Which reef bright for what I want?

[mandarin417]

I am used to a MH + LED setup and need help putting together a lighting solution that is pleasing to myh eyes. My current tank is all soft corals and fish in a tank around 120 gallons with a single 20K Radium MH and a super actinic BML LED strip across the front. The combination gives me pleasing to my eyes viewing colors of both the corals and the fish especially my 3 angels (Scribbled, Asfur and Regal). I have had the juvenile angels since January and will be moving them to a much larger system in the next 6 months.



The new tank dimensions are 30” long, 19” wide and 19” tall. It’s meant to be a species tank focused on sand tunneling fish, maybe a clam, and a mix of LPS, SPS and softies to scale of the tank. The tank is ready to go and setup as a small peninsula. I have one Kessil A360X for the tank so far. I was thinking about just using Kessils on this tank because I like the shimmer similar to the MH.



I put the Kessil as a test on my larger tank and didn’t like a couple of things: The shimmer was a bit harsher than I liked and my angels just didn’t look good compared to the MH + LED combo. I think the nature of the Kessil light beam being vertically focused rather than light angled on the sides of the fish is part of the problem.



I picked up a used Aquatic Life fixture but didn’t like the light spill from the T5’s and thought it made the tank a bit too flat. I have been watching BRS and am interested in the Kessil A360X combo with Reefbrites. Angling the Reefbrites would throw more light on the sides of my fish. Since the tank is only 19” wide, I figure I only need a pair of them. Before I go that route, which XHO Reefbrites should I use in combo with the Kessil to get the best coloration of my fish and corals – Actinic Blue, 50/50, daylight?



I have even thought that maybe I should just stick with the Aquatic Life fixture to start but have to figure out a clever way to put a drape around the edge to shield some of the light spill.



Thanks,



Bob

 

[GoVols]

Hello, Bob

Running 4 A360Xs with just two t5's about 8" away on the front and back of those a360Xs, but my Red Sea S-Series company holds all the lights 4" above the top waterline with no overspill.

If you slow down your surface water action it will tame down the crazy shimmer, and running the two t5s that far out from the Kessil gives a tad of mh shimmer. Just twinkles over the scape and corals.

So the height of the fixture, distance from kessil to t5's, and the water action all play a role.

When running one AP700 in the 8.5" tall Red Sea led bar.
Almost wanted to mount two of these, one the front and one on the backside of that led bar.

OR3 Reef Aquarium LED Bar •Orphek

Orphek OR3 Reef Aquarium LED Bar, OR3 60 / 90 / 120 / 150 for Coral Pop Fluorescent Color Growth and Illumination – 5Watt Dual Chip LEDs

orphek.com

Way more par than reefbite bars, but never got a chance to see how they would look angling them in.

Still drool over those 20K Radium MH bulbs... ;Drool

 

[vetteguy53081]

Orphek bars great. Reef brite not far off course for effective lighting. The Tech version is good OR XHO for extreme blues