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Supplemental Lighting Question

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I've been looking out for cheap supplemental lighting for my 40B. It (even SPS) has been fairly doing well for the past 7 months but I know a 36" need more than one Kessil A350 cos the max spread is 24".

A second Kessil for $350 is overkill both in price and spread. There are shitboxes for $110 keeping that equidistant from the Kessil might result in 2 halves of my tank looking and performing different.

ReefBrite 36" is $200, even the Ecoxotic Pano 24" fixture is $200... I felt these strips could be better since my Kessil can still sit in the center and I place strips to supplement the rest of the area & add more PAR.

I found a local reefer selling Ecoxotic Panorama Pro 12.5" modules on RC/CL for a very good deal so decided to get it.

There has been a lot of LED burning out issues with these in v1 (19v) but this reefer claimed Ecoxotic replaced all of it with v2 (16v) that have been doing good generally. I contacted Ecoxotic customer support to find out how to differentiate v1 vs v2 and was told there's an extra plastic cap/cover over each LED. When I when to pickup the LEDs yesterday I found out of 8 she had, 4 were v2 and the blues didn't have the cap (so maybe v1).

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I ended up getting 2 x 12k/460nm + 1 x Magenta/460nm strips (all v2). When I placed them over my tank, it was blinding bright!! The 12k/460nm is actually more white than I expected. After using my Kessil for many months, Its so hard to see whites when I'm used to the fancy Kessil blue-shimmer ;)

Mike predicted that I got the SPS bug when I got my first stick... he was right! Which was the main reason I needed extra lighting...

Now to the questions (pls keep in mind I have no spectrum knowledge)

1) Myth or True? SPS need more 6.5k-14k whites for growth and actinics are only eye candy for human eye?

2) The 12k/460nm strips are super white and high PAR. Would that help a lot in my SPS growth? Is it worth running whiter (uglier) lights for 4-6hrs a day to keep SPS well growing & colored? (I've read posts where people do dirty whites in the day and transition to more actinics & less white when they're back home)

I have two options now:

a) Kessil 100Blue/30White + 2 x Panorama 12k/460nm + 1 x Panorama Magenta/460nm when lights turn on... run or 5hrs and switch off Panoramas and let Kessil run 3 more hours towards night and all Kessil off...

b) Kessil 100Blue/60White + 1 x Panorama 12k/460nm (over SPS) + 2 x Panorama 460nm (full blue) for 8 hrs a day. In this case I have to swap 2 fixtures with the full blues with the seller.

Need suggestions... Thx
 
I would put 2 A150's on either side of the 350. Or one beside it so you can have a SPS side & softy/LPS side as an option. I've never owned a Kessil so I'm assuming you can match the color but have slightly different PAR/Intensity on the 2 sides of the tank.
 
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Cool idea but not either of his options.
Nav, just go w what u like the look of best, but remember, make changes slowly. Don't just will nilly ramp up the kessil a bunch all at once.
 
Thx. I'd like to get your thoughts on SPS lighting questions above... I like the more blue look but want to do whats good for the coral than what looks appealing :)
 
You really can't go wrong. Don't go too extreme. Make changes slowly. I've had success with less than 6500k halides and very blue lights. I think blue will help some w coloration. A violist some white/well rounded spectrum is needed as well. Seriously. Figure out what u think looks good. Slowly get it to those setting/configuration, and forget it. Wait six months or a year and see if corals look good and or grow well. Go from there.
 
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Nav said:
1) Myth or True? SPS need more 6.5k-14k whites for growth and actinics are only eye candy for human eye?

2) The 12k/460nm strips are super white and high PAR. Would that help a lot in my SPS growth? Is it worth running whiter (uglier) lights for 4-6hrs a day to keep SPS well growing & colored? (I've read posts where people do dirty whites in the day and transition to more actinics & less white when they're back home)

I have two options now:

a) Kessil 100Blue/30White + 2 x Panorama 12k/460nm + 1 x Panorama Magenta/460nm when lights turn on... run or 5hrs and switch off Panoramas and let Kessil run 3 more hours towards night and all Kessil off...

b) Kessil 100Blue/60White + 1 x Panorama 12k/460nm (over SPS) + 2 x Panorama 460nm (full blue) for 8 hrs a day. In this case I have to swap 2 fixtures with the full blues with the seller.

Need suggestions... Thx
Click to expand...

1) I was able to grow SPS with only a 250W 14k bulb. The actinics I are not necessary.
2) Looks like those strips aren't going to suit you. I personally would not do a "dirty" transition simply because you paid all of this cash for lights, you should get what you want.

I wish I could give you a suggestions, but I'm definitely not the person to ask when it comes to kessils. I do think option b is your best bet, given what you have to work with now. I do know someone here running kessils with ecoexotics with great success: @Kmooresf

maybe he can chime in! he also has a tank log i believe
 
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