Reef Radiance led light..OMG..What a light....

pickupman66 · Nov 3, 2014

for you PAR junkies. Here is my tank under my Lumentek Pro 240. The tank is 20 inches deep and 32 inches wide. 24 front to back. the light is suspended 12-14" above the water surface. Whites were at 40% and blues were at 80% for these readings. I have dialed them back to 35% white and 70% blue and everything is happy happy.

also, this beast of a BTA moved rom the 150 par area to the top right corner. it sits in about 250-300 par.

Peanut · Nov 3, 2014

reefradiance website could use a chart or something similar comparing all the models available....too much selection lol.

Bow · Nov 3, 2014

I think that's the plan with the tanks that are being built in the new shop

dmkahlan · Nov 3, 2014

REEF RADIANCE said:
As you all know we have been pushing the factory that makes LUMENTEK for us to provide an updated controller to rectify the clock settings and the occasional mode change issues that occur in a small percentage of the LUMENTEK series. We just received word that the new controller is done and is available. I asked for 10 to test them before we start sending them out or replacing them in our shop. We should have these in 7-10 days and we will test them thoroughly and once we are convinced that they have corrected both the these problems we will send them out or have lights shipped back to us for upgrade. Since we will be testing these in our office and are not always there I would like two or three people to test them as well in an environment where their LUMENTEK light can be observed throughout the day and the night. if you have a 180 or 240 with a defective controller and feel you are up to changing it out then please email me directly at [email protected]. We want to send out at least two new controllers to at least one person with a timing issue and one with a mode changing issue. So shoot me an email if you would like to help. Thanks! Rick

Rick,

Email sent. I work from home most of the time and my tank is setup next to my desk.

Thanks,

Doug
FORR

acox · Nov 3, 2014

Well you all got my attention about how good the light is so sent my e-mail to see what Insane Savings I can get on one DM 165e to see if they will keep my attention.

Bow · Nov 3, 2014

I'm going to post this here and in the 165p thread so hopefully it helps a few more people then in just one. I've been getting a few pm's and there have been multiple questions about how to run these lights. I think the short answer is only you can figure it out. With varying tank depths, mounting heights, coral types and placement, not to mention water params and husbandry skills there are just way to many variables. Bouncing ideas off people is great, and I love what pickupman created with the par picture. Just remember what works on one tank will need to be adjusted on yours. If you are coming over from t5 or metal halide bulbs you might remember people saying when you changed bulbs you needed to shorten the time they were on or put a few layers of screen mesh over the top to re acclimate. Start low and bring things up slowly. And remember nothing happens fast. Corals take time to grow, some faster then others but if you think you have the lights dialed in take a pic every few days for a month or so. If not happy with the results adjust and try again. I think this is safe to say for all LEDs. Not just the reef radiance line but all in general. Some of the more expensive lights may have an acclimation feature, but using that only works to a point. Once the time is up and you start adjusting settings you are on your own again. If corals are bleaching and you think the light is to strong, turn it down. Wouldn't matter what brand of light it is. There is a learning curve with everything in this hobby, radions and ai lights may have more user written programs out there to copy, but I think these lights won't be far behind. Lol and I know one of the main reasons I went with these was the price point. Let's face it enough stuff in the hobby is expensive enough. I wanted out of the bulb replacing non dimming t5s I had and these fit the budget. But I needed to do my homework and figure out levels and coral placement the same as I would have if I dropped the cash on 4 radions.

NanaReefer · Nov 3, 2014

icsparks said:
My corals started bleaching again with blues on 35 and whites on 20 I don't understand these lights at all. I have had to place most of my LPS under shade and they are on the bottom of a 24" tank.

Running the 240's at 10" above water line. One of my bright green acros has turned light pink. The corals that have been placed on the outer edges of the lights have been doing ok but no growth at all to brag about. Thinking of going with T5's to help with growth and turning the LED''s to 5%.

What schedule are you using? Is it possible for you to raise the lights, say to 12/14" above waters surface? Remember the 240 has 120 degree optics (I believe) which acts as a reflector for better coverage.

I run my 180 like so:

Blues on at 9am @3% ramp up/down every 10min off at 7pm. 45% max
Whites on at 9:30am @1% ramp up/down every 10min off at 3pm. 20% max.
Lunars on at 7pm @20% ramp up/down every 10min off at 9pm. This is purely for my viewing pleasure. No benefits at all to corals or fish.

So far this schedule and max intensity is working great for me. 11 1/2" above water surface on my 40B.

