I'm in the investigation stage of replacing my metal halides with LEDs.
My tank is 60" wide x 18" deep x 30" tall. That's 108 sq in of surface. I have a big honking center brace 15" wide that doesn't pose a problem for MH. Above the tank I only have 18" of distance to the ceiling.
I have corals within 5" of the surface as well as on the sand bed.
Right now I'm running two PFO pendants on the ends and a hamilton pendant in the center (the hamilton has a nice reflector that spreads evenly.) No canopy. I also have an old CF fixture that I use for dawn / dusk, and a string of low powered LEDs that I use for moonlights.
So what does everyone think would be the best solution?
3 x fixtures? (Say a heat sink 8" x 16".) One 55-60" heat sink? How many LEDs would be recommended? I like the look of my XM 10k lights, but the wife liked the reeflux 12kKs I used to have (I ditched them because they didn't provide the same growth.) I used to spend a lot of time snorkeling in the shallow water of the keys, I just like 10-12kK as it's more natural.
My aquascaping is chaotic. I have lots of ledges and caves, but my MH does a good job of illuminating them evenly. I'd rather not have to plan my lighting/optics around my aquascaping in case it changes later (if I'm going to keep this thing for 10 years, it has to be general purpose).
I want to avoid creating shadows, especially different colored ones.
What I don't want is something like this with the LEDs too far apart..
or this with the LEDs too close together..
I understand that spreading them out decreases shaded areas and bringing them closer blends the colors better.. but what's the happy medium? Is there one? Or are you forced to choose between disco ball light separation to ensure coverage on one hand, or spotlighting to ensure mixing on the other? Or do you just stuff a truckload of LEDs in there, but only run them at 30-50%?
From looking at photos, I think I'm interested in the neutral white, with only a little royal blue for flourescence. Maybe some deep red and cyan to fill the gaps in the visible spectrum.
I've got time on this investigation, I couldn't pull the trigger until my tax return shows up anyway.
What is everyone's thought?
p.s. I'm not even getting into drivers, buck puck v meanwell v etc at this point, but I do want a lot of controllability.
p.p.s Here's a recent FTS- it's a bit brighter than the camera shows, but it's a good representation of my current color temperature.