We had a few people request we stick on this on Reef2Reef as well. Just to answer a couple questions that were brought up before we stuck it here - Yes, there was a medium amount of surface agitation. Most people don't shut off their pumps so the PAR is more intense. Every single one of these lights was brand new (so this was pretty expensive lol). Yes, there were several locations the PAR was measured from to ensure accuracy over even longer periods of time. 11K was used on all light.
We'll be adding more, but had to take a break to finish building 25 frag grow-out tanks. That's one of the reasons we did this testing.
We said we'd put this up once we found time to do the testing cause the shop is ridiculously busy all the time. This was with an Apogee 520, which is one of the best meters we've ever seen. Did as much testing up and down, left and right, just everywhere in order to try to get the best results.
All lights were hung 9 inches off the water surface, except the Radion, that was hung higher. We used a medium amount of surface agitation (pictured) since most reefers do. The results were kind of shocking for the first two lights we did. These are the results between the Hydra 52 and the AP700. We'll let other be the judge of this.
Forgive the tank appearance as it was primarily set up for this purpose lol
Aqua Illumination Hydra 52
Light 9 inches off water surface. Light meter 6 inches submerged directly under the LEDs 495-515.
4 inches to the left or right of the edge of the light 6 inches submerged 200-215.
9 inches below water surface directly under the LEDs 285-295
9-13 inches meter submerged the numbers*remained consistent
16 inches below water surface directly under the LEDs 255-285
20 inches deep directly under the LEDs 145-155
Kessil AP700
Light 9 inches off water surface and submerged 6 inches below water surface directly under the LEDs 285-305
4 inches to the left or right of the edge of the light and 6 inches below the water surface 175-185
8 inches below the water water surface the numbers remained fairly consistent.
10 inches below the water surface directly under the LEDs - 205-225
17 inches below the water surface directly under LEDs 185-205
20 inches below the water surface directly under the LEDs 165-185
Ecotech XR30 Gen 4 Pro testing.
The first thing I'd like to mention is these lights were an inch HIGHER above the water surface then the AI or Kessil AP700.
This light was absolutely amazing. PAR strength was so impressive that we're going to be switching most of the coral tanks in the shop over to them. We didn't expect to see such a huge difference between the top of the line Ecotech and Kessil lights, but there was. For what's supposed to be 15 watts more on the Ecotech there was a massive increase in light levels. The cost isn't much more, but the PAR numbers averaged 20-40% higher. Amazing LEDs.
The one thing we don't really understand is why the numbers are so much lower on the Kessil AP700 - we tested 2 LEDs. One of the employees here was wondering if it's actually due to the "Dense Matrix". The employee here was thinking maybe since the beam is so direct or "concentrated", and not as spread out, that the medium amount of water surface agitation is causing it to break the light strength up more. We don't actually know though.
Again, this was a lighting test tank, so excuse the algae lol
Ecotech XR30 Gen 4 Pro
Light 10 inches off water surface and submerged 6 inches below water surface directly under the LEDs 500-515
4 inches to the left or right of the edge of the light and 6 inches below the water surface 285-305
10-13 inches below the water surface directly under the LEDs - 340-350
17 inches below the water surface directly under LEDs 350-370
20 inches below the water surface directly under the LEDs 270-280
Maxspect Curve & Recurve (testing was done with the lights set to deepest penetration)
Light 9 inches off water surface and submerged inches below water surface directly under the LEDs 185-215
4 inches to the left or right of the edge of the light and 6 inches below the water surface 135-145
8 inches below the water surface the numbers remained consistent.
10 inches below the water surface directly under the LEDs 165-175
17 inches below the water surface directly under LEDs 125-145
20 inches below the water surface directly under the LEDs 115-135
We purchased one of these and were not too impressed at all. The larger form factor lights seem to be going extinct, which is why we couldn’t understand why Maxspect wouldn’t stick with smaller lights (such as the Ethereal) over these larger bodies. The Ethereal was a solid seller. None of the employees here like larger lights anymore. When so much can be accomplished with something such as the Radions of Kessils, why even engineer lights of this nature? We can’t figure out what benefit it might have.
We couldn’t get the PAR levels to top 225 when the light is supposed to be pushing over 300 watts. We’re wondering if it may have been a defective light, but we don’t want to pay to find that out.
Another thing we didn’t care for when it came to these lights was, in general, what most hobbyists have come to know as “standards regarding warranty issues”. Most of the smaller body lights want us reefers to hang our lights almost a foot off the water surface to ensure condensation doesn’t ruin the valuable components. With both the Curve and Recurve there seemed to be a decent amount of condensation that would form of especially the LED shields when the stock tank mount brackets were used.
