Quote:
Originally Posted by Bblinks
AI puts out more par then the rest (ref. Dr Sanjay's review on reef builder)but pur is really what we should be looking at. regardless I think if you are used to metal halide with t5's, you will find 2 ai over your tank will be bit on the dark side. I have asked the same question on my 300. Most think 6 units is enough, ai recommands 12 units so I decided to go with 9 units. It does have good coverage but because I have them mounted under a canopy, they are 8 inches awl so I still have some shaded parts even with 9 units. Don't get me wrong, I was running 3units 18 inches awl on my 210 sps heavy tank and it was enough light coverage for it, but with it so high I was running them like my halides, ramp up 1 hour, 6 hours of full intensity then ramp down 1 hour. so if you run 2 units 14-18 inches awl, you should have good enough coverage but you do sacrifice intensity. I would start with 2 units and hang'em high up and see how you like it and go from there.
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Excellent post Rich and you definately know what your talking about!! I bet 9 on your tank looks awesome.
Most people cheap on their AI fixtures and then they wonder why they lacking par with them raised so high to achieve the coverage. People that I have talked to that have AI's agree with no less than 6 fixtures for a 180g.