Apollo Reef LED SolarBlast Dimable Review

[Dustin1300]

I guess I could have read into that a bit more...I spoke before I thought through that one!

With 29 RBs and 22 Whites, if you go by the formula on ReefLED then you'd say you only want 1 white to every 3 RBs so take the 29 times .25. That only equates to 7.25 whites at 100%. Take 7.25 and divide by 22 and that comes out to .3295 or ~33 % whites.

That's very blue IMO but everyone has different tastes

 

[tripntx]

Do a google search for "515P to C13 splitter", "C13 Y cord", "C13 dual cord" for options to help satisfy those of you wanting to use less than one power cord to control a fixture.

I'm going to spring for two of Joe's fixture's in the near future to light my 140 gl Oceanic 48 x 24 x 29. My T5's are ready to be replaced again, and I'm sick of throwing bulbs away every year. Hope to go LED with Apollo LED and never look back...

,

 

[jwoyshnar]

The fixtures come as 2/3 blue so 100% on both is ~15k , running them at 70% blue and 50% white takes that well above 20k

I know everyone likes the "pop" but I find the tank more natural looking with the blues running lower than the whites, closer to ~12k

I run them more blue in the morning/evening and much more white mid day.
My high noon is 100% white and 35% blue.

Well mine at that ratio looks to be around 14k. I don't like the real blue.

 

[vbsaltydog]

If you have a controller, I highly recommend:

~20k early morning/late evening
~14k mid morning /mid evening
~12k late morning/mid afternoon
~10k high noon

I do this in conjunction with natural tidal currents that offset by an hour every day
so high tide is at 9am one day and 10am the next day.

This ensures that the flow rate:light intensity is ever changing but is the same as what occurs in nature. My corals are very happy.

Of course, keeping with the thread, I am running Apollos.

 

[milonedp]

If you have a controller, I highly recommend:

~20k early morning/late evening
~14k mid morning /mid evening
~12k late morning/mid afternoon
~10k high noon

I do this in conjunction with natural tidal currents that offset by an hour every day
so high tide is at 9am one day and 10am the next day.

This ensures that the flow rate:light intensity is ever changing but is the same as what occurs in nature. My corals are very happy.

Of course, keeping with the thread, I am running Apollos.

I like this. What controller are you using? Do you run moonlights at night too?

 

[vbsaltydog]

I have an Apex but it was severely lacking in functionality so I built my own custom controller that extends and controls the Apex. You can do the lighting schedule that I described with the stock Apex but the tidal schedule is a feature of my custom controller.

I am running the Apollo moonlights when the daylights are off but I am not running lunar schedules because I do not breed fish that use the lunar cycles and the Apollo moonlights are not dimmable anyway.

 

[milonedp]

Custom controller extension for an Apex anywhere you have some info on that I could read more on? Its own thread maybe?

 

[vbsaltydog]

I haven't mentioned it publicly before. If you are interested in one we could discuss it privately.

 

[madean]

So how long have people had their apollo lights? How many many do you have over what sized tank? And do you still like them? Any issues that you have experienced mainly bad is what I'm looking for? I am just trying to figure out what will work for me. I am lighting a 36"L x 30"W x 24"T high light anemone tank. Any info is greatly apprecited. It would be nice to see if anyone is currently housing a ritteri or carpet with these lights.

 

[Tank2379]

2 months on my Artic Reds and its been the best investment so far...

 

[Dustin1300]

I've had really good luck and only issue I had was with my controller (Apex) going out while I was at MACNA. Since the light was not getting any voltage....It was not lighting but luckily a local club member helped me out and got me temporarily up and running when I was out of town for a few days more. I'd say you'll have more than enough light with two fixtures. Remember that overlapping light doubles the PAR numbers so if you have something that is overlapping with 75 par from each light you'll have PAR of 150. You'll likely have to dial back the fixtures for your setup but you'll be happy.

I've been keeping LPS, SPS, Zoas, etc and have had good growth since getting params in check in past 1.5 months but cannot speak about nems.

 

[madean]

So can you effectively get a 12k look out of these lights with good par?

