Need some serious help ASAP

[T206]

Dear Fellow Reefers,

I just got a new Red Sea Reefer XL 525 and am desperately trying to decide between the following:

48"ATI Powermodule

http://www.atinorthamerica.com/powermodule.php?tabbedtabs=0

NanoBoX Reef Retro Hybrid

http://nanoboxreef.com/retro.html

GHL Mitras LX7000 x3 Fixtures (I guess I am a little partial to these since I am running their latest ultimate controller package and doser but it isn't a deciding factor). I run mixed reefs but this one will be a lot of SPS and high light coral.

https://www.aquariumcomputer.com/products/ghl-illumination/mitras-lx-7000-series/

or I could build my own but with two kessil AP700s or three A360s plus the T5s and the housing I don't think I want to spend that much.

 

[GoVols]

If it were me...

I'd run a ATI or Giesemann --- Led/T5 Hybird

JMO

 

[GoVols]

Congrats on your new "Reefer" awesome setups!!!!!

Also go over to the Red Sea forum and post over there.

 

[GoVols]

This may help too

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2615392

 

[slief]

I have Kessil 360WE's over my main display and loved them until I got an early LX7206 to put over my frag tank. I was sold the moment I got it setup. My corals look so much more different under the LX7206. Frags from my Strawberry Shortcake for example are tank and pink under the Kessils but they are green and red under the Mitras. There are other examples too but the after running the Mitras for a couple months over my frag tank and having already have an LX6200 here, I have six of the LX7206's arriving a week from Tuesday to upgrade the lighting over my main display. The LX7206's are by far the best LED I have seen or used to date. They are like Radions on steroids. Much more powerful than the Radion XR30 Pro's with better spread and better channel/color control. These are amazing fixtures.

Personally, I've had great success with LED's and incredible growth from my SPS, LPS and soft corals so I don't personally see a reason to go with T5's or hybrids. LED's grow corals just fine. The key is making corals pop and bringing out colors you wouldn't normally see and the Mitras do an amazing job of that.

Here are a couple pictures I took just now just for this thread. First is the main strawberry shortcake colony under the Kessils.. These colors are unedited and pretty much what you see when you look at them. These are taken with my iphone 7 plus.

This is a frag from that colony cut about a month ago. Again taken with the iphone 7 plus using a top down camera mount. This frag has totally encrusted over the plug and has been growing well but more importantly, look at the coloration. This is pretty much what it looked like the moment I put it under the LX7206. The color difference is just shocking.

Another corals. This is a Looney Tunes Cyphastrea if I am not mistaken. Its totally morphed under the LX7206 and turned into this beautiful specimen. It's also totally encrusted the plug. There are a number of other corals in this tank that are doing equally as well.

 

[T206]

Thanks!

Thanks!

Seems like the verdict is out for the ATI Powermodule. Although the tough part is no one really has used the new GHL Mitras LX7200 so its hard to say if they are great or just ok. They retail for like $800 and I would get 3 so I would hope they are good. I have an Orphek Atlantik V3+ now. Corals are really healthy but growth could be better I think and customer service but they don't have a lot of staff which I understand...

 

[T206]

Thanks Slief! I'm going to stick with the GHL LX 7206s!

Thanks Slief! I'm going to stick with the GHL LX 7206s!

Great Photos, I've had great luck with LEDs myself, just seems like these days everyone is saying LED/T5 Hybrid, LED/T5Hybrid... But the problem is quality control on Giessman isn't the best (I had t5s that didn't fit because the fixture wasn't cut to spec) and the power module I have heard needs better LEDs...

I have Kessil 360WE's over my main display and loved them until I got an early LX7206 to put over my frag tank. I was sold the moment I got it setup. My corals look so much more different under the LX7206. Frags from my Strawberry Shortcake for example are tank and pink under the Kessils but they are green and red under the Mitras. There are other examples too but the after running the Mitras for a couple months over my frag tank and having already have an LX6200 here, I have six of the LX7206's arriving a week from Tuesday to upgrade the lighting over my main display. The LX7206's are by far the best LED I have seen or used to date. They are like Radions on steroids. Much more powerful than the Radion XR30 Pro's with better spread and better channel/color control. These are amazing fixtures.

