What light fixture would you choose?

[AlexR]

So after everything was said and done.

I got an pincushion urchin. Which is alive and healthy for about a month now.

What really helped me get rid of algae was removing my GFO reactor... As of now my tank is almost completely algae free and corals have started opening up nicely.

And to top it off I now have 2 new Radion XR30W g4 pro's on order. One should be in today. The other end of this week.
I also got the 60" rail and hanging kit.

Not sure if 2 will be sufficient. So for now I can supplement them with one or 2 of my current puck lights, until I can order a 3rd radion.

 

[AlexR]

I bit the bullet and got radion xr30w g4 pros...
I'm lucky my wife likes this hobby [emoji38]

 

[dkeller_nc]

Congrats, I suspect they will "wow" you, especially compared to the LED fixtures that don't do color mixing very well. Not sure whether you ordered the diffusers, but if not, I'd recommend them, especially to get better coverage. As I mentioned previously, Radions have enough power to absolutely nuke anything under them unless the tank is very, very deep - say on the order of 36".

That's both a disadvantage and an advantage. Newbs sometimes assume that more light is better, and cook their corals under high powered LED lights especially since they don't often have a PAR meter and can't adjust the lights to get something around 250 or so at the rock level in their tank. But, since you got the hanging kit, you can turn this to your advantage. If you review videos of the WWC tanks on the BRS site, Mike Paletta's new tank, or Sanjay's tanks, you'll notice that they have their lights mounted quite high up over the water. That gives you a much more even coverage without "hot spotting", and also blends the light from the various LED colors even better.

To give you some idea, I run Radion G3 Pros, and they are 18" above the water, and at their peak during the photoperiod they're running at about 65% overall intensity with 10% red, 20% green, 100% Blue/Royal Blue/Deep Blue, and 40% white. This yields about 250 PAR at about 14" below the water line at the rock level. The G4's are very slightly more powerful, but only just, so you should get similar numbers.

 

[AlexR]

Congrats, I suspect they will "wow" you, especially compared to the LED fixtures that don't do color mixing very well. Not sure whether you ordered the diffusers, but if not, I'd recommend them, especially to get better coverage. As I mentioned previously, Radions have enough power to absolutely nuke anything under them unless the tank is very, very deep - say on the order of 36".



That's both a disadvantage and an advantage. Newbs sometimes assume that more light is better, and cook their corals under high powered LED lights especially since they don't often have a PAR meter and can't adjust the lights to get something around 250 or so at the rock level in their tank. But, since you got the hanging kit, you can turn this to your advantage. If you review videos of the WWC tanks on the BRS site, Mike Paletta's new tank, or Sanjay's tanks, you'll notice that they have their lights mounted quite high up over the water. That gives you a much more even coverage without "hot spotting", and also blends the light from the various LED colors even better.



To give you some idea, I run Radion G3 Pros, and they are 18" above the water, and at their peak during the photoperiod they're running at about 65% overall intensity with 10% red, 20% green, 100% Blue/Royal Blue/Deep Blue, and 40% white. This yields about 250 PAR at about 14" below the water line at the rock level. The G4's are very slightly more powerful, but only just, so you should get similar numbers.

I got 2 of the lights. I probably need 3.

The chart they have online shows 8" above the tank. So you think I should go at least 18"?

Also what template do you like? I started with the bio lab one for sps. Although I do t have any sps yet. I mainly have zoas with some LPS. But plan on adding sps eventually.

So far I really love the lights. And the reeflink.
The effects are so cool and they do make my corals pop. But I'm just not sure how high and what the best settings are for my 20" deep tank.

 

[dkeller_nc]

Well, I'm thinking you've already see what happens if you raise them higher - you'll get more spread, and less hot-spotting directly underneath the fixture. The installations I mentioned had the lights a good 3 feet above the tank, though they also had quite a lot of them. It's a bit weird for Ecotech to publish the charts at 8" above the water, as when you use their tank-arm mount, the puck's 12" above the water.

I don't use Ecotech's reef link, so I'm afraid I'm not much help with profiles within the software. I use an Apex (on all my tanks) with the WXM module, which provides wireless control to the Radions and the Vortechs. Using the Neptune software, I set the lights as I noted in the post above. I suspect this is relatively close to the Coral Lab AB+ profile, which is mostly blue.