These units run a 1:1 ratio. So you will definitely need to run the whites at a much lower intensity and length of time then the blues.

Hope this helps you a little bit

evan.lundberg4 · Nov 3, 2014

icsparks said:
My corals started bleaching again with blues on 35 and whites on 20 I don't understand these lights at all. I have had to place most of my LPS under shade and they are on the bottom of a 24" tank.

Running the 240's at 10" above water line. One of my bright green acros has turned light pink. The corals that have been placed on the outer edges of the lights have been doing ok but no growth at all to brag about. Thinking of going with T5's to help with growth and turning the LED''s to 5%.

What were you running good lights before? Just throwing this out there but I had issues with corals not getting enough light under my LEDs initially because I had the intensity too low for too long during acclamation. How long have you been running the LEDs?

surfrat67 · Nov 4, 2014

Led Color Difference

I have a pair of 240 pros. There Is an obvious difference In the color od the blues. One of them is obviously a green hue while the other Is blue. Anyone else experience this?

ken77 · Nov 5, 2014

I have two of the dm55 's. I got two of the kits too connect them to an alc for my reefkeeper. I am no sure what kind of cables to use to connect them. Can anyone help me out?
Ken m

NanaReefer · Nov 8, 2014

Bump!!!

ken77 · Nov 10, 2014

I got it figured out thanks to Charles at reef radiance.

iiluisii · Nov 11, 2014

After owning a set of 2013 dm155 and now a set of 2014 model I have figure out something I don't like about the reef radiance led lights. After having this lights for a while I deside to really see how they are built compared to the other china leds on the market the one thing I notice is that the reef radiance series of leds don't have a heat sink and most of the other China leds do. This could be bad for the leds when it comes to longevity. By no mean I'm saying this are bad lights but did they do this to drive the price tag down? which I don't see why since I see that now you can get a full spectrum led light from eBay for 80.00 so the cost of this lights most be cheap as hell already. Other than this they are great lights but I really do think that the reef radiance guys should incorporate a heat sink to their lights.

NanaReefer · Nov 11, 2014

My LumenTek has heat sinks! Wondering if it is just those particular models? Do they have fans at least?

iiluisii · Nov 11, 2014

Yea they have fans but I do believe is the dm models

NanaReefer · Nov 12, 2014

So are they supposed to have both heat sinks and fans? Or one or the other?

REEF RADIANCE · Nov 12, 2014

Doug,

You are now the newest member of FORR!

Welcome!

We will ship you out one of the new controllers when they come in. Why don't you call me on my cell late this week and we can go over details.

Rick

REEF RADIANCE · Nov 12, 2014

Hi iiluisii,

Very good question. We used heat sinks in our prior models of the DM-155e as you noted. When we re-designed this light earlier this year to the new model - we did extensive testing to see if removing the heat sinks would increase the heat over the short or long term and shorten the life of the leds. We did this at the service department here in our office and at the factory and found that the difference in heat is negligible, as the led array mount plate dissipates the heat on the new model quite effectively. When we completely re-designed the 2014 model we did so with fresh eyes and anything was on the table to change - either to add or remove parts. You can read about all the specific changes we made on our site. Our goal was greater lighting area and lower cost - which we achieved - which resulted in a completely new light at the same price. Actually a heat sink doesn't help much if the heat generated in the light itself overloads the heat sinks ability to remove the heat - so we redesigned the power supplies to run cooler as well - which was the icing on the cake.

Rick

REEF RADIANCE · Nov 12, 2014

Hi guys,

A couple of things:

1. if you have a LUMENTEK light with controller issues - please email [email protected] and let him know so he can put you on the list when the new ones come in - please email him directly - posting it here makes it a lot more work for us....(-:

2. just curious - I am thinking about a Seneye Par Meter loaner program - as many people cannot afford to buy their own and if they are a member of a club that has one -it seems that the wait is very long. I was thinking that we would loan one out to customers and only charge them the freight to them and back - maybe $20 and they could use it for one week and then return it. I have not worked out the logistics but wanted to get R2R members opinions on a program like this?

3. Okay - what should we give as the gift for the person with the 2000th post on this thread? Ideas?

4. I am thinking about offering a free DM-165p+ to the winner of a contest for existing customers only . I was thinking we have a contest for the best picture or pictures of one of our lights over an aquarium - with the best and most interesting description of how well your coral was growing under it. Or a $250 Reef Radiance gift certificate? What do you think?

Let me know what you all think about the above - and as always.... we appreciate your business.

Keep Reefing!

Rick