Returning to reefing: want MH look with LED

[sarget]

Hi everyone.
Getting back to reefing now that kids are older.

Had a Metal halide or 65g mixed reef before then tried T5HO about 8 years ago. Loved the shimmer of the MH but found the T5 diffuse light boring and added no visually appealing light rays in the tank.

Been looking at new LEDs and leaning towards two Kessil 360, two RS reef 90 or two AI hydra 32 over a new 36g bow we are setting up. Wanted to get opinions / thoughts on this? Tank gas a center brace. Was also thinking of adding AI blades if shadows get to much to soften it. But looking for good shimmer with coherent light.

Thanks for your time.

 

[griss]

@reefing102 @Genetics @BeanAnimal

 

[kharmaguru]

I don't use any of those lights but Kessil's were designed specifically to replicate halides, so I would say that's the best bet for what you are looking for. Then as many do, you could combine them with strip lights for fill to minimize shadowing. AI blades, Reefbrite lumilights, Quanta pros, Reefbreeders Lumenbars, or even T5's could do that.

 

[BeanAnimal]

Kessil's give the point source MH look to an extent. Anything with a puck and a lens will. The New Psyche K7 Pro III fixtures have puck/lens setup as well.
My take - Yes you get shimmer lines but you also get a lot of "disco" effect on the rocks and substrate where you see the different color LEDs overlap each other. Some people don't notice and it drives other people crazy.

 

[JohnL]

Reefbreeders Photon V2 tuned the same way

Can you share your program please. I'm running the same light. I use the sps program with red and green turned down a bit and blues turned up a bit.

 

[Reefing102]

Agree with the others. Kessil was designed to give good shimmer. Others I’ve seen tend to lean more towards disco effect including my SmatFarm has a little bit of you look close. I believe it can be done with others just more fine tuning is required

 

[kharmaguru]

Agree with the others. Kessil was designed to give good shimmer. Others I’ve seen tend to lean more towards disco effect including my SmatFarm has a little bit of you look close. I believe it can be done with others just more fine tuning is required

I think the Red Sea ReefLED also have a dense led array similar to the Kessils (instead of a cluster of separate diodes like the others), so that might be an option for the OP as well.

 

[JohnL]

Getting back to reefing now that kids are older.

Welcome back

 

[JohnL]

@mellotang thoughts?

 

[JohnL]

Nice tanks @wvned

 

[JohnL]

@Vinny Kreyling what do you think?

 

[Vinny Kreyling]

I've never heard of doing it that way but the pictures do look good.
I have too much light for LPS & have to turn mine down even more.

 

[JohnL]

I've never heard of doing it that way but the pictures do look good.
I have too much light for LPS & have to turn mine down even more.

What about the OP's question about led options Vinny?

 

[mellotang]

Red Sea or Kessil if you’re looking for halide shimmer

Red Sea is very similar to halide shimmer
Nice and smooth
Not too crazy

 

[Vinny Kreyling]

Truthfully I was thinking Orphek.
But I'm retired & cheap,
A friend gave me a 4' Reefbreeder's PhotonV2.
I'm happy with it, I had them on the 250.

 

[JohnL]

Noopsyche
I have 6 being shipped right now for the 240

Sounds nice. Looking forward to seeing them.

 

[LobsterOfJustice]

Kessil is the way to go. Not only is it the most analogous to MH being a point source (so visually it will be similar in terms of shimmer, coverage) but you also have simplified color and intensity control as someone coming from MH to LED. Being used to MH, you might have color preferences a bit whiter than many of the modern LED fixtures and you have to be careful about many LEDs in terms of something visually pleasing may not end up the right intensity or color for keeping corals happy. Kessil is easy in that you just set the intensity and color on a dial as desired and it will automatically make a resulting blend that will be acceptable for corals.

 

[BeanAnimal]

Looks great.
have you measured par?

I just pulled the single K7 III and 2 old Radions down and put up the Mitras. Pleased so far.

 

[BeanAnimal]

I have never measured PAR in my tanks. Right now they are running at 50%. The same as the other tank. I have generated QR codes for a 5 and 10% increase and saved them.

Did you find the calculator that I built helpful?