To Enhance Old with New or Not! That is the question! (1 Viewer)

[Pond Scum]

Question: *Since the Cannons are such old tech and ONLY white and blue, should I add something like a Hydra 26HD on either side of the middle set or A1 Primes, to mix in more diverse lighting?

I am new to getting serious about a reef, vs having fish and dead coral. Except for aptasia and mushrooms, they did well in past years.
To the lighting, I have 3 blue and 3 white Old Ecoxotic Cannon 100s. and two 5' Hamilton Actunics 420nm across the front. Measured PAR, very low so dropped Cannons 3" and will slowly increase lighting over several months. I love the "Look" this combination gives, but concerned that I might need to add more of the spectrum for the corals.

Just to give you an idea of PAR, this is what I got across the top, 3" deep with Blue 70%, White 40% and Actunics 100%, (not dimmable). This was my 1st time so probably off a bit. The middle has 2' wide glass support. My concern probably is more with PUR, if I understand the terminology correctly.

Across the back
x - 90 - 100 - 80 - Mid 90 - 95 - 88 - 50 - x
Middle
124 - 150 - 165 - 160 - Mid 112 - 145 - 150 - 144 - 90
Front
80 - 90 - 109 - 93 - Mid 95 - 95 - 102 - 85 - 52

Bottom 1/3 of tank across front corals ran from about 100 down to 70 on the floor.
Thank you for any guidance! And I am so glad to be a part of Marsh for the support and resources.
(Also posted on reef2reef to find more old hands that might remember when 100s came out! )

 

[ITreefer]

I'd say if you have the money, why not?!
You certainly have lots of room to improve on PAR.

 

[Erin]

Certainly not bad to invest in new lights if it's in your budget, but it looks like you have the right PAR for the type of coral you currently have. Unless you plan on going with a lot of SPS, my advice is to research the different lights/fixtures and once you find one that seems to hit the sweet spot re: cost and the features you want, STOP looking, lol. There are so many options you'll drive yourself crazy. Looks like you have room in your canopy to add a couple more T5's, so maybe that would be a better option than new LEDs. I will say that at first it's fun to play with the hydra settings, but that can get you into trouble too...again, too many options can be a bad thing.

 

[Pond Scum]

Definitely was looking to keep it budget friendly. With patience, figured I could find used equipment for $300. or less. That word, Patience, keeps coming up.. LOL

 

[ITreefer]

Definitely was looking to keep it budget friendly. With patience, figured I could find used equipment for $300. or less. That word, Patience, keeps coming up.. LOL

You're in the right forum to find deals, thats for sure. Between here and R2R I can typically find used gear at good prices.