Lighting for 36x24x14 SPS tank

[Frozn]

I was wondering what some ideas for lighting a 36x24x14 tank. I currently have a Radion G3 Pro with wide angles.. but i have browning sps and the shadows are kind of bad. Its currently about 77% during mid day for about 4.5 hours.

I was thinking an 8 bulb T5 as ive used T5 in the past with great success. However i feel 8 bulbs is a bit much for a 14" deep tank.

Its been awhile since ive been in the hobby just started back up in the spring. I ran a full sps 90g with calc reactor and all the bells and whistles about 4 years ago with 7 bulb T5.

Current params are:

1320 Mag
7.5-8 alk
430 calc
5ppm nitrates

Any suggestions to properly light this footprint would be greatly appreciated.

Not really feeling another radion for the price over this size tank. Not to mention i feel LEDs take a lot of trial and error to dial in and dont wish to throw corals away.

[Mark426]

From an ex-Radion user that has gone back to T5, I dont think an 8 lamp ATI would be to much overkill if you are going full SPS, otherwise the 6 lamps version is MORE than enough. ATI fixtures are PAR monsters. Also, you can (as many sps guys do) run the one channel one as your sunrise/sunset and the other channel as your daylight lamps. I have a dimmable ati sunpower and absolutely love it. Other than the additional control it has only ONE power cord that runs the entire thing vs. the 3 on the non-dimmable versions. Handy when my Apex is always short of outlets.

[markalot]

In my opinion you will want 8 bulb for the spread, since you have a 24" tank. If it's too much par you can use Actinic bulbs to lower it, or raise the fixture way way up. :)

[Frozn]

Thanks for the suggestions. I too think an 8 bulb would be necessary due to the tank width. ATI Fixture is the one i was looking at although i didnt see the dimmable offered in a 36" 8 bulb combo. I like the idea of 1 cord vs 2/3.

[Arkayology]

Are you going to be placing SPS in every inch of the tank front to back? For my 24x24x16 I plan on getting a 6x24 because the overflow sticks out about 5''. Since I don't have corals in the back 5'' on either side I really only have a 24x18-19x16 tank to light. Something to consider at least.