500 gal sps reef lighting

[Michael White]

I’m starting the build conversion of my 500 gal (8’x34”x36”) acrylic tank to an sps reef. I had already purchase 5 kessil ap9x for a different project. I’m considering using my 60” 8 bulb t5ho ati sunpower fixture that’s sitting on a shelf in combination with the kessils. Led/T5 hybrids are my favorite look for reef tanks and I’ve had good experiences using a similar setup in the past. If I keep my rockwork and corals mainly under the t5 fixture and angle the ap9x units so the led pucks are pointed “center mass” of the reef structure I think this will work out. I like tangs angels and butterflyfish so I will be maintaining a lot of open swimming room. The light rig will be 12” above the tank top, so 14” above the water surface. I will be building a power ventilated canopy for this build. Please chime in with comments and recommendations on the lighting. My concerns are spread and light penetration. I will be migrating/linking this thread to a build thread once I move forward.

 

[cdemoss01]

Not sure.. maybe you could do Kessil lights easy control system and you can do whatever color you want.

 

[BubblesandSqueak]

my LFS has a 3' depth with a 5' width and has 2 Neptune Sky at only 17%.

 

[jda]

Much of this is going to depend on what you want to keep and how much of that tank will have corals in it. Open areas of the water for fish to swim don't need too much attention paid to them. You are spot on with this.

Sunpower is a best-of-breed type of light that not many others can match. I am not a huge fan of kessils ALONE for acropora for they are fine for other things or with supplements but with those T5s they would probably be great in the margins.

 

[Michael White]

Much of this is going to depend on what you want to keep and how much of that tank will have corals in it. Open areas of the water for fish to swim don't need too much attention paid to them. You are spot on with this.

Sunpower is a best-of-breed type of light that not many others can match. I am not a huge fan of kessils ALONE for acropora for they are fine for other things or with supplements but with those T5s they would probably be great in the margins.

Thanks for the response! I’m feeling challenged on this build and really want to make sure I spend enough time in preparation but not get stuck in analysis paralysis trying to find utopian solutions.