36" Deep Reef - Lighting Questions

[mayyammay]

Hi -

I am looking at lighting options for a 96" x 46" x 36" deep mixed reef.

It looks like the Kessil A500x is an option with the 55 or 35 degree reflector. I do have a question about Kessil mounting height, do you include the tank depth plus the hanging height when deciding on the reflector or just the tank depth? Does the recommended spacing between each light change when the reflector is updated?

I am also looking at the Mitras LX7 IL, but not sure how they perform in deeper tanks. Is anyone running these on a deeper tank??

Anyone have any experience, opinions or recommendations on other lights to check out? Many thanks!

 

[minus9]

Quanta Atlas. Atlas

 

[mayyammay]

Quanta Atlas. Atlas

The Atlas approximates a 14K metal halide only?

 

[Troylee]

The Atlas approximates a 14K metal halide only?

Correct it’s dimmable but you can’t change the spectrum.

 

[areefer01]

Hi -

I am looking at lighting options for a 96" x 46" x 36" deep mixed reef.

It looks like the Kessil A500x is an option with the 55 or 35 degree reflector. I do have a question about Kessil mounting height, do you include the tank depth plus the hanging height when deciding on the reflector or just the tank depth? Does the recommended spacing between each light change when the reflector is updated?

I was running 4 x a360x Kessil's over my 30" tall display and didn't have any issues. I had them mounted 8" above the water surface and did not use the additional lens kit(s). SPS was in upper area of reef, LPS and soft lower. I found this worked out the best. Kessil has the updated a360xe's now and the 500's as you mentioned.

I ran a few tests between 8 and 10 inch mounting height and didn't notice much difference but I was only using a Seneye to measure PAR. Nothing scientific. BRS TV has a kessil a360x, maybe also a 500, that ran tests with both lens and various heights. Higher mounting will increase spread but lower PAR. Lens will take care of that for depth but will narrow the width coverage.

You could go with 500x's and a pair of the quanta bars this way you get both spread and punch. That would probably be a nice combo. You could also go with the quanta atlas as noted earlier for punch and bars for spread.

I am also looking at the Mitras LX7 IL, but not sure how they perform in deeper tanks. Is anyone running these on a deeper tank??

Anyone have any experience, opinions or recommendations on other lights to check out? Many thanks!

I do not know anything about the Mitras but those who run them seem to like them. Panels may not get the punch you want although my SKY's are perfectly fine for 30" in my use case. So 30" probably OK 36" may be pusing it.

Again remember to visualize the reef. Upper part SPS middle LPS or medium light SPS, then lower soft corals and montipora. Your SPS will grow into colonies some vertical sticks or branches with some tabling. You will have shadows anyway in a couple of years so plan accordingly.

 

[cilyjr]

My tank is 30 inches deep. I'm using a combination of 6x reefi Uno 2.1 and 4x 54 watt t5.
I am getting about 350 par on the bottom 2 inches when that are running at 150watts, they are capable of 300 watts per unit.