Lighting Question

[CAPT_Dave]

Hello Reef Central;

Question about lighting: I have a set of Chinese box LEDs that I've been reasonably happy with considering the price. Good coral growth, especially LPS and Montis, and they fit nicely in my hood. Then one day the blue channel on one of the lights died. It took about 10 days or so to get a new one, which I bought from SB Reef Lights (SBReefLights.com). I'm very happy with the new spectrum, on the right in the picture below, but I am concerned about the shadowing. You'll notice on the left side of the tank it seems a little brighter with less shadowing than on the right where the new light is. The biggest difference, aside from spectrum, is that the new lights have snap on lenses. They are 90 degrees on the whites and blues and 120 degrees on the colors and UV, and the old fixture on the left has no lenses. The lights hang 4 inches above the surface of the water and I cannot raise them higher due to the hood.

So my question is, should I remove the lenses on the SB Reef Lights to get greater spread and blending or is it more important to get greater penetration at depth? I just have acans and nems on the bottom.

The tank is a standard 120g - 48 x 24 x 24. I'm fighting back some algae that came during a vacation followed by the lighting failure and that took a toll on my bird nest and montis but they are slowly recovering. Once I get that right, I would really like to try some acros but I'm going to need to move out those two huge nems on the right...that's a whole other post!

Thoughts?

[CAPT_Dave]

Originally Posted by CAPT_Dave

Hello Reef Central;

Question about lighting: I have a set of Chinese box LEDs that I've been reasonably happy with considering the price. Good coral growth, especially LPS and Montis, and they fit nicely in my hood. Then one day the blue channel on one of the lights died. It took about 10 days or so to get a new one, which I bought from SB Reef Lights (SBReefLights.com). I'm very happy with the new spectrum, on the right in the picture below, but I am concerned about the shadowing. You'll notice on the left side of the tank it seems a little brighter with less shadowing than on the right where the new light is. The biggest difference, aside from spectrum, is that the new lights have snap on lenses. They are 90 degrees on the whites and blues and 120 degrees on the colors and UV, and the old fixture on the left has no lenses. The lights hang 4 inches above the surface of the water and I cannot raise them higher due to the hood.

So my question is, should I remove the lenses on the SB Reef Lights to get greater spread and blending or is it more important to get greater penetration at depth? I just have acans and nems on the bottom.

The tank is a standard 120g - 48 x 24 x 24. I'm fighting back some algae that came during a vacation followed by the lighting failure and that took a toll on my bird nest and montis but they are slowly recovering. Once I get that right, I would really like to try some acros but I'm going to need to move out those two huge nems on the right...that's a whole other post!

Thoughts?

New lights on right. Old without lenses on left.


Old lights, no lenses


New lights, with lenses.


Under the hood


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[Sonyardo]

Sounds like a question for a Par meter. In my limited experience with LED's they tend to have hot spots. My guess would be more spread for the win. I would personally opt to have the same lights and lenses across the board and maybe sell off the older lights. With the two LED's that I have personal experience with, I'm able to cook anything in the sandbed, if I'm not careful. The eyeball is not a good judge.

[CAPT_Dave]

Thanks, guys. I asked SB Reef Lights, too, and they said to remove the lenses so I think that's what I'll try. I'll let you know how it goes.