Opinion sought...

[christygirl]

I am going to move my 180 Gallon reef to another location in the house during a remodel.
During the move I am going to change the lighting.
Currently, I have an ATI Hybrid Power Module. 60" long.

Because the tank will now be built into the wall, I will no longer have access to the ends and I want to possibly change out to 100% LED.

I just recently (about 1 month ago) turned off the t5's for all but about 2 hours each day.

What are your guys and gals opinions of the current lighting technology out there? Is there a fixture that you swear by?

When I bought this fixture 8 to 10 years ago, it was a really high end light fixture and has been a terrific fixture since I have had it.... still is, but, due to access, I think smaller, multiple LED fixture would be easier to work with in the canopy.

Let me know your thoughts if it is not an inconvenience.

Thanks,

Randy

 

[discotu]

Hey Randy happy new year! When I had your old tank I was also running a power module. Got great growth. Nothing to complain about. Fast forward to a year ago and I wanted something sleeker since I was going open top with no canopy. I also missed the shimmer from the MH days so I decided on Kessil A360s (tuna blue) . I knew I wasnt going to scape wall to wall so I started with 3 focused in the middle 3/4 of the tank. I ended up getting a 4th and mounted them on an aluminum bar. Nice growth, great shimmer and totally hands off, all controlled via the kessil app. I think there's a way to integrate with Apex but I have felt the need. I have one wifi dongle with the rest daisy chained via usb-c cables. I *might* try to squeeze in a 5th but don't think I need to yet.

 

[minus9]

What corals are you keeping or want to keep? I would do a combo of different LED's for that size tank. I love Quanta Pro bars as they give you the T5 feel and coverage and they are better than xho's and Orpheks combined. I'm also a big fan of Kessil's, as I like contrast within a tank and don't mind some shading here and there. But, if you want a little more coverage along with LED bars, then I would seriously consider the new version of Reefi Uno (pro v2), as these lights perform as good as Radions xr30's, if not better for half the price. Plus, they're made here in Cali (Bay area I think?). The great thing about Reefi's and Kessil's, you have the ability to change their mounting height based on the lenses you use (Kessil has 35 & 55 degree lens options and the Reefi comes with two different lens sets). These are the only two lights that have this versatility/option.

 

[BeanAnimal]

I purchased the Noopsyche K7 Pro III.
I think they compare to Radion output and color for the most part. The software ... meh not the greatest. DIRT CHEAP.
That said, I have read very good things about the Profilux lights and somewhat wish I would have spent $1400 on them instead of $500 on the noopsyche --- I just got a profilux and the control would have been great.

 

[minus9]

I purchased the Noopsyche K7 Pro III.
I think they compare to Radion output and color for the most part. The software ... meh not the greatest. DIRT CHEAP.
That said, I have read very good things about the Profilux lights and somewhat wish I would have spent $1400 on them instead of $500 on the noopsyche --- I just got a profilux and the control would have been great.

Mitras are great lights, but I really wish that GHL would get there heads out of the 80's software biz, because their software has to be the slowest and most convoluted out there and for no good reason. Anyone that ties you into a specific computer (PC) to do firmware updates, etc, really limits themselves. Great lights though.

 

[BeanAnimal]

I am poking around the P4 software now.
I don't so much have a problem with the software as of yet. It appears to look/work more like a PLC for anything other than standard stuff. That makes it very powerful, the tradeoff is "ease of use" for simple things. I have not looked at neptune, but assume that there is def a difference in the compound logic that can be applied.

I also get that they don't want to develop a full fledged Control Center app for both MacOS and Windows, but it would be nice.
I also like the form factor of the GHL. I (honestly) think that the form factor of the ALL of the Neptune stuff is silly, if not outright obnoxious. It doesn't fit on a shelf, it doesn't nest, it doesn't fit side-by-side and it is def not aesthetically pleasing.

Anyway - on the fence if I should keep these K7s or bite the bullet and go with the Mitras.

 

[minus9]

I am poking around the P4 software now.
I don't so much have a problem with the software as of yet. It appears to look/work more like a PLC for anything other than standard stuff. That makes it very powerful, the tradeoff is "ease of use" for simple things. I have not looked at neptune, but assume that there is def a difference in the compound logic that can be applied.

