Your LED fixture opinion please

[Reef Bass]

I am moving at a glacial pace getting my 120 going. On the bright side, tank is sitting on a terrific and wonderfully supportive stand that Grant built while I played Igor ("Hump? What hump?"). It still needs to be skinned and topped.

As far as lighting for my new tank goes, I am succumbing to the siren like appeal of smaller electrical bills as I switch from MH to LED. Good bye Tier 3!

Make no mistake about it, I hold the quality of MH light for corals in high regard. It also photographs beautifully and accurately with proper technique.

I am currently planning to use 48" Reef Breeders Photon V2s.

While they are not inexpensive, I like the form factor, the number of LED colors and bulbs / emitters, their positioning and spread, as well as the app based control of each color's channel. Plus I have seen decent results with acros growing under them in person.

Before I pull the trigger, I would appreciate hearing if anyone believes there is a better alternative, and why that may be the case.

Thank you.

 

[swk]

If you aren't afraid of buying at least 2 the G4 radions are getting rave reviews.

The lights you listed are growing corals well for Adam at Battlecorals. Locally, bob and Steve are using with good results. Just don't expect them to last.... seems to be the knock on most of the mid tier led fixtures.

 

[mav3rick478]

Ken,
You can also try the new hybrid T5/LED fixtures today BRS sell. They can fit the above mentioned Radions, or Kessils or AI. But if you're going to stick to LED only the Radions seem to be really high on people's list. The AI Hydra HDs seem to be a favorite too.

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[Reef Bass]

Thank you Sean and Yuri for your input. Much appreciated.

Sad to hear about the lack of longevity of the Reef Breeders. I think considering the need to double financial output for a pair of Radion G4s, the Reef Breeders may be my intro to LED reef lighting.

 

[Ssteve]

As Sean said the V2 are growing things great on my tank. Your welcome to come check them out anytime you want. I also added RB's new supplemental led strips a few months ago and they made a world of difference in terms of coverage and color rendition. The lights are powerful. I have acros growing on my sand bed with zero issues.

Down sides are two things. They really need to be hung high. I'm at 14" off the water if I remember correctly. And secondly, durability. I've had two issues so far. Both related to the custom channel(dawn/dusk programming). First was a wireless module that went out. For some reason it stopped receiving signal from the remote. The second issue was a remote died and kept resetting the fixture to factory settings. Withthat said, the owner of Reefbreeders is one of the better customer service representatives I have felt with in retail and both issues were handled flawlessly.

If I was to change to anything else it would be G4 radions, but I would want at least 2 xr30's in addition to at least one but ideally three xr15's.

My overall led opinion is that coverage is one of the major, if not the sole reason for LED's not pd forming as well as t5's and MH. For your tank I would at bare minimum run their supplemental strips or two fixtures... or two fixtures with one or two supplemental strips. Or two fixtures with a t5 down the middle. Basically a lot more than just one fixture if you plan to have dense colonies of sps.

 

[Reef Bass]

Thanks Steve. That's some good additional info.

 

[swk]

FWIW - adam at Battlecorals doesn't use any of the ramping. They are on all channels at 100% or off. That may lead to increased longevity?

 

[Ssteve]

FWIW - adam at Battlecorals doesn't use any of the ramping. They are on all channels at 100% or off. That may lead to increased longevity?

I wouldn't doubt that. I ran mine on my apex, just on and off for three months and the tank did great that entire time. I just like the ramping to help extend viewing times.

 

[Reef Bass]

100% whites too? :eek1:

 

[Dragonvale]

I'd look into Aquaticlife 48" T5HO Hybrid 4-Lamp Mounting System. Its been sold out and on back order since the combination of a good LED fixture and T5 is a great combination.

 

[Ssteve]

100% whites too? :eek1:

I was running all channels except red and green at 100% with red/green at 60% but when I add the supplemental strips I knocked back the white, red and green channel a little. I think I'm at 100% blues, 70% white, 40% red/green.

 

[swk]

100% whites too? :eek1:

Yep

 

[Steve Ruddy]

I use and like AI Hydra. The cost is not as high as Radion G4 and the SPS colors are awesome. Come on over for a demo.

 

[Reef Bass]

Thank you for your thoughts Dragon and Mr. Ruddy.

 

[Reef Bass]

Steve (R, not SSteve), is my only hope for not completely blue pics under LEDs really to put a sheet of optically horrific, not uniform, large production variations in thickness and likely pigment, colored gel - pretty much the opposite of finely crafted precision optical glass - between my camera sensor and my coral? That just seems so wrong. Shooting through orange plastic cannot be the same as properly white balancing.

Yeah, I will be able to dial back the blue and up the white, but just seems so crude and like such a hack compared to easily setting white balance during post.

What has your experience been with that?

 

[Steve Ruddy]

Steve (R, not SSteve), is my only hope for not completely blue pics under LEDs really to put a sheet of optically horrific, not uniform, large production variations in thickness and likely pigment, colored gel - pretty much the opposite of finely crafted precision optical glass - between my camera sensor and my coral? That just seems so wrong. Shooting through orange plastic cannot be the same as properly white balancing.

Yeah, I will be able to dial back the blue and up the white, but just seems so crude and like such a hack compared to easily setting white balance during post.

What has your experience been with that?

I turn my 5k LED room floods on and sometimes my Hydra whites a bit higher. To me adjustable LED are the easiest lighting to shoot under. There is nothing crude about adjusting the color of light to suit your WB preferences. Make a preset and it's quick.

 

[mav3rick478]

You know what I've found interesting especially when shooting with my cell phone (Pixel XL) is that if I point my camera at my orange Digi and turn it on that it keeps the white balance pretty close to what I see. It doesn't work if I do it on my RBTA or Pink Zippers.

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[Reef Bass]

I turn my 5k LED room floods on and sometimes my Hydra whites a bit higher. To me adjustable LED are the easiest lighting to shoot under. There is nothing crude about adjusting the color of light to suit your WB preferences. Make a preset and it’s quick.

I get what you're saying Steve. Good idea and good way to look at it. Also not reliant on the orange gel. Thanks for that.

You know what I've found interesting especially when shooting with my cell phone (Pixel XL) is that if I point my camera at my orange Digi and turn it on that it keeps the white balance pretty close to what I see. It doesn't work if I do it on my RBTA or Pink Zippers.

Interesting observation Yuri, thanks.

 

[Reef Bass]

On a separate note Steve, how have your 5000K lights been received? Some people have a strong preference for very yellow warm white (2700k) and feel 5000K is too "hospital like".

Myself I am down with 5000K. i put 4000K in my kitchen and that seems a good compromise. I am using 3000K in my livingroom. I find the difference between 2700K (warm white) and 3000K (cool white) very noticeable and much to my liking.

 

[mav3rick478]

Ken are you talking about LEDs for your house? I prefer the 5k whiter versions that you have to buy at a hardware store like Friedman's. But then again I've always used whiter lights in the house, even my compact florescents were 6500k. Just recently a bulb went out in our game room and I ran out of my LED bulbs so used one of the old bulbs I had in an old box, ugh it's so yellow probably a 2700k compact florescent.

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