Since you've zoas and LPS, I wouldn't recommend running the lights at more than 40% for a while, then gradually increase them 5% per week until you reach the intensity you desire. Corals generally don't die from lack of light in a reef tank, but they do die quite rapidly if light-shocked.

 

[AlexR]

So far the biggest improvement I have gotten is when I shut down my GFO reactor. A few days after shutting it down my algae almost fully disappeared and my corals started opening up fully.
I was amazed!

My old lights were very strong so I'm not too worried about acclimating the light.

 

[bshow24]

It's a bit weird for Ecotech to publish the charts at 8" above the water, as when you use their tank-arm mount, the puck's 12" above the water.

The RMS puts the lights (on average) 8-9 inches above the water, but it fully depends on each person's setup and where the water level is in their tank. All of my RMS have equaled 9 inches above water line. However, if you have the ability to go higher Alex, I'd do it. It'll help you get more bang for your buck since you currently only have 2 plus, as was mentioned, these things are strong and can definitely provide enough light for your softies and LPS at a low %. If you have access to a par meter, I'd suggest using it, makes life that much easier.

 

[AlexR]

The RMS puts the lights (on average) 8-9 inches above the water, but it fully depends on each person's setup and where the water level is in their tank. All of my RMS have equaled 9 inches above water line. However, if you have the ability to go higher Alex, I'd do it. It'll help you get more bang for your buck since you currently only have 2 plus, as was mentioned, these things are strong and can definitely provide enough light for your softies and LPS at a low %. If you have access to a par meter, I'd suggest using it, makes life that much easier.

I may eventually need to rent a par meter. Unfortunately I can't find anyone local that has one I can use.

Yea I have 2 of the xr30w g4 pros with reeflink. Also I got the track for it and the ceiling wires mount kit.

I will see about going 20" above water. I suppose I can always adjust as needed. I really do need a PAR meter to get it right. I do plan on adding sps eventually (after I get a 3rd light).

I guess their website generator is not accurate?

 

[AlexR]

I found a neighbor willing to help me with a PAR meter. [emoji4]

He also has the same type of lights (but gen3). So he has good experience to share.

I'm feeling thankful.

 

[dkeller_nc]

Yeah, that'll be a big help, there's nothing like actually measuring the PAR. One of the issues with using online maps/calculators is that you're sometimes not entirely sure what the conditions are when the data was acquired - things like whether the water surface was strongly agitated as you'd expect in a reef tank, or if it was static like some of the tests that BRS has done on various fixtures.

 

[SouthFla]

Same tank...

Same tank...

Just for some additional input, I have the same 6' 125G tank, and run (5) 80W ATI T5 bulbs. I think most would consider that the "œlow end" of the light requirement spectrum for reefs, but it's worked pretty well. I don't think I have real hi-light required critters tho, but I do have a food mix of SPS and LPS:

Good luck! John

 

[AlexR]

It's getting there..
Really like the radions with the reeflink and proper mount.

Corals are happy.

So far I put them about 10" above water. I will adjust once my neighbor comes with the PAR meter. They run at 50% at peak time.

Just started feeding Reefroids...And also just hooked up a carbon reactor.

I leave lights on from 9am to 7pm. And I stopped with any moonlights.

 

[dkeller_nc]

Looking good. And I think you've just found out what a lot of us with strongly blue-shifted LED fixtures already know - it's tough to take photos without an orange filter.

 

[AlexR]

Looking good. And I think you've just found out what a lot of us with strongly blue-shifted LED fixtures already know - it's tough to take photos without an orange filter.

Absolutely hard to take good pictures. It's frustrating because it looks so good in real life but pictures make it look bad.
I still need to find the right filters to use in my iPhone camera.

 

[AlexR]

Just had my neighbor come over and help me with PAR readings.

First and foremost I really think I should get one.

My PAR was really high hovering at about 500 at top few inches. Considering it's not a SPS dominant tank that way over where I should be.
We adjusted it so I'm in at 120 bottom and 250 top under lights with center at 160.

Hope to se better growth and color soon.