Getting no traction in the lighting forum. Figured I'd post it here. Reef lighting

MrGisonni · Mar 12, 2024

have an innovative Marine 30 gallon 35.43" L x 14.96" W x 12.99" H. The tank is running on to AI prime 16 HD. I like these little lights a lot and have them tuned in the way I want and I'm getting nice color and solid coral growth. As with many other reefers as the reef begins to grow in I noticed more and more shading. The obvious answer comes in the form of using some t5 bulbs for fill. My questions are;

Can I get away with a 24-in hybrid fixture? I found a great deal on one!!! Dimmable even!!

Can I run just the two inside bulbs and not the outer two? They are running on separate ballasts

The reef tank at present looks beautiful, and I follow the kiss theory. The last thing I really want to do is fry up my gorgeous reef tank tinkering with my lighting

What bulbs should I run? I have a bunch of blue most of the day with a 10k period of about 3 hours at peak. Something 15-20k would probably be best I think

BRS had a whole video so I am confident I can find the best spectrum match for this application, but welcome opinions

I'm not looking for a lot of extra par. I'm really looking for fill through a good portion of my photo period.

Advice is needed

Thanks in advance

X-37B · Mar 12, 2024

MrGisonni said:
have an innovative Marine 30 gallon 35.43" L x 14.96" W x 12.99" H. The tank is running on to AI prime 16 HD. I like these little lights a lot and have them tuned in the way I want and I'm getting nice color and solid coral growth. As with many other reefers as the reef begins to grow in I noticed more and more shading. The obvious answer comes in the form of using some t5 bulbs for fill. My questions are;

Can I get away with a 24-in hybrid fixture? I found a great deal on one!!! Dimmable even!!

Can I run just the two inside bulbs and not the outer two? They are running on separate ballasts

The reef tank at present looks beautiful, and I follow the kiss theory. The last thing I really want to do is fry up my gorgeous reef tank tinkering with my lighting

What bulbs should I run? I have a bunch of blue most of the day with a 10k period of about 3 hours at peak. Something 15-20k would probably be best I think

BRS had a whole video so I am confident I can find the best spectrum match for this application, but welcome opinions

I'm not looking for a lot of extra par. I'm really looking for fill through a good portion of my photo period.

Advice is needed

Thanks in advance

How many 16's are you running?
This was my 36×24×12 running 3. No shadowing and great color and growth.
Frist 4 channels at 100%
The rest 50%.

MrGisonni · Mar 12, 2024

I have two 16 HDs on the aquarium. I am running them with diffusers though My current light schedule

And the reef at around 5 pm. It's an adjusted phone pic, but this is an accurate visual/color representation

X-37B · Mar 12, 2024

MrGisonni said:
I have two 16 HDs on the aquarium. I am running them with diffusers though My current light schedule

And the reef at around 5 pm. It's an adjusted phone pic, but this is an accurate visual/color representation

Nice. I would add 1 more 16. I eventually went to 4 just for more even par.

MrGisonni · Mar 12, 2024

I actually thought about doing just that. My concern is that some of my low light corals are in that middle ground or towards the edges of the reef. I just worry about burning them up with more LEDs, if I slave them together. That's why I thought about just getting a couple of t5s that would only add about 50 par each just for filling coverage. Maybe even full actinic.

X-37B · Mar 12, 2024

Another 16 wont do that.
I will never run T5's again. No problem if you want to as they are good lights.
The 16hds are the leds that got me to sell all my halides and t5's after 30+. I am all leds now and will never look back.

MrGisonni · Mar 12, 2024

X-37B said:
How many 16's are you running?
This was my 36×24×12 running 3. No shadowing and great color and growth.
Frist 4 channels at 100%
The rest 50%.

Beautiful reef BTW

MrGisonni · Mar 12, 2024

I understand. My first reef ran on corallife 50/50 bulbs. Then it was a halide and actinics after an aquarium upgrade. I love those primes. I maybe just chasing unicorns.