I've been running the Sirius X2 for a week now and love it. I have a 25x25x12 and the light distribution is even across the entire cube. No spot lighting effect at all.
I hooked it up to my laptop with the programming software and decided to keep the default 50% lighting cycle since I don't have any demanding corals yet. Though due to my shallow water depth, I'm sure SPS would do just fine at this intensity. It's pre-programmed for a nice day/night cycle with the lights gradually coming on in the morning and increasing in intensity for mid day. At night it decreases, and the cyan/red/white LED's fade more than the blue leaving an actinic look in the late evening. But even those fade even further until they are barely on for a true night resting period after I've gone to bed.
You can use the programming software to easily manipulate these intensities and color ranges for certain times of the day. My only complaint is that mine didn't come with any sort of manual so I had to figure all of this out on my own. Also, in order to program the lights with a computer, you will need a laptop unless your desktop is right next to your tank. My package contained a PS2-->USB dongle that plugs into the light, and a USB extension cable that you hook into that so you can sit down and plug it into your laptop. I think I would have preferred a flash drive or something so I didn't have to plug directly into the lighting fixture with a laptop. If I didn't have my work laptop at home, I would have had no way to push the saved lighting profile to the light, and instead would have needed to use the manual controls on the fixture itself (much more difficult). This is also the only way you can download the current lighting profile from the light and into the ATI Sirius software, so can you look at it and tweak it if you'd like.
One of the cooler features of the software is an accelerated full day cycle you can use while plugged into the lighting fixture so you can see what your programmed lighting schedule will look like during the course of the day and see the fading effects. Also, while making changes to the lighting coloration, you can preview any of these with the push of a button and see the fixture change to what you're currently working on.
Anyway, since I didn't see any comments from people that actually owned the lighting fixture, I thought folks might enjoy a first impression. I'm very happy with my new fixture and would recommend it for anyone looking for a well built LED fixture with the ability to customize your colors/intensity/time schedule.
-Josh
I hooked it up to my laptop with the programming software and decided to keep the default 50% lighting cycle since I don't have any demanding corals yet. Though due to my shallow water depth, I'm sure SPS would do just fine at this intensity. It's pre-programmed for a nice day/night cycle with the lights gradually coming on in the morning and increasing in intensity for mid day. At night it decreases, and the cyan/red/white LED's fade more than the blue leaving an actinic look in the late evening. But even those fade even further until they are barely on for a true night resting period after I've gone to bed.
You can use the programming software to easily manipulate these intensities and color ranges for certain times of the day. My only complaint is that mine didn't come with any sort of manual so I had to figure all of this out on my own. Also, in order to program the lights with a computer, you will need a laptop unless your desktop is right next to your tank. My package contained a PS2-->USB dongle that plugs into the light, and a USB extension cable that you hook into that so you can sit down and plug it into your laptop. I think I would have preferred a flash drive or something so I didn't have to plug directly into the lighting fixture with a laptop. If I didn't have my work laptop at home, I would have had no way to push the saved lighting profile to the light, and instead would have needed to use the manual controls on the fixture itself (much more difficult). This is also the only way you can download the current lighting profile from the light and into the ATI Sirius software, so can you look at it and tweak it if you'd like.
One of the cooler features of the software is an accelerated full day cycle you can use while plugged into the lighting fixture so you can see what your programmed lighting schedule will look like during the course of the day and see the fading effects. Also, while making changes to the lighting coloration, you can preview any of these with the push of a button and see the fixture change to what you're currently working on.
Anyway, since I didn't see any comments from people that actually owned the lighting fixture, I thought folks might enjoy a first impression. I'm very happy with my new fixture and would recommend it for anyone looking for a well built LED fixture with the ability to customize your colors/intensity/time schedule.
-Josh
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