I also get that they don't want to develop a full fledged Control Center app for both MacOS and Windows, but it would be nice.
I also like the form factor of the GHL. I (honestly) think that the form factor of the ALL of the Neptune stuff is silly, if not outright obnoxious. It doesn't fit on a shelf, it doesn't nest, it doesn't fit side-by-side and it is def not aesthetically pleasing.

Anyway - on the fence if I should keep these K7s or bite the bullet and go with the Mitras.

GHL hardware is hard to beat, they always seemed really well built/made. You can see and feel the quality, just wish the software wasn't so archaic, there's just no reason to keep it that way. Just making it all web/cloud based would be a huge improvement.

 

[BeanAnimal]

I think that is where the two camps tend to split. I don't like cloud based anything, or at least dependence on it. I prefer to have devices that can be programmed and work independently from phoning home or requiring to phone home for programming changes, activation etc.

I should be able to take a device (any device) carry it to the moon with a generator and operate it. I do not want to be bound to a service that may or may not go away or become deprecated at some point.

 

[christygirl]

Guys , I am sorry that I haven't posted until now. I appreciate your input... Was surprised, not surprised on the differences in opinions.

Hey Randy happy new year! When I had your old tank I was also running a power module. Got great growth. Nothing to complain about. Fast forward to a year ago and I wanted something sleeker since I was going open top with no canopy. I also missed the shimmer from the MH days so I decided on Kessil A360s (tuna blue) . I knew I wasnt going to scape wall to wall so I started with 3 focused in the middle 3/4 of the tank. I ended up getting a 4th and mounted them on an aluminum bar. Nice growth, great shimmer and totally hands off, all controlled via the kessil app. I think there's a way to integrate with Apex but I have felt the need. I have one wifi dongle with the rest daisy chained via usb-c cables. I *might* try to squeeze in a 5th but don't think I need to yet.

Discotu, I have the Kessil lights on my freshwater system in the office... I am somewhat concerned that the A360's do not have color that is programable. Have they changed lately? One of the reasons I like the ATI is that it can be programed to slightly change color and intensity to more closely simulate a sunrise and sunset... even with red at sunset....

What corals are you keeping or want to keep? I would do a combo of different LED's for that size tank. I love Quanta Pro bars as they give you the T5 feel and coverage and they are better than xho's and Orpheks combined. I'm also a big fan of Kessil's, as I like contrast within a tank and don't mind some shading here and there. But, if you want a little more coverage along with LED bars, then I would seriously consider the new version of Reefi Uno (pro v2), as these lights perform as good as Radions xr30's, if not better for half the price. Plus, they're made here in Cali (Bay area I think?). The great thing about Reefi's and Kessil's, you have the ability to change their mounting height based on the lenses you use (Kessil has 35 & 55 degree lens options and the Reefi comes with two different lens sets). These are the only two lights that have this versatility/option.

Minus9, I will look at the Reefi Uno Pro v2... I have literally no experience with any of the brands you have mentioned... I will do some research!

I purchased the Noopsyche K7 Pro III.
I think they compare to Radion output and color for the most part. The software ... meh not the greatest. DIRT CHEAP.
That said, I have read very good things about the Profilux lights and somewhat wish I would have spent $1400 on them instead of $500 on the noopsyche --- I just got a profilux and the control would have been great.

Bean, Do you have to run the Profilux controller to use the lights? So, the ATI software is a little weird too... I wonder how it compares to the noopsyche.... Did you ultimately not like the noopsyche?

 

[BeanAnimal]

The profilix can run stand alone. I just ordered 2and will decide if I keep them or the noo psyche.

 

[discotu]

I control my A360's via wifi dongle and the Kessil app. The app isn't the greatest but it does the job. I haven't messed around with it too much but as you can see the program is customizable and you can add points each with its own settings.

Currently i have a single wifi dongle with the 4 lights daisy chained via USBC cables. This means all 4 are tied to the same program. Theoretically you can group them with as many dongles as you have individual lights and control them separately. Similarly you can control them with the wired spectral controller but who wants more wires?

 

[minus9]

I have 3 lights connected to my wifi dongle chain, two 360x's and one 500x. The 360's are running one program and the 500 is running a different program. Both groups are controlled individually without issue.

 

[discotu]

Ah, looks like you can setup groups with one dongle. Like I said haven't played around with it too much