Which ati fixture for a 180 gal mix reef?

[neurosis]

I’m upgrading from a 90 gal to a 180 and I’ve always enjoyed the look and coral health I’ve got with a t5 led combo. I plan on using my Aquaray AquaBeam 600 Ultima led strips because I already have them.
I’m looking at buying a 60” ATI Sunpower but I’m not sure how many bulbs I should get. I’m thinking 6 because I plan on mostly helping LPS and softies and I’m worried an 8 bulb could fry them. Could I actually get by with 4 bulbs?
I might go with a few SPS down the road but I’m not sure atm.
Tank will measure 72” x 24” x 25”
Thanks

 

[Neto]

Get the 8 bulb... once you get bitten by the sps bug, you would have wished you had bought the 8 bulb unit

 

[tsav87]

 

[neurosis]

I watched that last night tsava. In it he said 6 bulb is enough for SPS, that’s kinda why I’m leaning to the 6 bulb

 

[tsav87]

Yep thats why I went with the 6 bulb unit on my 3ft x 2ft tank

 

[A. grandis]

8 bulb fixture for that tank, no doubt.
Grandis.

 

[Daniel Waters]

8 bulb. You can run 6 of the 8 slots if that is all you need. But if you only have 6 and need or want 8 later, you're out of luck. And trust me, when you get that first SPS and you notice some of the amazing colors that can develop, you'll forget all about your softies and LPS.

 

[jda]

There are all kinds of SPS.

The easier ones like Monti, Birdsnest, Poci and Stylophora (MBP&S) have different lighting requirements and 6 bulb will be fine. These are like weeds once you get good at this. Lots of people ban then from their tanks as they get more and more experience.

Acropora are the harder SPS and you will need the 8 bulb for most of these. Some people use ten bulbs.

If you know which you might want to keep more of, then you can buy lights accordingly... but if not, then plan for acropora rather than wish that you had.

 

[neurosis]

I should say this, I’m away from my tank quite a bit because I work out of town, sometimes up to 5 days. My wife feeds the fish, but montering things like light malfunctions and my skimmer is a bit over her head. That’s one main reason I never really pulled the trigger on SPS. I plan on getting an apex down the road which might help a bit.
I did grow some montipora under my 4 bulb led combo. Grew like a weed.

 

[BMW540]

I was in the same spot as you and went with the 8 bulb. No regrets whatsoever, but the top half of my tank is covered with acros. 8 bulbs will give you the option of using 2 actinics to knock down PAR a little if necessary.

 

[jda]

Apex will not help at all with solid reliability - just another thing to go wrong, and they do... I would not recommend one unless your wife wants to set it up and know all of the ins-and-outs... your marriage could be stressed figuring this out over the phone. Just buy high quality stuff and it will keep running and running. I was out of the US for about three months last year with no failures, but I use high quality lights (german), nice heaters (german) with a good lab-grade controller (USA), highly reliable return pumps (European motors with USA fittings), skimmer from USA and pump from Italy, etc. I do use buckets to fill my tanks since my kids can handle this over figuring out an ATO failure while they are also sopping up the floor or dealing with a dead now-freshwater tank.

The easiest tanks to be away from are the most simple with stuff purchased to last and last.

 

[Tautog]

I switched from LEDs to a 8- bulb ATI 6-7 months ago. The growth has been better than ever. I did run full lights for 8 hours/ day, but it’s too much, algae problems, and have it on now for 5 hours. My 2 Blue Plus bulbs are on from 7:30 am to 10:30 pm. I also have a 180 mixed reef. It’s 12” off the water, and I haven’t had any issues, but the digi’s and acans are on the bottom. My digi’s went white, and after the move to the bottom they were back to color within a week
I do everything manually. I’m currently dosing 300 ml/2- part/day
I presently have about 80 corals, and my tank is running 2 1/2 yrs.