*Reef Breeders Photon v2 and T5 installation, testing, and review*

[oreo57]

Tilting it the wrong way... tilting lights (esp LED) "forward" will get you more reflections off the glass so at to bounce back in and dilute the shadows..
Problem of course is lght spill into the room..
As long as the rays are hitting the front glass by less than 90 degrees a lot will "bounce" back..

you know, like when you take that flash photo of your tank and get a large "fireball" in the image..

So, for example, a ray going from air into glass will bend far more than when it goes from glass into water. At both interfaces, however, it reflects according to the law of reflection: angle of incidence equals angle of reflection.

JUst turn the image sideways..

 

[Editour2]

Jason.....how about an update? I am interested in how your corals are doing under the Photon V2's...especially SPS, (acros).

 

[Ron Reefman]

Jason.....how about an update? I am interested in how your corals are doing under the Photon V2's...especially SPS, (acros).

I'd be interested to hear Jason's take as well.

I've had a Photon V2 50" over a 60" tank (20" deep) for just under a year and I started with a new tank, some old coral and lots of new sps. All my corals are growing faster than I ever remember... or maybe because I'm getting older, time just seems to go by faster!

And besides sps (and that includes Acros) doing well, my zoas are also going crazy. I never kept many zoas in my old 180g tank because I had a coral beauty dwarf angelfish that ate them! So this has been a pleasant surprise.

 

[jason2459]

Corals and anemones are doing well. My main sps which I'm not sure what kind it is constantly has its polyps extended. It initially grew out quick after the light change and now seems to be getting denser. I'll have to get a pic later.

My anemones are doing awesome. Took this one the other day.

My red mushrooms are growing like crazy. I'm told these ones like light and flow and they are doing well up and center.

My fiji leather is yellow. lol


My red goni is doing well. My weird coral I have no idea what it is is finally growing out and encrusting over the rocks like I would like. I do have one lps that always looks good but has never really grown much. I probably need to move it. And I've never been very successful with duncans but its doing ok. Again I don't think I'm good at putting them in the right spots.

 

[Ron Reefman]

Jason, some corals are just flat out slow growers. I have a deep blue and pale green encrusting coral that came on a rock with some zoas from an LFS about 10 years ago. I have no idea what it is and I've never seen anything like it anywhere, not that I look for it. Who wants super slow growing corals? It's been in 3 different tanks and moved around some. It very looked unhappy, but the polyps are so fine it would be hard to tell. In all that time I'd be exaggerating if I said it's doubled in size!

 

[christiantt]

Just bought a Photon V2 and found this great thread including your schedule.
Are you still running the same??

 

[Vinny Kreyling]

I just put up 2 32" v-2's on a 72 X 36 x 27 mixed reef.
PAR readings under water @ these increments
1" 650-750 5" 430-500 10" 320-415 15" 225- 300
on the bottom 24" 130-160
Variations due to sideways movements & water flow on the surface.
I run close to the 12 K program listed on the " controller set up" website.

 

[Vinny Kreyling]

Ron, as far as a coral not growing --
I had a Pink Goni with no growth for 2 years.
I have been using ESV Transition Elements & low & behold it is almost doubled.
Joe Yaiullo could not grow Pink birds nest in the 20,000 gallon tank until he started using it.
Food for thought??

 

[Green Chromis]

:fish1: Hi all, just purchased a Photon 32-V2+ for my refugium, it replaces the 2 250watt metal halides I had on the tank. The halides were way overkill for light, but used them because I had them laying around in the fish room. Thanks Ron, and Jason after reading all your post on RC, I finally am changing over to LED's. Still undecided on the main tank and sump LED lights, but will give the Photon LED light a chance. I am thinking of getting another Photon for the sump, if I like the look, and maybe go with the Mitras 7200 series or the Radions due to the smooth transitioning period on the ramp up and ramp down cycles. Thanks guys for convincing me to spent a lot more money on my system, but I think it will be worth it in the long run. I really love the Sunrise, Sunset features on the new LED lights, as I could never do this on my old MH/VHO combo. :fish1:

 

[Editour2]

:fish1: I am thinking of getting another Photon for the sump, if I like the look, and maybe go with the Mitras 7200 series or the Radions due to the smooth transitioning period on the ramp up and ramp down cycles. Thanks guys for convincing me to spent a lot more money on my system, but I think it will be worth it in the long run. I really love the Sunrise, Sunset features on the new LED lights, as I could never do this on my old MH/VHO combo. :fish1:

