Thought on the Current USA Orbit Marine IC PRO 72 lights?
- Thread starter my5girls
- Start date
undertakerr
New member
I will be selling two orbit marine pros (not IC) 72" soon, had these on my 125 72x18x22 tank. You will need two IMO, they were a decent light for soft corals and the easier LPS, corals grew ok under these lights. My lights are less than 6 months old, and in great shape. I am upgrading to ecotech G4 leds....
Ron Reefman
Active member
Their leds run at less than 0.5 watts per led. That's just barely enough for your 18" deep tank if you keep zoas, softies and lps.
zooman72
New member
Actually, they are fine for lower-to-medium light corals at 18" depth as they have secondary optics, which can make a significant difference, especially if employing 2 of them...
Ron Reefman
Active member
Have you ever tested PAR values under a Current Orbit led? I have for several friends in our local club. And I wouldn't use it on anything but a FOWLR or a 12" deep tank. But that's just my opinion.
MurphyLong
HMFIC
I thought PUR was more important than PAR? (Not being argumentative, asking because I prefer to be informed.)
zooman72
New member
I have not personally, no, but Current provides PAR values for all three fixtures with the similar form factor (Orbit, Orbit Pro, and IC Pro). As I stated, the Pro versions use secondary optics, whereas the standard Orbit does not. I believe you may be confusing the two, as without secondary optics, the standard Orbit does not offer great PAR penetration over 12" (see link below):
https://current-usa.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Orbit_Marine_Light_Specifications.pdf
I stand by my assertion that a pair of Orbit Pros or IC Pros would be sufficient for medium-light corals in a tank of the size noted by the OP.
Full disclosure: I use both a standard Orbit on a 4.5g nano aquarium (housing a dozen flower anemones) and an Orbit Pro on my 20g IM Nuvo Fusion mixed reef, and they function well without issue (and have for some time)... :thumbsup:
outy
New member
Agreed.
Its not what I would call a reef lighting system.
3w minimum is also my recommendation.
Ron Reefman
Active member
Yes, PUR is the more important number. However...
I can show you recommended PAR numbers for various coral groups and instruments that can measure PAR (I have one). Both are crude values, but the best we have.
I'm unaware that anybody has listed PUR requirements for coral in general, let alone for specific groups or individual species. And then how do you measure it? For every different coral you would need a meter that can adjust which spectrum of light it reads in order to get an accurate PUR reading. As far as I know, there is no such meter.
There is a meter which claims to read PUR, but it's just a PAR meter that reads blues. That's not really what PUR is. Different species of zooxanthellae use different spectrum of light for photosynthesis. And different species of coral tend to have a mix of different zooxanthellae; and therefore have a different PUR.
I'm not saying this ia 100% accurate, but it is the way I've come to understand the subject. If anybody has better info, I'd love to hear about it.:thumbsup:
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