Are high dollar lights worth it?

[Troylee]

Ya people be like
With just 6 xr15, 4 t5, 2 MH, 2 led bars and a few smaller kessils, we can fully light a 6 foot reef…

Hey… I got 2 reefi uno pro 2.1 and two xr30’s with 2 metal halides and 6 reefbrites over my 6ft tank! No joke! :rolling-on-the-floor-laughing:

 

[Faurek]

Hey… I got 2 reefi uno pro 2.1 and two xr30’s with 2 metal halides and 6 reefbrites over my 6ft tank! No joke! :rolling-on-the-floor-laughing:

The 1000w dude presented himself

 

[Troylee]

The 1000w dude presented himself

I’m testing.. I’m a halide lover so yeah I’ve always been in the 1000w club.. I’ve replaced one halide with LEDs and seeing if my corals still grow like they do under the halides! I’m way more hands on then reading spectrums and par numbers and taking people’s words for it.. I wanna switch to LEDs but don’t know which ones so time will tell.. my frag tank is gonna be strictly reefi uno as Im seeing better results from them than the xr30

 

[rtparty]

That's 600w, LPS system?

It doesn't matter with 126° lenses, and it should be as close to the water as possible with that configuration, doesn't matter either 15 or 30, you will have perfect blend and coverage, but low par from each fixture.

All false. 2 15s will cover more tank than 1 XR30 and do so with a more even light. After 20 years and thoroughly testing dozens of lights over the years, I have a decent grasp on them.

Most of the tank was SPS with big colonies of LPS.

Lights were 8-9” off the water. Ran at 90% total and my schedule only had the whites in the 50-60% range. I had over 400 PAR at the top of my rocks. 170-200 PAR on the sand. I could hit over 500 PAR at the top of my rocks if needed. 22” tall tank. Ran 1 AI Blade for looks. Just all violet LEDs right before lights out for the old VHO look. The Blade wasn’t needed for PAR

The LPS colonies are all sitting 300+ PAR on the back island.

 

[Troylee]

All false. 2 15s will cover more tank than 1 XR30 and do so with a more even light. After 20 years and thoroughly testing dozens of lights over the years, I have a decent grasp on them.

Most of the tank was SPS with big colonies of LPS.

Lights were 8-9” off the water. Ran at 90% total and my schedule only had the whites in the 50-60% range. I had over 400 PAR at the top of my rocks. 170-200 PAR on the sand. I could hit over 500 PAR at the top of my rocks if needed. 22” tall tank. Ran 1 AI Blade for looks. Just all violet LEDs right before lights out for the old VHO look. The Blade wasn’t needed for PAR

The LPS colonies are all sitting 300+ PAR on the back island.

And this is false! You always claim that but show us the par meter with just the XR 15’s on and in the sand.. I have a g4 over a frag tank currently that’s much stronger then the g5 or g6 and it only hits 200 9” down in the water at 100% intensity. Ask @Charlie’s Frags he has 4 over a 60gallon cube.

 

[bubbgee]

Serious question: how much are these lights gonna cost us now beginning the trade wars tomorrow?

 

[rtparty]

And this is false! You always claim that but show us the par meter with just the XR 15’s on and in the sand.. I have a g4 over a frag tank currently that’s much stronger then the g5 or g6 and it only hits 200 9” down in the water at 100% intensity. Ask @Charlie’s Frags he has 4 over a 60gallon cube.

I’ve provided the pics multiple times now. You can believe me or not. I don’t care

 

[rtparty]

Want the 400 at top of rocks too?

This is the sensor next to this Anacropora. I couldn’t put it right on the coral because anacropora is brittle and easily broke

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

Want the 400 at top of rocks too?

This is the sensor next to this Anacropora. I couldn’t put it right on the coral because anacropora is brittle and easily broke

Looks like that anacropora is under xr30s
Those are definitely xr30s

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

And this is false! You always claim that but show us the par meter with just the XR 15’s on and in the sand.. I have a g4 over a frag tank currently that’s much stronger then the g5 or g6 and it only hits 200 9” down in the water at 100% intensity. Ask @Charlie’s Frags he has 4 over a 60gallon cube.

Almost correct
I had 2 xr15 pros over my 50g cube and the par was ridiculously low on the AB+ program. I had to add a 3rd to get an even 350-400 par in the top 7” of the water column. Now I have an xr30 blue with 2 blade grows. The 80watts of blade have crazy high par compared to the 200watts of xr30.

 

[Troylee]

Almost correct
I had 2 xr15 pros over my 50g cube and the par was ridiculously low on the AB+ program. I had to add a 3rd to get an even 350-400 par in the top 7” of the water column. Now I have an xr30 blue with 2 blade grows. The 80watts of blade have crazy high par compared to the 200watts of xr30.

Yeah I just set up a frag tank with a xr30 and the par numbers were low on ab+ also.. I have some reefi uno pros and they seem to really be a much better light.. I just put the reefi uno pro 2.1 on one end and a pair of XR 30 on the other endof my display to battle it out! The spread is very comparable and the par numbers I matched up! The reefis are at 35% and the radions at 85% we’ll see what happens.. I think I’ll be all reefi unos here soon and finally give up my halides.. MAYBE :rolling-on-the-floor-laughing:

 

[Troylee]

Hey… I got 2 reefi uno pro 2.1 and two xr30’s with 2 metal halides and 6 reefbrites over my 6ft tank! No joke! :rolling-on-the-floor-laughing:

Just set this up today… just might replace my halides… I think reefi will be the winner without a doubt! I had all halides but pulled 2 of them to give the led’s a chance.

 

[nickng]

Just set this up today… just might replace my halides… I think reefi will be the winner without a doubt! I had all halides but pulled 2 of them to give the led’s a chance.

very interested in what you find out. by the way what is your setup/spectrum template for your reefi uno?
also how high above the water level do you have the reefi unos?

 

[rtparty]

Looks like that anacropora is under xr30s
Those are definitely xr30s

Those are 2 XR15s. There’s a reflection. It’s amazing how many people know more about my system than I do

Still 30s?

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

Those are 2 XR15s. There’s a reflection. It’s amazing how many people know more about my system than I do

Still 30s?

They look like 30s to me. They look longer in all the photos and spaced further apart than the spacing on the obvious xr15s….or….looks like they were

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/its-a-lifestyle-250g-peninsula.843645/page-12#post-13199426
I honestly don’t care either way. How are the frogs doing?

 

[rtparty]

They look like 30s to me. They look longer in all the photos and spaced further apart than the spacing on the obvious xr15s….or….looks like they were

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/its-a-lifestyle-250g-peninsula.843645/page-12#post-13199426
I honestly don’t care either way. How are the frogs doing?

They were always 15s. 4 G6 Pros and 2 G5 Pros that I upgraded to G6s. Again, there is a weird reflection in some of the photos where it doubled the lights. You can see it with the Blade as well.

The frogs are great and way less time consuming

 

[Troylee]

very interested in what you find out. by the way what is your setup/spectrum template for your reefi uno?
also how high above the water level do you have the reefi unos?

 

[Faurek]

All false. 2 15s will cover more tank than 1 XR30 and do so with a more even light. After 20 years and thoroughly testing dozens of lights over the years, I have a decent grasp on them.

Most of the tank was SPS with big colonies of LPS.

Lights were 8-9” off the water. Ran at 90% total and my schedule only had the whites in the 50-60% range. I had over 400 PAR at the top of my rocks. 170-200 PAR on the sand. I could hit over 500 PAR at the top of my rocks if needed. 22” tall tank. Ran 1 AI Blade for looks. Just all violet LEDs right before lights out for the old VHO look. The Blade wasn’t needed for PAR

The LPS colonies are all sitting 300+ PAR on the back island.

Actually grabbed spectra and did some experiments, used the best case possible, the XR 15 puts out 95w, I did more then that for a fixture with default 120° which penetrate better then 126° and guess the results. One fixture gives in the best case scenario 80 ppfd at 40cm. That tank looks deeper then that. 80x6=240, best case scenario and doesn't work like this. At best you would have between 200-300 at the top of those acros.

 

[Hooz]

Actually grabbed spectra and did some experiments, used the best case possible, the XR 15 puts out 95w, I did more then that for a fixture with default 120° which penetrate better then 126° and guess the results. One fixture gives in the best case scenario 80 ppfd at 40cm. That tank looks deeper then that. 80x6=240, best case scenario and doesn't work like this. At best you would have between 200-300 at the top of those acros.

I mean, he showed the tank setup and the PAR meter. Are you saying he's lying? Is his equipment faulty? I'm not sure what you're trying to say.

 

[rtparty]

Actually grabbed spectra and did some experiments, used the best case possible, the XR 15 puts out 95w, I did more then that for a fixture with default 120° which penetrate better then 126° and guess the results. One fixture gives in the best case scenario 80 ppfd at 40cm. That tank looks deeper then that. 80x6=240, best case scenario and doesn't work like this. At best you would have between 200-300 at the top of those acros.

I literally posted the pictures with my PAR readings.

But you’re right. I got the super secret versions that are extra high PAR