Number of XR Pros for 96x30x30?

[Jekyl]

I run kessil and love them

However I would recommend T5 hybrid and some 360's. Shading is an issue in my tank and will be more so in yours.

 

[dedragon]

Orphek atlantik on clearance right now as well and an additional 15% off on bulkreefsupply today, i love kessil shimmer but it definitely needs a supplemental t5 or led strip of that size tank.
I think you could get away with 1 orphek atlantik and 2 orphek atlantik compacts. ($2126 with tax and everything) Then later can add the orphek or3 strips if there is any shading, same leds and same color spectrum so it should blend well. (atlantik recommended spread 40x24 and compact 30x24, bars would compensate for the extra 6 inches of width in the tank)

 

[dedragon]

I would like to go LED. I am open to a hybrid approach, but am leaning more towards LED only.

In continuation of being all over the place (and spending too much time reading reviews and watching videos on them while I wait for my tank to be made) I am now leaning towards going Kessil. A rep from Kessil recommended doing:
Two AP9X with a middle A360X.
That'd come out to be ~$2,200 and I believe give me adequate coverage for a mixed-reef tank.

i dont like that the rep said that in any way. Ap9x has a recommended spread of 30x24 and a360x as 24x24. 30+30+24=84 inches, that not even enough for the length of the tank let alone the width. Why have a recommended spread if the reps dont even use it in selling products? Actually i probably have an answer to that as well, they wanted you to have to buy another a360x or something down the line.
If going kessil though (still a great looking light) add another a360x and still also something to deal with shading like t5 or led strips as kessil is a single point beam of light.
Should probably add i sold my kessils and bought a t5 fixture because my sps were dying from shading

 

[MjOB]

Orphek atlantik on clearance right now as well and an additional 15% off on bulkreefsupply today, i love kessil shimmer but it definitely needs a supplemental t5 or led strip of that size tank.
I think you could get away with 1 orphek atlantik and 2 orphek atlantik compacts. ($2126 with tax and everything) Then later can add the orphek or3 strips if there is any shading, same leds and same color spectrum so it should blend well. (atlantik recommended spread 40x24 and compact 30x24, bars would compensate for the extra 6 inches of width in the tank)

According to akaimal in his build thread https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/akaimals-375g-customaquariums-build.587036/page-6 with a 96x30x30 he had 4 Atlantik's and it wasn't enough for SPS.

i dont like that the rep said that in any way. Ap9x has a recommended spread of 30x24 and a360x as 24x24. 30+30+24=84 inches, that not even enough for the length of the tank let alone the width. Why have a recommended spread if the reps dont even use it in selling products? Actually i probably have an answer to that as well, they wanted you to have to buy another a360x or something down the line.
If going kessil though (still a great looking light) add another a360x and still also something to deal with shading like t5 or led strips as kessil is a single point beam of light.
Should probably add i sold my kessils and bought a t5 fixture because my sps were dying from shading

The Kessil rep's e-mail said the AP9x is rated for 36 inches when keeping an SPS dominant tank. I know BRS says max coverage is 48" x 24" (which is what Kessil's site states) with recommended at 30" x 24". I can't find Kessil's recommended spread for the a360x, but BRS has it at 24 x 24 which is what you stated.

To Kessil's rep's credit - if he's going with 36" spread for the AP9x for SPS dominant - that's 36 + 36 + 24 which is 96" and covers the tank.

 

[dedragon]

I was going with max recommended spread, not max spread as that is much lower par. Max spread is hard to go off as many companies are misleading.
akaimal has an sps dominant tank so that makes sense, for a mixed reef with sps at the top atlantiks alone would probably be fine. I think 2 orphek compacts and the atlantik in the center would fill the tank fully with a useable amount of par everywhere, then adding or3 bars like akaimal did (probably only 2-4 bars) for any shadowing. This is a cheaper way to go with orpheks, but if you can i would definitely double check with akaimal to see wht they think.
For the kessil you will probably to add at least 1 more a360x just for the par, or the extra t5 or led might help push the par to acceptable sps levels but I'm not like the rep trying to sell anything so i dont want you to get stuck having to buy another fixture in the future for more money. 4-6 led bars (reefbrite, nicobar, orphek are all good) might push par the rest of the way and maybe could work with the 2 ap9x and 1 a360x but im really not as certain as the i am with orphek and the orphek option is also cheaper.

 

[dedragon]

red sea reefled is also an option like kessil but are a lot cheaper. 2x reefled 160s and 2 x reefled 90 + led bars/t5 or 6xreefled 90 plus led bar/t5 are pretty cost effective but idk anyone using the 160s yet

 

[MjOB]

I haven't come across the red sea reefled yet. I'll need to read/watch some of the reviews on that. Thanks for all the help!

 

[Bronx19]

4 x 250w halides for about $1200. Real coverage, not the BS dribbled by LED manufacturers.

 

[Brucealmighty]

What is the running costs for the 4x250w halides per month as in did you notice the difference in your electricity bill?

4 x 250w halides for about $1200. Real coverage, not the BS dribbled by LED manufacturers.

 

[GarrettT]

For that size tank, I highly recommend you look at metal halides from a performance perspective and cost.

 

[X-37B]

What is the running costs for the 4x250w halides per month as in did you notice the difference in your electricity bill?

I xr30 is 180 watts. 8 units equals 1400 watts.
4 250's 1000 watts.
So halide costs are lower for correct coverage.
Actual cost is hard to average as cost per watt is different everywhere.

 

[Acros]

I xr30 is 180 watts. 8 units equals 1400 watts.
4 250's 1000 watts.
So halide costs are lower for correct coverage.
Actual cost is hard to average as cost per watt is different everywhere.

I would imagine the xr30s to be ran at 50% and not at 100%. Hence the power consumption would be ~ 700watts.

 

[X-37B]

I would imagine the xr30s to be ran at 50% and not at 100%. Hence the power consumption would be ~ 700watts.

That may be true but most locals run theirs at 80% or higher for full sps systems. Not to mention the
$6000+ cost for the leds.
This hobby is anything but inexpensive and trying to save a few dollars on your electrical bill just makes me laugh.

Pick whatever you want to run and enjoy the hobby.

 

[Acros]

That may be true but most locals run theirs at 80% or higher for full sps systems. Not to mention the
$6000+ cost for the leds.
This hobby is anything but inexpensive and trying to save a few dollars on your electrical bill just makes me laugh.

Pick whatever you want to run and enjoy the hobby.

I agree the hobby is expensive, but correct information can’t hurt.

 

[IKD]

Hi there, just saw this thread. I have a similar size tank (96x 28X 28). I have 4 sets of T5's and 6 Radion XR15 G4's. Have had really good success with this setup with mixed reef over the past year it’s been running. Best of luck!

Edit: forgot to mention I run the XR15’s at 60% which may be little higher than needed. I chose 15’s over 30’s so I could slide them along the rail for better coverage options.