Lighting tank from the side

exnisstech

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I'm bored and have extra gen 4 xr15s sitting around so I decided to try lighting some coral from the side. This miyagi tort is growing great but looks pitiful underneath. The acro above and to the left is starting to look poor down low as well so I decided to add a light to the side and see how it goes. It makes sense to me that it should help since I always read about shadowing being a concern. I'll follow up later with results good or bad. Top is lit with two photon 32s
PXL_20241011_204821213.jpg
PXL_20241011_204843851.jpg


FTS
PXL_20241005_183304673~2.jpg
 
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MnFish1

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I might suggest that coral receives light from various angles throughout the day - due to the angle of the sun - however I would not use this type of lighting for a big part of the day 1. People grow corals just fine without doing so - and 2. If you have fish the lighting may not be positive. Nice tank BTW
 
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exnisstech

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I might suggest that coral receives light from various angles throughout the day - due to the angle of the sun - however I would not use this type of lighting for a big part of the day 1. People grow corals just fine without doing so - and 2. If you have fish the lighting may not be positive. Nice tank BTW
In our tanks they don't get the sun changing position so maybe this will help. If nothing else it kept me busy for a while lol. I'm running it at lower intensity than the main light and only 4 hrs a day.
I hadn't thought about the fish. I only have 3 but I will monitor thier behavior for signs of stress. Thanks
 

MnFish1

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In our tanks they don't get the sun changing position so maybe this will help. If nothing else it kept me busy for a while lol. I'm running it at lower intensity than the main light and only 4 hrs a day.
I hadn't thought about the fish. I only have 3 but I will monitor thier behavior for signs of stress. Thanks
yes - you can do it - however, I would only do it for a small part of the day one one side and then perhaps the other - as compared to constantly on
Sorry I wasn't clear
 

FUNGI

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Interesting.....maybe you hit on the next trend....maybe even a light like this: sorry also bored at work.....
1728684523931.png
 
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exnisstech

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Interesting.....maybe you hit on the next trend....maybe even a light like this: sorry also bored at work.....
1728684523931.png
That actually looks very interesting. It could start on one side and end on the other simulating the suns movement / earth rotation :thinking-face:
 

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A couple hours a day at low intensity will be awesome for those acros, and the algae on that pane of glass!
 

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Don't the radions have a setting where it will increase/decrease from left to right (one fixture to the next)....or am I thinking of another LED. If so, that would be kind of cool to start it out on the side (as the sun rises) and have it move above as it approaches mid day.
 
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exnisstech

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A couple hours a day at low intensity will be awesome for those acros, and the algae on that pane of glass!

Thats what I thought immediately also the algae part anyway.

Ya but I'm used to scraping. All of my tanks should be scraped daily as is. I wait 3-4 days and it looks like a new tank after cleaning. The green in this shot is after scraping the glass in one tank
PXL_20241010_232354297.jpg
 

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