Maxspect LED owners!!!

[GY2202]

Hi,

Any news when will the G3 will come out?

 

[hmello@bermexin]

Tagging along here as I am pondering the purchase of a G2 160 for SPS dominant 29 gallon Biocube. Currently running a 150 watt 20k Radium in a HQI Sunpod. After looking at acrotrdco's pictures I am now wondering if I even need that model to ensure coverage over a 20in x 20in x 20 in tank.

Any thoughts on this?

 

[Mandragen]

One 160w unit would be perfect for your tank. I ran one on a 29g, 30", tank and it did well. Like was stated before, I would recommend one light per 2 foot cube, 110w or 160w would depend on depth but I have a 24" deep tank and only run the 30w LEDs an hour thinking about cutting back to 30min.

 

[hmello@bermexin]

I am torn between this and the 12" Aquaillumination super blue.
American made, flexible controller are pushing me towards the AI.

Any thoughts???

 

[chercm]

my corals have all brown out and the blues and purples have all dropped .... please help

 

[Mandragen]

didn't we address this last month? I was having a slight coloring issue because I was running the 30w LEDs for to long, growth was great. I cut back to an hour and all color on all pieces are returning to normal.

 

[Acrotrdco]

Tagging along here as I am pondering the purchase of a G2 160 for SPS dominant 29 gallon Biocube. Currently running a 150 watt 20k Radium in a HQI Sunpod. After looking at acrotrdco's pictures I am now wondering if I even need that model to ensure coverage over a 20in x 20in x 20 in tank.

Any thoughts on this?

You can definitely keep SPS in a 20x20x20 cube, just install optics like I did!

This is the latest photo of my tank:

 

[hhaase]

20" cube? Heck, you can probably go with the 110 Extreme. I've got G2-160's on my 90g, which is 24" tall. Without optics and only running the 30w lights about 20 minutes per day I'm seeing good growth on my derasa clam and acro's. The Derasa is on the sand bed, and the acro's aren't much higher yet.

I do have the optics sets to install eventually, but I'm taking my time with the light acclimation.

-Hans

 

[gambitcobra]

This is the latest photo of my tank:

amazing color! I have to change some leds asap

 

[chercm]

didn't we address this last month? I was having a slight coloring issue because I was running the 30w LEDs for to long, growth was great. I cut back to an hour and all color on all pieces are returning to normal.

i left it for an hour , still loosing colour

 

[Mandragen]

than it's prob not the lighting

 

[Acrotrdco]

than it's prob not the lighting

Couldn't agree more. Check your water parameters, as we all know, keeping SPS is all about lighting, water and flow, if your SPS's aren't doing well it's gotta be one of the three things.

I've been using LED for over a year and I've never got any problem like you mentioned, it's probably not the lighting.

Try to look into the other two areas, water (condition) and flow.

 

[Midnightsun]

Has anyone tried to mod the Maxspec system to include a dimming feature? If not, can someone electronically inclined in this field help me out here. I looked things over by opening the main controller where the drivers are located but then it just got a little to over my head trying to understand this. Should be pretty simple by just replacing the on off unit or adding to it a couple of meanwell drivers with dimming capability such as this http://www.rapidled.com/servlet/the-41/Mean-Well-ELN-dsh-60-dsh-48D-dimmable/Detail Once this is functional, I could control dimming and turn on times through my reefkeeper. Any takers???

I did read about the G3 series to be released in the near future but even this is only manual dimming on board which does not help me the least bit since I want to ramp up over time. (Sunrise/sunset effect)

 

[Jeff]

Has anyone tried to mod the Maxspec system to include a dimming feature? If not, can someone electronically inclined in this field help me out here. I looked things over by opening the main controller where the drivers are located but then it just got a little to over my head trying to understand this. Should be pretty simple by just replacing the on off unit or adding to it a couple of meanwell drivers with dimming capability such as this http://www.rapidled.com/servlet/the-41/Mean-Well-ELN-dsh-60-dsh-48D-dimmable/Detail Once this is functional, I could control dimming and turn on times through my reefkeeper. Any takers???

I did read about the G3 series to be released in the near future but even this is only manual dimming on board which does not help me the least bit since I want to ramp up over time. (Sunrise/sunset effect)

Oh man this would be great. I have a RKE and a Maxspect unit and would love to make this happen. Too bad I am an electrical noobie...

 

[reefkeeps]

Yeah if i could make it happen I would own one of the lights rather than waiting for the g3 or AI to come out with a better looking light....

 

[canesfan44]

I would love someone to give it a try, but it wont be me. I consider changing two AAA batteries the extent of my electrical abilities.

 

[Mandragen]

yeah I think a dimable feature is cool. I think the ability to sink it with the real lunar/solar cycle is even cooler, but not quite sure either is necessary. I'm not sure that I would pay the difference to purchase these luxuries, that's why I went with this fixture in the first place.

 

[Midnightsun]

It is not just the coolness we are talking about here. You would be able to adjust the color spectrum as you want in order to please the corals or your view or a combination of both. You could run at lower output and increase the life span of the leds. Personally i like the color just fine with 100% with both blue and white however that is only for a certain portion on the day. With the dimming feature I could run 30% blue and 20% white at dawn dusk which would take away that psychedelic blue which we are stuck with morning and night. Almost looks like somebody stuck a 2000 flushes in the aquarium IMHO. You can change led colors by replacement but it gives you no where near the flexibility of dimming.

 

[Mandragen]

Oh I understand the benefits but they are merely aesthetic. My point was that to me that's not worth another $100-$300 per light at this point in the LED game.

 

[swannking]

Has anyone tried to mod the Maxspec system to include a dimming feature? If not, can someone electronically inclined in this field help me out here. I looked things over by opening the main controller where the drivers are located but then it just got a little to over my head trying to understand this. Should be pretty simple by just replacing the on off unit or adding to it a couple of meanwell drivers with dimming capability such as this http://www.rapidled.com/servlet/the-41/Mean-Well-ELN-dsh-60-dsh-48D-dimmable/Detail Once this is functional, I could control dimming and turn on times through my reefkeeper. Any takers???

I did read about the G3 series to be released in the near future but even this is only manual dimming on board which does not help me the least bit since I want to ramp up over time. (Sunrise/sunset effect)

I supposed if you could find out which wires go to the individual bank of leds, you could just cut them and have them powered by a dimmable meanwell. However, each bank of the G2 110 has 18 leds run in series on the same circuit board. If you have to use the MW which only run up to 12-14 led max, you need two of them. Here is the problem and things start to get hairy, you need to separate the circuit board of the maxspect to create 2 groups of 9 leds. If you can find a dimmable driver which can power up to 18 leds in series, you are golden.