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SPS Requirements


ccejka

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So have an extra 10 gallon tank laying around and saw that Fiji Cube has a 10% off on the pre order Gen 3 AIO kit for it and ordered one.

 

I want to do an SPS/Acropora tank. They main requirement I am worried about right now is the lighting. I was looking at doing a single Kessel A160WE Tuna Blue light with a controller and run that on a 8-12 hour cycle. 

 

I am having a hard time finding what they put out for a PAR reading. I plan to run it on the goose neck the tank is 12" deep. Anyone running SPS with an A160WE?

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Either aqua illumination or kessil should have the PAR map comparison between the preoducts from competing brands. I think it’s AI prime vs Kessil 160we. 

That said, you should be able to grow most basic SPS, think birdnest, stylo, monti with 160. Acroporas, yeah you can grow them, will they do well with just one Kessil? Not likely. 

 

Edit - http://www.aquaillumination.com/science/par.html

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I really wanted to run one light and the AI are pretty bulky compared to the size of the tank. I might start with one A160 and if needed I could add a 2nd. 

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51 minutes ago, spectra said:

The 160 wont cut it............

 

I had a 160 over a nuvo 20  and well went to a 360...........

What is the depth of a nuvo 20 

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1 minute ago, ccejka said:

What is the depth of a nuvo 20 

Hell think its 13 or 12 inches..............

 

I had sand in it also............but all SPS were on racks about 4" from the top..........

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2 hours ago, ccejka said:

I really wanted to run one light and the AI are pretty bulky compared to the size of the tank. I might start with one A160 and if needed I could add a 2nd. 

Let me clarify my earlier comment. You can grow acro with A160 in a 10G. But you may quickly find that you’ll have limited coral placement to get the best of that high intensity light area in the middle and with that also comes shadowing. But if this is just to trying things out with SPS and acros, go for it, lighting is only half the battle (tank’s stability and maturity are the other). 

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1 hour ago, micoastreefing said:

Let me clarify my earlier comment. You can grow acro with A160 in a 10G. But you may quickly find that you’ll have limited coral placement to get the best of that high intensity light area in the middle and with that also comes shadowing. But if this is just to trying things out with SPS and acros, go for it, lighting is only half the battle (tank’s stability and maturity are the other). 

Sounds good thanks for the help I will probably run one A160 for now picked a used one up on the forum and dip my toe in the SPS game. As my tank grows older I will probably add another light to the system. 

 

1 hour ago, MrObscura said:

Go with a prime, it's cheaper, includes a controller, and vastly out performs the 160. Hell, it's on par with the 360 based on par measurements. 

I payed $180 shipped for a used one that looks brand new like right before i saw your post. I did consider the prime but half my decision was a few friends are running Primes so I wanted to try something different as well. 

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 1/19/2019 at 1:45 AM, ccejka said:

My display will only by 15 long x 10 wide

 

"Fiji Cube" appears more like a Fiji rectangle....not ideal for a single-light setup.

 

With 140deg lenses like the A160, you'll have to mount the light around 3" off the water to avoid wasting A LOT of the output -- lighting up your room with the "spilled" light instead of lighting the tank.  This will also cause worse shadows as you'll lose the side-reflections off the glass you're supposed to get with this light.

 

Spill light ike this:

image.png.2adfd2d14854e7b56fb6607f13b02d29.png

 

If you mount it so all that light outside the rectangle is not wasted, it'll be more like this:

image.png.e1c203a8041bdcfdab8c5b4a090db777.png

 

You can see that's more ideal from a waste standpoint, but as mentioned by @micoastreefing it does leave the ends of the tank with lower light levels.

 

I would not assume those levels are "too low" for corals though.....just lower than the center.

 

Doing a single spotlight does create the most intense shadow effects of any light setup, but that's not automatically a bad thing.  Shade and shadows are extremely natural and some corals (eg branching corals like acro's) even shade themselves purposefully.

 

That said, you may still want to upgrade to a dual-light setup just to cut shadows at some point....if so it would look more like this:

image.png.9cab6221fc878eb01184da7a9997cd7e.png

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