Kurt03's 220 Build

[Kurt03]

Thanks for posting! So far I had one driver go out at around 6 months. I'm coming up on the one year mark for them. I hope mine hold up better than yours, jeesh. Any thought if a different driver could be used? Maybe theirs aren't so good.
What % are you running blues and whites? I've had mine fairly low but am working on ramping them up. Is your 200g 30 tall?
What are they charging per driver since they are out of warranty?

 

[stan zemanek]

Kurt, I'm glad to hear it's not just me with driver problems on the Breeders. I wish everybody considering buying those units would read this thread. I wouldn't use Breeders to light an old back woods Alabama out house! Absolute junk!

 

[Kurt03]

I have one of their smaller value series units over my sump and have had zero issues. Will have to see how my photon 32's hold up over the next 6 months I guess. If I'm not happy I might go back to t5's. I've only had one driver fail and support was great at getting me a replacement. If I have one fail outside of warranty I might try and find an alternative driver.

What did they charge for a driver?

 

[stan zemanek]

I think the drivers are about $20 plus shipping. But that's not the point. This whole LED thing has been over sold in my opinion. You may be saving money on electric bills and bulbs, but spending more on buying replacement parts, or upgrading to a better quality fixture. Unfrotunately I was one of the people who got in on the "Reef Breeder Group Buy" Thinking I was saving some money. Lesson learned I guess.

 

[Kurt03]

I agree would be preferable if the drivers were a bit higher quality/didn't fail as often.
What percent did you run the blues and whites at?

I was curious so looked up t5 bulb prices. 60" ATI bulbs are about $25ea. I would need a 6 bulb fixture so looking at $150 each year in replacements. Some recommend replacing even sooner. Doesn't include any ballast replacements etc.

Let's assume 2 drivers per year fail, that's $40 vs $150. Maybe we can find another driver that will work better. If I can it would be nice to have a driver on hand when needed instead of waiting for one to ship while my lights are out.

That being said I hope mine last a bit longer but we shall see.

 

[stan zemanek]

Your math may tell you part of the story but you have to consider that know really knows how long LED bulbs last as far as coral health. 3 years from now you may be spending a fortune on other stuff trying to keep your corals alive, only to find out the LED bulbs are bad even though they still light up. So then what do you do? Try to get the bulbs replaced or spend more money on some kind of new fangled light the industry is pushing? Catch 22 I would say.

I never really had a chance to mess with the settings on my units. I'm not much of a techno gadget guy. I don't need cloud cover mode, or low flying airplane shadow mode, etc. etc. I like simple things. I just ran them on the factory default mode because I always had a driver out. Right now I am looking at Kessil Tuna's but my common sense tells me to get a 6 bulb t's unit and be done with all the LED nonsense.

 

[Kurt03]

If need be I'll replace the diodes, they are fairly inexpensive. Let's hope it doesn't come to that anytime soon.

If I need to make the switch from LEDs I'll either build a light hood with t5's in it or buy a t5 fixture.

 

[Reef_Breeders]

I think the drivers are about $20 plus shipping. But that's not the point. This whole LED thing has been over sold in my opinion. You may be saving money on electric bills and bulbs, but spending more on buying replacement parts, or upgrading to a better quality fixture. Unfrotunately I was one of the people who got in on the "Reef Breeder Group Buy" Thinking I was saving some money. Lesson learned I guess.

Hey Stan,

All that is covered under our 2 year warranty, so we can fix them free of charge (and did). The new units also don't use the same drivers- we have since improved the internal circuit boards, and still offer parts at a low cost to our customers after our much longer than standard warranty.

I am sorry that you didn't have an excellent experience with our product, it isn't typical that the same light has repeated issues, let alone an issue in the first place. As I offered previously, I can send the parts needed free of charge to you, even well after the warranty period.

 

[Kurt03]

Thanks for chiming in Logan! Its good to hear you have switched drivers!

Ive only had one driver fail, and you guys replaced it promptly. I currently have an older value led over my sump frag tank, and two photon 32's over my display.

 

[Kurt03]

Also, I bought a Nuvo 10 for an office tank! Ive been toying with this idea for a year or so, so figured lets just do it.

Any light recommendations? Id like to be able to keep sps in it if/when I want but would have a limited number of them to keep maint low. I want to keep it affordable, but decent looking since it will be on my desk at work.

Im currently thinking about either the Reefbreeders Nano light,
https://www.reefbreeders.com/shop/nano-lite/

Or the SBreef Sprite,
https://sbreeflights.com/sbox-nano-reeffuge/7-sbox-sprite-reef-nano.html

 

[Kurt03]

Water test, it holds! So far anyways.

My duncan since they were looking happy.

 

[moondoggy4]

Kessil 160 or a AI Prime HD not sure if that is in your budget. I have the Kessil over a 12'' cube tank plenty of light.

 

[Kurt03]

The start of the office tank. The light is just my desk lamp.

I'm not 100% on the rock work yet, might remove the single large chunk and go with some smaller ones but it's what I had. Thoughts?

 

[MMacro]

Also, I bought a Nuvo 10 for an office tank! Ive been toying with this idea for a year or so, so figured lets just do it.

Any light recommendations? Id like to be able to keep sps in it if/when I want but would have a limited number of them to keep maint low. I want to keep it affordable, but decent looking since it will be on my desk at work.

Im currently thinking about either the Reefbreeders Nano light,
https://www.reefbreeders.com/shop/nano-lite/

Or the SBreef Sprite,
https://sbreeflights.com/sbox-nano-reeffuge/7-sbox-sprite-reef-nano.html

Id do a kessil A80
Or if you wanted something with a little more power a kessil 160we

 

[Kurt03]

Thanks for all of the suggestions everyone. Light should get here Thursday-Friday! Tank cleared up nicely.

Hitch hiker, this was out of the water for an hour while I did the re-scape in my 220, then in a tub with no light for a couple weeks. Hopefully it will survive. I'm pretty sure it was part of a green and orange faviate. Had no idea it was there until Monday after the tank cleared up.

 

[Kurt03]

light! I went with the reef breeders unit, I'm pretty happy with it. The app could be better, had issues connecting etc but it works. 6 channels is going to take a little time to get adjusted right.

 

[Kurt03]

Fish fish fish, which fish fit in a 10? This is a new constraint for me. Need to keep it bright and fun but low maintenance

 

[Kurt03]

Office tank is ready for it's first fish, I've just been waiting for him to fatten up in qt. Haven't gotten much of an algae bloom but I'm not complaining.

Also just saw this article and found it interesting,

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/blog/some-tangs-arent-very-good-at-eating-algae

 

[C_man7]

Hey man How are these lights doing? I was looking to get the same light for my evo 13.5

 

[Kurt03]

Hey man How are these lights doing? I was looking to get the same light for my evo 13.5

The lights are working out well, they look good and the couple sps that are in there are growing. I'm getting through an algae spike (auto feeder over fed while on vacation) but will get pictures tomorrow. I can screen shot my light settings also, they are pretty low. I only have a digi and bird'snest so low light sps but seem to be doing well for a young small tank. I'll start ramping lights up as I get algae under control a bit more. I've chased it back to the sand bed.