KJoFan’s IM SR80

[KJoFan]

This isn’t going to be a build thread so much as just a place to keep track of my successes and failures. It’s an AIO, not much building to be done.


Finally felt the SR80 was ready for life. Consolidated the 25 lagoon inhabitants this weekend. Needs more coral placed. But, it’s a start.

DOB: 2/6/2022

Equipment:
Lighting: 2x Radion XR15 G4 Pro
Returns: 2x Sicce 3.0
Skimmer: Cadlights PLS-50 V2 Aquamaxx ConeS HOB
ATS: Santa Monica Drop 1.2x
Powerheads: 2x Nero 5
Mechanical filtration: 2x filter socks

Fish:
2x black leopard wrasses
Rhomboid wrasse
Splendid pencil wrasse
Exquisite wrasse
Candy basslet
Royal grama
Possum wrasse

July Photos:

 

[KJoFan]

August Photos:

 

[KJoFan]

October Photos:

 

[STEEZY]

Gorgeous! That rock is especially nice too, real live rock?

 

[KJoFan]

Gorgeous! That rock is especially nice too, real live rock?

It's pukani that I started dry but seeded with existing real live rock I already had. The coralline really took off!

 

[TheWB]

Great to see you back active here with the SR80, it’s been a while. Everything looks really good.

 

[KJoFan]

Great to see you back active here with the SR80, it’s been a while. Everything looks really good.

Thanks! It has been awhile. Things are going well for the most part with the sr80. I’ve really been enjoying it.
You wouldn’t know by looking that my nitrates are sky high. . But acros have great color and are growing so I’m just enjoying the ride.
I am contemplating a lighting change though. Any suggestions?

 

[TheWB]

Thanks! It has been awhile. Things are going well for the most part with the sr80. I’ve really been enjoying it.
You wouldn’t know by looking that my nitrates are sky high. . But acros have great color and are growing so I’m just enjoying the ride.
I am contemplating a lighting change though. Any suggestions?

I just switched from two Reefi UNO’s to one Neptune Sky on my Lagoon 50 and so far I like it. The UNO’s are great lights but they had some things that I just didn’t like so I made the switch. The Sky has some T5 like characteristics that I’m enjoying. I need to borrow my friends par meter, I have no idea what I’m getting right now. The interface with my apex is great I’m much happier with that than I was with the UNO’s. I never really got the hang of the Reefi GUI. I still have them and will probably use them on another project. I still have an XR15 gen 4 as well. I’ve got a bunch of good lights laying around, lol.
I bought two Sky’s when they were on sale because I’m upgrading soon to a 48” long tank. I think they will serve me well. What are thinking of upgrading to?

 

[KJoFan]

I just switched from two Reefi UNO’s to one Neptune Sky on my Lagoon 50 and so far I like it. The UNO’s are great lights but they had some things that I just didn’t like so I made the switch. The Sky has some T5 like characteristics that I’m enjoying. I need to borrow my friends par meter, I have no idea what I’m getting right now. The interface with my apex is great I’m much happier with that than I was with the UNO’s. I never really got the hang of the Reefi GUI. I still have them and will probably use them on another project. I still have an XR15 gen 4 as well. I’ve got a bunch of good lights laying around, lol.
I bought two Sky’s when they were on sale because I’m upgrading soon to a 48” long tank. I think they will serve me well. What are thinking of upgrading to?

Reefi Unos and Skys are on the list. My concern with Reefi is the controllability. Right now, my G4 XR15s are controlled with the wxm apex module, which is nice.
But I want to add a third fixture. I’ve got a G5 xr15 pro brand new in the box. The issue is it can’t be controlled by the wxm module (would need the upcoming mxm) and I’m not sure about mixing generations of lights.
I was very close to grabbing two Sky fixtures when they were on sale, but didn’t do it. I probably should have.
Other options out there is the ReefBreeders Photon fixture. I’m not sure about the form factor of that. I’m not used to a big slab running the length of the tank anymore.
Someone also suggested the Illlumagic Blaze as well.
A lot of good choices out there but not sure what I’d be 100% happy with.

 

[steveschuerger]

Reefi Unos and Skys are on the list. My concern with Reefi is the controllability. Right now, my G4 XR15s are controlled with the wxm apex module, which is nice.
But I want to add a third fixture. I’ve got a G5 xr15 pro brand new in the box. The issue is it can’t be controlled by the wxm module (would need the upcoming mxm) and I’m not sure about mixing generations of lights.
I was very close to grabbing two Sky fixtures when they were on sale, but didn’t do it. I probably should have.
Other options out there is the ReefBreeders Photon fixture. I’m not sure about the form factor of that. I’m not used to a big slab running the length of the tank anymore.
Someone also suggested the Illlumagic Blaze as well.
A lot of good choices out there but not sure what I’d be 100% happy with.

