Recently, Paul Grant from Advanced Reef Aquarium decided to switch up the lighting on his 240-gallon custom reef tank. Originally, five Aquaillumination Vega Color fixtures were used to power his SPS-dominated reef. He decided to make a changeover to an ATI Powermodule. The Powermodule is a T5-dominated lighting system with LED supplementation. Here’s a video of Paul’s tank with the new T5 lights: [embedded content] No spotlight effect The main reason for this changeover was the significant spotlighting from the LED fixtures. While point light sources are wonderful for the shimmer effect, they can also lead to dark spots in the reef. If those dark spots happen to be on a portion of an SPS colony, that spot may start a die-off that could threaten the whole colony. T5 lighting, in comparison, is much more evenly balanced across the entire length of the bulb, so much less spotlighting and shadowing occurs. Coral color enhancement In my greenhouse at Tidal Gardens, I light mainly with LEDs for aesthetics and energy savings. More: Making the T5 Changeup in Reef Aquarium Lighting… More:
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