopefully Luca will post some pics of each bar in place so we can get a better idea of how they’ll look. I really like these bars, I have 3 meso blues that are complimenting my 14k halides. I might try a couple tropic suns to see how they mix in? @Lousybreed is a standup guy and I’m glad it worked out. I think there’s more to come from QuantaReef.