IM SR60 owner here. For what it’s worth I have the ReefBreeder Photon 2 36 and I really like it. Bought it originally last year for a IM Nuvo Pro 30l. Lots of flexibility in schedule and intensity adjustments.

 

[TheWB]

Reefi Unos and Skys are on the list. My concern with Reefi is the controllability. Right now, my G4 XR15s are controlled with the wxm apex module, which is nice.
But I want to add a third fixture. I’ve got a G5 xr15 pro brand new in the box. The issue is it can’t be controlled by the wxm module (would need the upcoming mxm) and I’m not sure about mixing generations of lights.
I was very close to grabbing two Sky fixtures when they were on sale, but didn’t do it. I probably should have.
Other options out there is the ReefBreeders Photon fixture. I’m not sure about the form factor of that. I’m not used to a big slab running the length of the tank anymore.
Someone also suggested the Illlumagic Blaze as well.
A lot of good choices out there but not sure what I’d be 100% happy with.

That’s really the truth of it man, there’s a lot of good choices available. The new Reefi Uno 2’s look great. The Reefbreeders fixtures are loved by many, I think I’ve heard about some issues with par drop on the Gen 6 Radions but with a 16” deep tank that’s probably not much of an issue. If you wanted to just add another Gen 4 I’m sure they are available used relatively inexpensively (I may even have one for sale). Obviously I liked the Sky’s. We didn’t even mention Kessil. Just lots of good options.

 

[KJoFan]

That’s really the truth of it man, there’s a lot of good choices available. The new Reefi Uno 2’s look great. The Reefbreeders fixtures are loved by many, I think I’ve heard about some issues with par drop on the Gen 6 Radions but with a 16” deep tank that’s probably not much of an issue. If you wanted to just add another Gen 4 I’m sure they are available used relatively inexpensively (I may even have one for sale). Obviously I liked the Sky’s. We didn’t even mention Kessil. Just lots of good options.

What features if the Reefi units were you unhappy with?
I saw the Skys in action at my local lfs recently and they give a nice, even, flat appearance it seemed. More T5 like. Which, I’m not necessarily chasing the T5 look, but would probably benefit the acros more.
I think I should have just picked up a pair in the recent 25% off sale.
I know a local reefer happy with the Orphek fixture too.

 

[TheWB]

What features if the Reefi units were you unhappy with?
I saw the Skys in action at my local lfs recently and they give a nice, even, flat appearance it seemed. More T5 like. Which, I’m not necessarily chasing the T5 look, but would probably benefit the acros more.
I think I should have just picked up a pair in the recent 25% off sale.
I know a local reefer happy with the Orphek fixture too.

With the Reefi's my problems were all with the GUI. I fully admit that it was operator error, the GUI works as its supposed to. For me it was just hard to understand how it worked if I wanted to make any changes and it became frustrating. I'm not the most technolgy savvy guy and I need something a little more intuitive. The Sky's are very easy, you just pick the presets you want and then the overall intensity can be changed by just dragging the set points on a line. For me thats a much better and easier to understand way to do it. I actually waytched a Reefi video that Daniel made where he went through all of the functions in his GUI and I feel like I understand it better now. I'm keeping them and will use them again on another tank so I'm sure I'll have to revisit that video again at some point. I don't remember which thread it was in though or I would link it for you. I'll see if I can find it again.

 

[TheWB]

What features if the Reefi units were you unhappy with?
I saw the Skys in action at my local lfs recently and they give a nice, even, flat appearance it seemed. More T5 like. Which, I’m not necessarily chasing the T5 look, but would probably benefit the acros more.
I think I should have just picked up a pair in the recent 25% off sale.
I know a local reefer happy with the Orphek fixture too.

Here’s a video with the overview of the Reefi GUI.

 

[KJoFan]

Here’s a video with the overview of the Reefi GUI.

Cool. I’ll take a look.
I think I’d rule out the Orphek due to needing to be mounted from the ceiling or mounts attached to stand. Neither is viable for me.
That’s what would give another point to the Sky as I could use my existing Radion mounts with only needing new brackets I believe.
It seemed like there were a lot of mounting solutions for the Reefi fixtures that I didn’t fully sort through.

 

[KJoFan]

What do we think? WD? OP?

 

[TheWB]

What do we think? WD? OP?

If I had to guess I'd say it looks closer to a WD to me, but I'm no expert.

 

[dstockwell]

Very nice

 

[spsick]

What features if the Reefi units were you unhappy with?
I saw the Skys in action at my local lfs recently and they give a nice, even, flat appearance it seemed. More T5 like. Which, I’m not necessarily chasing the T5 look, but would probably benefit the acros more.
I think I should have just picked up a pair in the recent 25% off sale.
I know a local reefer happy with the Orphek fixture too.

What LFS has Skys in use that I can check out??

Tank looks really awesome btw!

The new Reefis look really frickin nice, just too blue heavy for my liking. +1 to seeing and liking Reefbreeders.

 

[spsick]

What do we think? WD? OP?

Looks just like my OP.