Personally, I've had great success with LED's and incredible growth from my SPS, LPS and soft corals so I don't personally see a reason to go with T5's or hybrids. LED's grow corals just fine. The key is making corals pop and bringing out colors you wouldn't normally see and the Mitras do an amazing job of that.

Here are a couple pictures I took just now just for this thread. First is the main strawberry shortcake colony under the Kessils.. These colors are unedited and pretty much what you see when you look at them. These are taken with my iphone 7 plus.

This is a frag from that colony cut about a month ago. Again taken with the iphone 7 plus using a top down camera mount. This frag has totally encrusted over the plug and has been growing well but more importantly, look at the coloration. This is pretty much what it looked like the moment I put it under the LX7206. The color difference is just shocking.

Another corals. This is a Looney Tunes Cyphastrea if I am not mistaken. Its totally morphed under the LX7206 and turned into this beautiful specimen. It's also totally encrusted the plug. There are a number of other corals in this tank that are doing equally as well.

 

[GoVols]

Great Photos, I've had great luck with LEDs myself, just seems like these days everyone is saying LED/T5 Hybrid, LED/T5Hybrid... But the problem is quality control on Giessman isn't the best (I had t5s that didn't fit because the fixture wasn't cut to spec) and the power module I have heard needs better LEDs...

Awesome corals! Proof is in the pudding!

I'm in no way against full blown leds but it takes way more units than what a manufacturer states it going to take to truly get the job done for correct spread and get corner to corner coverage without hot spots. But your already in big money anyway if your looking at good hybirds.

@slief, Love them corals and thanks for sharing!

 

[slief]

Awesome corals! Proof is in the pudding!

I'm in no way against full blown leds but it takes way more units than what a manufacturer states it going to take to truly get the job done for correct spread and get corner to corner coverage without hot spots. But your already in big money anyway if your looking at good hybirds.

@slief, Love them corals and thanks for sharing!

Thank you. I ran my 4'x8' tank with 8 of the 360WE's which did a great job of covering my 4'x8' tank with no shadowing. My corals all grew like weeds. The only reason I added 2 more was because I had SPS growing on the end of my peninsula on the wall and I wanted additional coverage directed over that spot. My expiernce has been that most of the high end manufacturers recommendations are pretty much spot on in terms of spread and will grow corals just fine for their rated size. The issue then becomes shadowing. A tank like mine that is really wide makes it much easier to address the shadowing where as a narrow but long tank makes it more difficult. Fhat's where you often need more lights or at least need to be more creative to address the shadowing. In my case, I have all my lights run along the perimeter of the tank. They are hung from articulating mounts that angle them inwards towards the center. I have them directed where I need the light and this completely eliminated any shadowing for me and gave me even spread across the entire tank.

The GHL Mitras on the hand have 6 pucks and insane spread. Better than any light I have ever seen in that form factor. The 7200's is lighting up a 3' long tank as is my LX6200. Because of the 6 pucks, they do a pretty good job of addressing shadowing issues too. Better than all other fixtures on the market (given their size) that I've seen.

Here is a picture of my light rack to give you an idea of how I positioned the lights to eliminate shadowing and maximize my coverage. The Mitras will be mounted similarly along the perimeter aimed towards the center. This also eliminates the light bleeding onto the glass and reduces algae growth on the viewing panes significantly.

Here is a full tank shot under the Kessils. The Mitras will be a spectacular upgrade but pictures like this one will never do the lighting any justice!

