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Opinions on current / future set ups

James Oh

James Oh

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So I had a couple questions and was curious to know everyones opinion on the matter. First is, as some of you may know, I have a biocube 29g and currently running a Hydra 26 hd on it. I plan on keeping a mixed system with mainly Acroporas, Acans, and Zoas (not just limited to that but I like those the most). I was looking into the Aquatic Life 24" Hybrid lighting system to go along with my LED. Was thinking 2 blue+ 1 coral+ 1 purple+ bulbs. Is this extremely over kill for my current system? Currently the corals are doing great (from what I can tell) with just the Hydra and I would really hate to mess up something that is going well, but I just have heard too many good things about T5 lighting with LEDs.

Next questions is in the future if I were to plan to upgrade tanks what would be the largest tank I could move above lights to along with power heads? (Currently use 2 mp10s) I just recently realized that I have a decent amount of frags right now and they are starting to grow a bit. I wasn't very considerate about what would happen when they start really growing, so now I am thinking of the future. Any inputs on this matter would be great!
 
Coral reefer said:
Maybe a 40 breeder. Yes it's overkill!
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=( sad days lol. I do love me some new equipment. I guess I'll just hold off till I get a much larger tank (hopefully in the 120g+ range) Probably use the mp10s as back power heads and put in bigger ones on the sides (mp40s? or 60s?) In this instance if I decide to go with a much bigger tank I'll wait on the hybrid fixture till I get the new tank. Will probably have to get a much bigger T5 set and a couple more Hydras to fill it in.
 
I use only LEDs and have good results with growing zoas and some of the more easy sps (stylo, monti, birdsnest etc) very few acros though. Honestly, if you say everything is running great then i wouldnt mess with it
 
Kremis said:
I use only LEDs and have good results with growing zoas and some of the more easy sps (stylo, monti, birdsnest etc) very few acros though. Honestly, if you say everything is running great then i wouldnt mess with it
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Thanks for the input! I say everything is running great but I guess I should say nothing is dying.... I mean some of the zoas are showing growth and nothing is really closed up or looking bad but being a novice in the hobby it is really hard for me to tell what is "doing great" vs "doing okay" vs "not good". My assumptions are things are doing good b/c the zoas and acans are growing new heads, but in terms of the one acro frag I have in my tank I have no earthly idea if it is doing good or bad it just is kind of there.... polyp extension is very minimal compared to some of the crazy photos I have seen of acro colonies. Then again the acro was just added last week so I really wasn't expecting a lot unless I'm mistaken about this.
 
I sorta define "doing good" as the coral is growing and colors look "normal." I agree give the acro a bit of time. I havent personally done a lot of research about the benefits of t5+led combo, if you have and its proven to be better than LED's then maybe give it a try
 
Don't fix what is not broken.
Even a change to something truly better will shock the coral and cause short term problems.

If you get a bigger tank in the future, THEN buy the lights for it.
Hard to predict now.
Plus LEDs get better and cheaper every year.
 
I'm not going to say that having different types/spectrums of lighting won't help, but you certainly don't need more light.
 
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rygh said:
Plus LEDs get better and cheaper every year.
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Better sure... at least in a general sense, not sure aquarium specific ones are getting better every year. But cheaper? Has the Radion fixture come down in price at all year after year? Has the GHL fixture? AI fixtures? And I'm not counting closeout sales when they transition to the next fixture.
 
sfsuphysics said:
Better sure... at least in a general sense, not sure aquarium specific ones are getting better every year. But cheaper? Has the Radion fixture come down in price at all year after year? Has the GHL fixture? AI fixtures? And I'm not counting closeout sales when they transition to the next fixture.
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I was curious...

Fortunately, I made a doc Jan 2017 with some pricing when I was rebuilding my lights, and I checked now.

AI-Prime : Was 225, now 200
Radeon15pro : Was 400, still 400
Kessil A360 : Was 400, now 350
 
Kessil A360 just the regular one? Because it's been "replaced" with the A360E version (wide and narrow I think), and the X version is coming out soon. Do recall the AI prime though, didn't it drop in price right after you bought a bunch? :D

But yeah Radion isn't cheaper, GHL Mitras LED increased in price, or at least the MSRP (not sure if it's MAP'd)
 
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