Yes the Mitras and Radions have a smoother ramp up and ramp down. If you program a large increase/decrease in the individual channel intensity settings on the Photons (let's say from 5% to 50% in 1 hour) and you stared at the Photon's you could detect the ramping. If you program smaller changes in the intensity....it is much harder to detect and can be pretty smooth. The question then becomes: Is it worth the extra money to you? I don't know the size of your tank but at 600 gals I'd venture a guess that you will need maybe 6 or more Mitras (and even more of the Radions) to adequately cover that tank. If money is not a consideration then I would go with 1 of those brands or even the newest Orphek version but if you want to save a ton of money I'd go with a group of the Photon V2+'s with maybe supplemental T5's. About 7 years ago I purchased 3 x 180watt LED units that had all the bells and whistles and cost me around $2500. They were antiquated in 2 years!!!! I used them anyway since I had so much invested but finally replaced them last December with the Photon's. I sold those 3 units for $300, (actually 4 units....I purchased 1 unit used for spare parts).

 

[Green Chromis]

Yes the Mitras and Radions have a smoother ramp up and ramp down. If you program a large increase/decrease in the individual channel intensity settings on the Photons (let's say from 5% to 50% in 1 hour) and you stared at the Photon's you could detect the ramping. If you program smaller changes in the intensity....it is much harder to detect and can be pretty smooth. The question then becomes: Is it worth the extra money to you? I don't know the size of your tank but at 600 gals I'd venture a guess that you will need maybe 6 or more Mitras (and even more of the Radions) to adequately cover that tank. If money is not a consideration then I would go with 1 of those brands or even the newest Orphek version but if you want to save a ton of money I'd go with a group of the Photon V2+'s with maybe supplemental T5's. About 7 years ago I purchased 3 x 180watt LED units that had all the bells and whistles and cost me around $2500. They were antiquated in 2 years!!!! I used them anyway since I had so much invested but finally replaced them last December with the Photon's. I sold those 3 units for $300, (actually 4 units....I purchased 1 unit used for spare parts).

:fish1: Hi Editour2, the main display tank is around 390 gals, 84 x 36 x 30 tall, so you have the new Photon V2+, as they sound like really good lights, but I have never seen these lights in person, so I am really curious about the ramp up, and ramp down, and the color spectrum. I also like the ability to ramp the Radions and Mitras over a multiple hour time frame, instead of every hour, but with the new every six minute ramp up cycle on the Photons it may not be that big a deal. I will see, and how is the light spread on the 32 V2+ lights compared to the 2 or 6 pucks of the Radions and Mitras. Could I get away with 4 32 Photons instead of 6 Mitras or Radions, and can you program the Photons thru a Pc or just the remote? :fish1:

 

[Editour2]

You have the photon V2+ so play around with it and see if you like the ramping feature. Listen....there is no doubt that both the radion pro g4 and the mitras lx7200 are better fixtures. That being said I don't know how many units you would need. It depends on what you are housing. Are you sps dominated? Softies? Mixed reef? If sps dominated with your tank you might be able to do 4 or 5 running them front to back. Mitras you may need 6 and even more with the radions but again that's for an sps dominated tank. Multiply the price of each by the number of fixtures and the photons will cost half the price......but YOU have to be happy with them.....dont take my word for it.

 

[becon776]

oh man... i am driving myself nuts with all of these reviews but helpful nonteless.
i am rebooting my tank. getting a reefer450 for a good price preowned. aftermarket triton sump.

mixed reef but heavy on sps. i keep looking at the 60"v2 i have only ever done 2x250 de mh (phoenix) and 4x54 t5. but was WAAAAAAY TOOO MUCH for my 75 gallon. bleached the crap out of everything except at the bottom.

input on opinions for the v2 on the reefer 450?. money is a big issue (baby on the way) and also current li ights take up 3 PLUGS on my apex. yuck. i am in LOVE with a single fixture and a single plug. i do notice that alot of people expressing complications have much bigger tanks.
info opinions please! picking up tank this weekend.