 

[GoVols]

Thank you. I ran my 4'x8' tank with 8 of the 360WE's which did a great job of covering my 4'x8' tank with no shadowing. My corals all grew like weeds. The only reason I added 2 more was because I had SPS growing on the end of my peninsula on the wall and I wanted additional coverage directed over that spot. My expiernce has been that most of the high end manufacturers recommendations are pretty much spot on in terms of spread and will grow corals just fine for their rated size. The issue then becomes shadowing. A tank like mine that is really wide makes it much easier to address the shadowing where as a narrow but long tank makes it more difficult. Fhat's where you often need more lights or at least need to be more creative to address the shadowing. In my case, I have all my lights run along the perimeter of the tank. They are hung from articulating mounts that angle them inwards towards the center. I have them directed where I need the light and this completely eliminated any shadowing for me and gave me even spread across the entire tank.

The GHL Mitras on the hand have 6 pucks and insane spread. Better than any light I have ever seen in that form factor. The 7200's is lighting up a 3' long tank as is my LX6200. Because of the 6 pucks, they do a pretty good job of addressing shadowing issues too. Better than all other fixtures on the market (given their size) that I've seen.

Here is a picture of my light rack to give you an idea of how I positioned the lights to eliminate shadowing and maximize my coverage. The Mitras will be mounted similarly along the perimeter aimed towards the center. This also eliminates the light bleeding onto the glass and reduces algae growth on the viewing panes significantly.

Here is a full tank shot under the Kessils. The Mitras will be a spectacular upgrade but pictures like this one will never do the lighting any justice!

Now that's what I call some serious led spread!

If I were running Kessil's I'd run them at different angles like you.

If have an original Red Sea S-400. Came with 10 T5's in three sections. Gutted out the mid section (2-T5's) and encased in leds. Looks totally factory. Took awhile to get all tuned in right an had some freaked out corals but they adjusted in time.

That's the way I could the best of both worlds and stay within a reasonable buget.

I get the T5 spread with tiny amount of shimmer during full daylight photo period and get the super nice led ramp up and ramp down at both ends of the day when T5's are not on.

I still love original S series T5 canopy (Makes the tank look like a complete piece of furniture) and not a science project and still have Happy corals. It's just very hard to let go of that canopy.

I noticed your the Director Customer Support Royal Exclusiv USA

I did upgrade the factory skimmer to a Bubble King. What can you when you've owned a Bubble King. Talk about set a forget.

slief, I never have to tweak that Bubble King. Like setting your home AC unit thermostat and let it do it's think.

Thanks for your expertise and sharing!

Merry Christmas, GoVols

 

[slief]

Now that's what I call some serious led spread!

If I were running Kessil's I'd run them at different angles like you.

If have an original Red Sea S-400. Came with 10 T5's in three sections. Gutted out the mid section (2-T5's) and encased in leds. Looks totally factory. Took awhile to get all tuned in right an had some freaked out corals but they adjusted in time.

That's the way I could the best of both worlds and stay within a reasonable buget.

I get the T5 spread with tiny amount of shimmer during full daylight photo period and get the super nice led ramp up and ramp down at both ends of the day when T5's are not on.

I still love original S series T5 canopy (Makes the tank look like a complete piece of furniture) and not a science project and still have Happy corals. It's just very hard to let go of that canopy.

I noticed your the Director Customer Support Royal Exclusiv USA

I did upgrade the factory skimmer to a Bubble King. What can you when you've owned a Bubble King. Talk about set a forget.

slief, I never have to tweak that Bubble King. Like setting your home AC unit thermostat and let it do it's think.

Thanks for your expertise and sharing!

Merry Christmas, GoVols

Thanks GoVols. Glad you appreciated the pictures. Keep an eye on my thread. The Mitras upgrade will be covered there.

I've been a long time Royal Exclusiv/Bubble King user myself and always loved the skimmers. Helping other BK owners here on the forum is what got me connected with Royal Exclusiv.

I hope you have a Merry XMAS too!

 

[T206]

Thanks for sharing, love the 360 array!