 

[Dustin1300]

So can you effectively get a 12k look out of these lights with good par?

My PAR tests were at blues/whites @ 100% but I believe you should not have any problem.

 

[mrbncal]

5 week update - I have not added t-5 yet as I am trying to be patient and let the led light work its magic. I dont mind the look at mid day as its very close to what my old bank of 3 - 150DE MH looked like running Reeflux 12K bulbs. I just got sploiled when I was running all t-5 's with the constant "pop" that t-5' give. So still no bright orange 'pop' at mid-day but its ok. I got to 90% blue and 45% white and a millie started to bleach. It has very little color now and minimal pe. So today I backed off the blues to 80% and upped the whites to 55%.

light cycle is now:

BLUES -
on at 1030
full on at 230
full off at 530
off at 1030

WHITES -
on at 1100
full on at 300
full off at 500
off at 1000

So from about 8:00pm on things start to come alive with glow as the blues take over. This is fine as this is when I am usually looking at it. Growth is great and I have not found anything that does not like the new light.

 

[milonedp]

For those that are using these I'm thinking about the 55 pc Acti-Red, my tank will be 96 long, 36 wide and 30 tall. Apollo recommended 3 units I'm thinking 4 so I can go a little higher but I want some real world comments. I'd like to mount these as high above the tank as possible so I don't need to move them for maintenance but I can pretty much go with whatever is required.

So any thoughts on how you'd set this up? Will this really cover SPS in a 30 by 30 area 42" from the lights like the website says? If I didn't care about SPS right on the bottom could I raise the lights further?

Thanks for any input.

 

[Tank2379]

Here is Apolloe Reed LED Vidoe on Par Spec of the Artic Red, from what is show and what his detail are is that the 44PC can light penitrate 48" below the water line and you will still have great growth. Unless I am hearing wrong... Check it out

 

[milonedp]

Thanks Tank, I've seen those videos they are helpful I just wanted some real world comments / thoughts, so I take it you are happy with these, both the growth and the visible color?

 

[Tank2379]

Thanks Tank, I've seen those videos they are helpful I just wanted some real world comments / thoughts, so I take it you are happy with these, both the growth and the visible color?

If you have an Apex Controller this fixture won't let you down at all. It takes some time to light acclimate as it did Bleach out my Clam but once it settle it started coming back with better POP in color. My Montis are growing like nothing and everything in my Tank is just popping.

I am extremly happy with Joe and his Fixture, the best thing is he's not on the forums gloating and telling everyone to buy his fixtures becasue they are better than the Radion and Maxspec and other Fixture. The vidoes he's posted just show proof that they work and they are actually alot stronger than what the Radion alone puts out. I even think with the upgrade that Ecotech put out on the lens is still even stronger. Not sure.

Put this is just my own 2 cents... :fun4:

 

[bhazard451]

If you have an Apex Controller this fixture won't let you down at all. It takes some time to light acclimate as it did Bleach out my Clam but once it settle it started coming back with better POP in color. My Montis are growing like nothing and everything in my Tank is just popping.

I am extremly happy with Joe and his Fixture, the best thing is he's not on the forums gloating and telling everyone to buy his fixtures becasue they are better than the Radion and Maxspec and other Fixture. The vidoes he's posted just show proof that they work and they are actually alot stronger than what the Radion alone puts out. I even think with the upgrade that Ecotech put out on the lens is still even stronger. Not sure.

Put this is just my own 2 cents... :fun4:

Just to clear things up.. this fixture is stronger than the old Radion, but it is not stronger than a Razor 160w version. It is similar to the 120w version.

If you have an Apex already, then it is worth it. If not, a 120w razor is similarly priced with a built in controller.

Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Tank2379]

Just to clear things up.. this fixture is stronger than the old Radion, but it is not stronger than a Razor 160w version. It is similar to the 120w version.

If you have an Apex already, then it is worth it. If not, a 120w razor is similarly priced with a built in controller.

Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2

Thanks.... I forgot it was a 160W.. Yeah not stronger.... :fun2: