Help me spend my money

[slogan315]

I need help with recommending lighting for my situation. Im going for a mixed reef, but I want to build equipment around sps and place lps where possible. Budget is important here!

I have a 60g cube (24x24x24) with canopy. There’s about 10” from water to ceiling of canopy. It vents out the back, but I’m open to cutting holes or removing the ceiling if necessary.

I currently have 1 kessil 360x. I love the shimmer but I’m lacking color, power, and coverage. Running at 80% peak and my anemone is climbing to the top of the scape, so I’m guessing the par towards the top is around 200-250.

Options I’ve considered:
- add supplemental strip lighting with current 360x
- upgrade to more powerful primary light and sell 360x. (Thinking reefi uno 2.0 or orphek icon compact)

I’m not interested in going with T5’s or MH right now. Would like to stay LED only.

 

[blaxsun]

Radion$.

 

[Troylee]

Xr30

 

[slogan315]

Should have been more specific. Budget is an issue, and xr30 is just not an option right now

 

[exnisstech]

Reefbreeders photon v2? I have a 36 over a 36x24 tank and getting plenty of par for SPS.

Edit: a little less $ 2 noopsyche k7 V3 around $200 each with mount. 1 would get you by but 2 over a 24inch tank will give you enough par for anything. Or run 1 with your kessil. You have a nice canopy so looks of different light housing wouldn't be a big issue unless your ocd I run six over a 6ft 24" deep tank and get 300 par on the bottom where clams are. I'm able to get some really nice colors too. Corals look nicer than I could get them to look under gen4 XR15s

 

[slogan315]

Reefbreeders photon v2? I have a 36 over a 36x24 tank and getting plenty of par for SPS.

Edit: a little less $ 2 noopsyche k7 V3 around $200 each with mount. 1 would get you by but 2 over a 24inch tank will give you enough par for anything. Or run 1 with your kessil. You have a nice canopy so looks of different light housing wouldn't be a big issue unless your ocd I run six over a 6ft 24" deep tank and get 300 par on the bottom where clams are. I'm able to get some really nice colors too. Corals look nicer than I could get them to look under gen4 XR15s

With 2 noopsyche would you also need fill lighting? The par would be there but will you get shadowing issues? Also, are the colors good enough to where you wouldn’t need another bar for pop?

for your photon over the noopsyche tank, which do you prefer?

 

[Dbichler]

2 noopsyche would cover it great

 

[slogan315]

2 noopsyche would cover it great

So 2 noopsyche or 1 reefi uno 2.0 with fill down the road?

 

[Spare time]

Why not run the kessil at 100%?

 

[Spare time]

I'd just add a supplemental led bar (reefbrite or blade). The anemone is fine btw they don't require much light

 

[doubleshot00]

Dual 24" (or a single in the front) Quanta meso blue light bar. Cheap and easy to use. One of the best upgrades for under $200 for my tank so far.

 

[Sleeping Giant]

2 noopsyche lights will be perfect

 

[nothing_fancy]

360x is a powerful light, 200 par at the top of the tank at 80% doesn't sound right to me. I have (2) A360x 8" from the water and I get 500 par at the top 6" of my tank running them in the high 50% peak times, granted I am using the narrow reflectors. If you don't like the color of the kessil then sure swap it but I think you could probably lower the fixture and add another fixture to get what you want.

 

[slogan315]

360x is a powerful light, 200 par at the top of the tank at 80% doesn't sound right to me. I have (2) A360x 8" from the water and I get 500 par at the top 6" of my tank running them in the high 50% peak times, granted I am using the narrow reflectors. If you don't like the color of the kessil then sure swap it but I think you could probably lower the fixture and add another fixture to get what you want.

Take my guesstimate with a grain of salt. Loosely based on what I’m expecting the anemone wants and where it is positioning itself. Also it’s the top of the scape, which is about 50% of the height. So 12” deep with a total distance of ~18” from light.

 

[slogan315]

Why not run the kessil at 100%?

Worried about the hardware long term at 100%.

I'd just add a supplemental led bar (reefbrite or blade). The anemone is fine btw they don't require much light

This was my initial thought. As I started looking into it, started wondering if it was better to sell the kessil ($200-300) and use the led bar budget for upgraded primary lights.

for example, say used bars are around $100 and the kessil sells for $250. That’s $350 towards a new primary light. Having full coverage from 2 noopsyche k7 v3 pros for $450 sounds pretty enticing. But I can’t seem to shake the reefi uno 2.0 as it’s getting such positive reviews and seems like real value for the money (that might not stay as the company gets bigger)

 

[nothing_fancy]

Take my guesstimate with a grain of salt. Loosely based on what I’m expecting the anemone wants and where it is positioning itself. Also it’s the top of the scape, which is about 50% of the height. So 12” deep with a total distance of ~18” from light.

Ya I hear you, the Nem could be moving though for other reasons. See If you can get your hands on a par meter especially if you end up with a different fixture. My LFS runs radions at around 60% pretty high off their tanks probably over 12" My tank is 19" deep and gets around 130 at the sand bed

 

[Reign1]

I just bought an ICON for my cube (.. BRS had it on sale) Keep an eye out as they have been running specials lately . I think Orphek direct had the compact on sale recently too!!

 

[exnisstech]

With 2 noopsyche would you also need fill lighting? The par would be there but will you get shadowing issues? Also, are the colors good enough to where you wouldn’t need another bar for pop?

for your photon over the noopsyche tank, which do you prefer?

These pics are under the noopsyche lights. I'm probably about 70% but run 0 red and green and very low whites I think 10%. I'm really happy with the noopsyche but if I were starting a new tank and I had the spare change I would probably go with the Photon. It just seems to have better spread with the panel of led vs the pucks. I like the app a little better also tho the noopsyche app isn't terrible. If money were tight I wouldn't hesitate going with the noopsyche. I get some shadowing with them but my canopy only allows me to have them 7 inches off of the water so I don't get the spread I would get if I could move them up a little

This is under the Photon. It does a nice job I think. Blues and uv are 40% white 3%( this is cool too. I think my radions have to be above 6% or they won't light) green and red 0% so there is a lot of cushion for when I bring some more sps over but the lps are loving it so far. It's only been running 6 weeks or so. I also wanted a single fixture and no pucks and all the light spill from them since this is in our dining area with no canopy. Sorry for being long winded, us old retired guys get to rambling some times

 

[vetteguy53081]

I need help with recommending lighting for my situation. Im going for a mixed reef, but I want to build equipment around sps and place lps where possible. Budget is important here!

I have a 60g cube (24x24x24) with canopy. There’s about 10” from water to ceiling of canopy. It vents out the back, but I’m open to cutting holes or removing the ceiling if necessary.

I currently have 1 kessil 360x. I love the shimmer but I’m lacking color, power, and coverage. Running at 80% peak and my anemone is climbing to the top of the scape, so I’m guessing the par towards the top is around 200-250.

Options I’ve considered:
- add supplemental strip lighting with current 360x
- upgrade to more powerful primary light and sell 360x. (Thinking reefi uno 2.0 or orphek icon compact)

I’m not interested in going with T5’s or MH right now. Would like to stay LED only.

Orphek Compact

noopsyche Pro

Ai Hydra 32

 

[steveschuerger]

ReefBreeder Photon v2. There are 2 versions regular and pro. Pro allows for use with app connection but is proportionately more expensive. The Wi-Fi controller is pretty good though.I really like my 32” model