With the smaller form LED lights at least the power supplies were enclosed for the most part. These have what looks like a CPU housing with a “screen” over it. After only 90-days the power supply was almost completely suffocated by dust and lint (but this is Colorado). We don’t want to pull it apart to view the inside because it will likely void the warranty, but adding dust and moisture can’t be good for a unit like this.
We'll be adding more, but had to take a break to finish building 25 frag grow-out tanks. That's one of the reasons we did this testing.
We said we'd put this up once we found time to do the testing cause the shop is ridiculously busy all the time. This was with an Apogee 520, which is one of the best meters we've ever seen. Did as much testing up and down, left and right, just everywhere in order to try to get the best results.
All lights were hung 9 inches off the water surface, except the Radion, that was hung higher. We used a medium amount of surface agitation (pictured) since most reefers do. The results were kind of shocking for the first two lights we did. These are the results between the Hydra 52 and the AP700. We'll let other be the judge of this.
Forgive the tank appearance as it was primarily set up for this purpose lol
Aqua Illumination Hydra 52
Light 9 inches off water surface. Light meter 6 inches submerged directly under the LEDs 495-515.
4 inches to the left or right of the edge of the light 6 inches submerged 200-215.
9 inches below water surface directly under the LEDs 285-295
9-13 inches meter submerged the numbers*remained consistent
16 inches below water surface directly under the LEDs 255-285
20 inches deep directly under the LEDs 145-155
Kessil AP700
Light 9 inches off water surface and submerged 6 inches below water surface directly under the LEDs 285-305
4 inches to the left or right of the edge of the light and 6 inches below the water surface 175-185
8 inches below the water water surface the numbers remained fairly consistent.
10 inches below the water surface directly under the LEDs - 205-225
17 inches below the water surface directly under LEDs 185-205
20 inches below the water surface directly under the LEDs 165-185
Ecotech XR30 Gen 4 Pro testing.
The first thing I'd like to mention is these lights were an inch HIGHER above the water surface then the AI or Kessil AP700.
This light was absolutely amazing. PAR strength was so impressive that we're going to be switching most of the coral tanks in the shop over to them. We didn't expect to see such a huge difference between the top of the line Ecotech and Kessil lights, but there was. For what's supposed to be 15 watts more on the Ecotech there was a massive increase in light levels. The cost isn't much more, but the PAR numbers averaged 20-40% higher. Amazing LEDs.
The one thing we don't really understand is why the numbers are so much lower on the Kessil AP700 - we tested 2 LEDs. One of the employees here was wondering if it's actually due to the "Dense Matrix". The employee here was thinking maybe since the beam is so direct or "concentrated", and not as spread out, that the medium amount of water surface agitation is causing it to break the light strength up more. We don't actually know though.
Again, this was a lighting test tank, so excuse the algae lol
Ecotech XR30 Gen 4 Pro
Light 10 inches off water surface and submerged 6 inches below water surface directly under the LEDs 500-515
4 inches to the left or right of the edge of the light and 6 inches below the water surface 285-305
10-13 inches below the water surface directly under the LEDs - 340-350
17 inches below the water surface directly under LEDs 350-370
20 inches below the water surface directly under the LEDs 270-280
Maxspect Curve & Recurve (testing was done with the lights set to deepest penetration)
Light 9 inches off water surface and submerged inches below water surface directly under the LEDs 185-215
4 inches to the left or right of the edge of the light and 6 inches below the water surface 135-145
8 inches below the water surface the numbers remained consistent.
10 inches below the water surface directly under the LEDs 165-175
17 inches below the water surface directly under LEDs 125-145
20 inches below the water surface directly under the LEDs 115-135
We purchased one of these and were not too impressed at all. The larger form factor lights seem to be going extinct, which is why we couldn’t understand why Maxspect wouldn’t stick with smaller lights (such as the Ethereal) over these larger bodies. The Ethereal was a solid seller. None of the employees here like larger lights anymore. When so much can be accomplished with something such as the Radions of Kessils, why even engineer lights of this nature? We can’t figure out what benefit it might have.
We couldn’t get the PAR levels to top 225 when the light is supposed to be pushing over 300 watts. We’re wondering if it may have been a defective light, but we don’t want to pay to find that out.
Another thing we didn’t care for when it came to these lights was, in general, what most hobbyists have come to know as “standards regarding warranty issues”. Most of the smaller body lights want us reefers to hang our lights almost a foot off the water surface to ensure condensation doesn’t ruin the valuable components. With both the Curve and Recurve there seemed to be a decent amount of condensation that would form of especially the LED shields when the stock tank mount brackets were used.
With the smaller form LED lights at least the power supplies were enclosed for the most part. These have what looks like a CPU housing with a “screen” over it. After only 90-days the power supply was almost completely suffocated by dust and lint (but this is Colorado). We don’t want to pull it apart to view the inside because it will likely void the warranty, but adding dust and moisture can’t be good for a unit like this.
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