Neptune Aquatics

Lighting for SPS in an IM15 cube QT?

eroper

eroper

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Hi Everyone,

I'm new to the hobby and looking for some advice. I have an Innovative Marine 15 AIO Cube that I'm using as a coral and invert QT. Up to this point there hasn't been any SPS in the picture, and I'm currently using a Kessil A80.

I recently added some seriatopora to a magnetic frag rack and placed it just under the surface. It occurred to me that I should probably check my light levels, so I ordered one of the new itc PARwise meters and I'm getting around 100 PAR along the surface perimeter. I suspect this isn't enough long term, though maybe it's not the end of the world for a 90-day quarantine stay?

I started looking at higher output lights, including the Kessil 360x and the Radion XR15. I'm worried that both of these will throw light far outside the footprint of the 15" cube. This wouldn't be the end of the world, but it hardly seems efficient. The Kessil appears to have the more adjustable arm mount, so perhaps I could minimize this. I've also thought about strip lights, like the AI blades, but I'd need a few of them and they would complicate tank access.

Do you guys have any recommendations or thoughts?

Thanks,
Ed
 
From personal experience, an A80 will keep them alive, they'll just look very purple and boring. Getting your flow dialed in on the tank will be an important factor, as well as maintaining the water parameters daily.
 
Thank you!

My first thought was toward the a160 or prime 16hd. I wasn't sure I'd get enough output from either and I haven't found anything conclusive with Google. For every person that says yes, someone says no, and I was worried about eventually buying my way up the 360x/xr15 anyway. Lacking experience it can be a challenge to sift the signal from the noise.

Thank you very much for the offer to print a shade, that option hadn't even crossed my mind!

I am glad to know that I'm not actively killing the coral while I make a decision.
 
I thought I'd follow-up with an update. I ended up going with the Kessil 360x. As expected, there was a comical amount of light spill. The 55-degree reflector they sell for it got the spill under control and greatly reduced the necessary power setting. Utilizing depth and shading from the mag racks I was able to get all the different PAR zones I was hoping for.
 
eroper said:
I thought I'd follow-up with an update. I ended up going with the Kessil 360x. As expected, there was a comical amount of light spill. The 55-degree reflector they sell for it got the spill under control and greatly reduced the necessary power setting. Utilizing depth and shading from the mag racks I was able to get all the different PAR zones I was hoping for.
Click to expand...

If light spill is still an issue I can print a shade for that light. I printed a few for @PTXReef
 
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