 

[Green Chromis]

oh man... i am driving myself nuts with all of these reviews but helpful nonteless.
i am rebooting my tank. getting a reefer450 for a good price preowned. aftermarket triton sump.

mixed reef but heavy on sps. i keep looking at the 60"v2 i have only ever done 2x250 de mh (phoenix) and 4x54 t5. but was WAAAAAAY TOOO MUCH for my 75 gallon. bleached the crap out of everything except at the bottom.

input on opinions for the v2 on the reefer 450?. money is a big issue (baby on the way) and also current li ights take up 3 PLUGS on my apex. yuck. i am in LOVE with a single fixture and a single plug. i do notice that alot of people expressing complications have much bigger tanks.
info opinions please! picking up tank this weekend.

:fish1: Hi Becon, I just installed the new Photon 32" V2+ on my refugium, which is a little over 200 gallons. The refug measures 60" x 30" x 27" and the light does a good job covering about the middle 40" of the fuge, with par measurements around 135 or so on the bottom, up to 330 at the top of the live rock. This is way more then enough PAR for what I am doing or will ever do with this fuge, and if I ever need more light I can always add a second unit. The ramping up and down of the Photon is barely noticeable, but since it is in the fuge I really don't care. Controlling the 6 channels is really easy with the remote, but I do wish you didn't have to set a time every hour, as this is one of the main reason I will light my display with the Mitras. I did talk with Logan, and he stated they are working on the ability to ramp the lights up and down like the Radions, and Mitra's. In conclusion, these Photon lights are well built, good looking aluminum lights that are cooled by 4 fans in the case of the 32" fixture, they are priced really well for what you get, and so far I really like the light. I would definitely buy one of their fixtures if you are a little tight on money, as you will not be disappointed in the build quality or light output and Par reading with these lights. :fish1:

 

[Editour2]

oh man... i am driving myself nuts with all of these reviews but helpful nonteless.
i am rebooting my tank. getting a reefer450 for a good price preowned. aftermarket triton sump.

mixed reef but heavy on sps. i keep looking at the 60"v2 i have only ever done 2x250 de mh (phoenix) and 4x54 t5. but was WAAAAAAY TOOO MUCH for my 75 gallon. bleached the crap out of everything except at the bottom.

input on opinions for the v2 on the reefer 450?. money is a big issue (baby on the way) and also current li ights take up 3 PLUGS on my apex. yuck. i am in LOVE with a single fixture and a single plug. i do notice that alot of people expressing complications have much bigger tanks.
info opinions please! picking up tank this weekend.

The reefer 450 is almost 60" long and less than 24" deep so....I suggest the 50" V2+ unit would be best for your system and also the lowest price ($670). I found the ramping up and down to be fine...it's pretty smooth as long as you don't make drastic changes in the intensity settings, (20 to 25% max change per hour...the system will divide the change by 6 increments within each hour so for example if you set your system at 11am to go from 0 to 24% at 12pm then every 10 minutes the lights would increase by 4% within the hour until it hits 24%. Increases of 4% every 10 minutes is hardly noticeable.). The setup is very easy...write down a schedule which lays out every hour that the lights are on and then make a column for each color channel (6 channels in all). Then just program through the remote...it takes less than 10 minutes and subsequent adjustments are simple.

 

[becon776]

thanks for the replies! This will essentially be a brand new system... just got rock delivered yesterday and got it soaking in fresh saltwater in spare 55 hopefully get some kind of cycling done.

I had an 18yo system which became riddled with vermetid snails. finally an enemy i cannot beat. plus WAAAAYYY too much lighting. so only the fish and the shriimp will make their way over.

Yes waiting for a black friday sale to jump on the rbv2 60. i'll be checking in with all of you to see how to set up new tank #'s

 

[Editour2]

Actually my statement above was slightly off regarding the ramping feature. The lights adjust intensity 10 times per hour (not 6). So in the example above 24% intensity change within the hour would be divided by 10 which results in an increase in ramping of 2.4% every 6 minutes....which is even better (or less noticeable)!!!

 

[Editour2]

Does anyone run their photon V2+ lights at 100% for every channel or something near that?

 

[Vinny Kreyling]

I run a 12K program
Channel max for 5 hrs 1=70 2= 70 3= 80 4= 100 5=80 6=80

 

[steallife904]

max I run mine is 55 or 60% if I remember correctly on the blue channels. White, red and green stay under 20%. Everytime I ever started to up the power I fried stuff so im scared to run any higher.