My green slimer and orange monti are now one sided corals. Happy on the light side and colorless on the other. The birds nest has also lost half of its color. I'm running Kessil A360Ws about 13" apart and 8" above the water. In hindsight, really regretting just running the Kessils. I'm looking at adding a T5 but only for the part of the tank over the SPS (5 foot tank but half is softies that are perfectly happy as-is). Any recommendations on a fixture for T5s that would be maybe 30" and could be in addition to the Kessils? I don't have a hood so appearance matters somewhat.
Shadowing is killing off the dark side of SPS - looking for T5s
- Thread starter Octopi
- Start date
I supplemented my LED's (AI Hydra52's) with T5's about a year ago and I feel like it made a big difference. Your situation with no canopy to conceal anything I'd be worried the appearance would be asymmetrical and that would drive me nuts (T5's on only the right/left side). The common smaller sizes of T5 go 24",36", 48", 60".....not sure there is anything in that 30" range.
Do you have your Kessils on goosenecks or suspended?
Do you have your Kessils on goosenecks or suspended?
Photo attached. It is already a bit lopsided. I just added my spare Prime trying to see if I could eliminate shadows and even bent the one Kessil to the side a little. Regardless, still a lot of shadowing and doesn't appear to solve my issue.
My goal for the tank was to be two sided and so far I am pretty amazed at the anemones going along with my plans. I think the Giesemann lights look great but not looking to incur a major expense so hoping for a simple solution that just adds T5 to existing. It won't be even, but as long as fixture looks ok I will be ok with that.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I couldn't imagine any circumstance in which adding 1 more A360 where it would not grow corals. Maybe just fix or stack your Rock work differently closer to the surface. Much better than saying a proven light like the A360we is a failure. Results on hundreds of tanks can't be wrong. Supplementation is also a viable option to them but 1 more of those Kessil could be Overkill.
Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
Smiley, The Reefbrites look nice and slim. Will have to think about how I could make this work. Maybe the Reefbrite or similar would help me prove my hypothesis and then later I spend the money on a better looking light setup that combines the Kessils seamlessly. I saw one custom rig online that looked great but also looked like $$$.
Timnem, I did just move around a couple corals to that top rock. If that improves the shadowing issue than you might be onto something with the rework. I wouldn't say the lights were "failures". The majority of corals seem really happy with the Kessils and aesthetically are great. I'm just seeing a few corals with a lot of color loss where the light isn't perfectly direct and I believe a more even spread of light source would potentially fix it. Maybe those corals are too low in the tank. That Prime was also just added. If I see improvement over next month than that may indicate a 4th A360 would be the solution...maybe.
I'll probably just stick with this additional Prime for a few weeks to see the response. I'll also see if I can safely stack up some rocks a little higher. If not the fix, than will get more serious about the hybrid approach.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Timnem, I did just move around a couple corals to that top rock. If that improves the shadowing issue than you might be onto something with the rework. I wouldn't say the lights were "failures". The majority of corals seem really happy with the Kessils and aesthetically are great. I'm just seeing a few corals with a lot of color loss where the light isn't perfectly direct and I believe a more even spread of light source would potentially fix it. Maybe those corals are too low in the tank. That Prime was also just added. If I see improvement over next month than that may indicate a 4th A360 would be the solution...maybe.
I'll probably just stick with this additional Prime for a few weeks to see the response. I'll also see if I can safely stack up some rocks a little higher. If not the fix, than will get more serious about the hybrid approach.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
You will likely eventually end up with some T5, and then depending on how much you like the SPS, even more T5 to where the Kessils end up supplementing the T5s. This is a pretty natural progression for SPS'ers. Once the coral start to move from frags to colonies (softball or bigger), this is a very typical effect on LED lit SPS along with starting to STN from the base up. Even some of the huge, spread-out panels like the AcroOptics have the same issues.
I saw a guy on RC who bought an old Aquamedic light fixture with a few MH and a few T5s and he worked his kessls into the fixture where the MH were. It was pretty slick and pretty cheap.
I saw a guy on RC who bought an old Aquamedic light fixture with a few MH and a few T5s and he worked his kessls into the fixture where the MH were. It was pretty slick and pretty cheap.
I essentially did this exact same thing with my Hydra52's. I gutted the MH bulbs, reflectors, and glass (the ballasts were external) and then drilled some holes for the AI screws to go through. It was easy and got me 2 T5's that I run 4 hours a day. Everything seems happier, not just my few SPS pieces.
Kinda hard to see exactly what's going on because it's in my canopy, but that's a 48 in. MH with T5 fixture with my 2 Hydra52's mounted inplace of the MH bulbs.
Kinda hard to see exactly what's going on because it's in my canopy, but that's a 48 in. MH with T5 fixture with my 2 Hydra52's mounted inplace of the MH bulbs.
Last edited by a moderator:
