My Review of Orphek Atlantik V4 after 15 Months

Cdeg

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You can not see 2 of them because they are INFRARED. Totally normal. Lights are awesome, but they are super strong. Acclimatize up from 50 percent only 5 percent a week.
The issue with mine was the pictures I have seen of the infrared, did show glare from an angle, and we're not black in color. The two diodes on mine were brown/black. I wanted to love these lights but the app and link connection was driving me nuts on setup also.
 

Sdot

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You can not see 2 of them because they are INFRARED. Totally normal. Lights are awesome, but they are super strong. Acclimatize up from 50 percent only 5 percent a week.
Yup agreed... mine are mounted 14 inches above the water line and at 60% and im getting over 250 par on the bottom of my tank which is 25 inches tall o_O
 

Sdot

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What size tank, how many fixtures?
240 Gallon, 4 fixtures.

20200304_184227.jpg 20200326_174912.jpg
 

carlosfandangothe2nd

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Ive have mixed views on these lights.

When they are working correctly they are awesome at growing and colouring up coral. I was growing acropora on the sandbed of my Red Sea Reefer easily. I so love these lights.

Sadly, they are let down by couple of issues. The app software is not the best. It seems to work erratically and isant of the standard you would expect. Still - could live with it okay.

Worse though, is the fact both my light fixtures have failed on CH3. Started first with the odd led out, now have no CH3 Leds on one unit and the other unit, all the CH3 Leds are dim with a couple completely out. These lights are only 18 months old

Customer care is great (in uk), very prompt in responses. Sadly though they have asked me to send the lights in for repair at my cost as out of 1 year warranty period. Hmmm.

Currently looking at other lighting options. I had the V2.1 before these and they were bullet proof - the V4's not so sure.
 

mtraylor

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Ouch. Yeah i agree. The light looks great when its working. I got somewhere in the neighborhood of 4 to 5 months on my first v4 before led's on ch 3 and 4 went out.

I have new panel to install now, so hopefully they will be fixed. Im watching closely to see if they take care of you. This is known flaw in light so i would think they would be more willing to assist you. You may want to change panelnout yourself, that may be better for youbas you dont have to pay shipping to send the unit etc.
 

Sdot

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Ouch. Yeah i agree. The light looks great when its working. I got somewhere in the neighborhood of 4 to 5 months on my first v4 before led's on ch 3 and 4 went out.

I have new panel to install now, so hopefully they will be fixed. Im watching closely to see if they take care of you. This is known flaw in light so i would think they would be more willing to assist you. You may want to change panelnout yourself, that may be better for youbas you dont have to pay shipping to send the unit etc.
When did you order them?
 

mtraylor

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I ordered my first v4 that broke around September of last year. I think i got them around Oct.

Then i ordered 2 more that i believe are susposed to have the new panels on jan/feb time frame. They are ok so far but dont have very long run time
 

Sdot

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I ordered my first v4 that broke around September of last year. I think i got them around Oct.

Then i ordered 2 more that i believe are susposed to have the new panels on jan/feb time frame. They are ok so far but dont have very long run time
Gotcha... when i talked to Orphek they said the new panels fixed the previous panels issues. They came out early December if im not mistaken. When talking to Orphek, if you supply your serial number they can tell you if they have the update.
 

mtraylor

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Im pretty sure the other 2 i bought have the new panel because i had to wait some time to get them. I didnt mind the wait as i was in noo hurry and wanted fixed boards. Once i fix the bad panel in the first one. I should be good to go.

Oh there is the wait on the or2 150. Im now looking at ghl but doesnt seem i can control them withou profulux
 

bam123

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I am shocked. I love my Orphek
atlantek latest generation as well as the light bars. Never an issue, and have had Atlantek with upgrades for many years.
 

carlosfandangothe2nd

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Ouch. Yeah i agree. The light looks great when its working. I got somewhere in the neighborhood of 4 to 5 months on my first v4 before led's on ch 3 and 4 went out.

I have new panel to install now, so hopefully they will be fixed. Im watching closely to see if they take care of you. This is known flaw in light so i would think they would be more willing to assist you. You may want to change panelnout yourself, that may be better for youbas you dont have to pay shipping to send the unit etc.

Well, Orphek distributor in UK say I have to pay postage of the lights to repair centre and pay for the labour cost of the repairs, but the new parts would be free.

How you getting on with the Radion G5? Do you think they are a viable alternative to Orphek V4's?
 

Sdot

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Well, Orphek distributor in UK say I have to pay postage of the lights to repair centre and pay for the labour cost of the repairs, but the new parts would be free.

How you getting on with the Radion G5? Do you think they are a viable alternative to Orphek V4's?
G5's are great and ive heard great things about them. They will not provide the same amount of coverage, par or spectrum. That does not mean that the will not grow coral of course..... i mean look at the g4's
 

orionstrident

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I have an atlantik now tha I haven’t had any issues with but I am thinking about switching over to the new G5’s so anyone who has switched it would be nice to hear how the change went
 

atoll

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I have an atlantik now tha I haven’t had any issues with but I am thinking about switching over to the new G5’s so anyone who has switched it would be nice to hear how the change went
Why are you thinking of switching to G5s?
 

mtraylor

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Well, Orphek distributor in UK say I have to pay postage of the lights to repair centre and pay for the labour cost of the repairs, but the new parts would be free.

How you getting on with the Radion G5? Do you think they are a viable alternative to Orphek V4's?

Oh ok. Thats not too bad. Sounds like they are taking care of you some what outside of warranty with the free parts. Thats typical to have to pay shipping to the distributor and they pay back. The labor cost may be a worry unless they qouted you a price.

Do you have the option to have them mail you the free part and then you change the board out or led's? May want to think about that. May be cheaper and most definitely faster if you want to deal with that. Also if they do it. Do you get a new warranty?

The G5's are awesome! The spread on these led's are amazing and the par levels blend like butter! Im really impressed. Really like the light. If these were out when i wanted to try something new on my main display i would have bought all g5's and not even blinked an eye.

IMO. The G5's are a more than viable choice for led lighting over the orpheks for several reasons.

Advantages
Better spread
Easier mounting options
Better App and usability (even with issues)
Less bulky
No disco effect. Silky smooth

In my application on my main display. I currently have the 2 v4's and one v4 compact. The look of the fixture is super nice. It looks like jewlwery. On the other hand. Its a tank! Hard to hang and now that one has malfunctioned. It will be a nightmare getting it down.

That being said i like the color of light when its working. However the spread is not the greatest at 10 inches off the water. Im going to have to raise mine because the light emits like in tight triangle and you need allot of height to get more spread. This is ok because it has allot of power but then you probably have to worry about over light spray. This is why u see most people getting loght bars to finish lighting the front and back of tank.

Since the dang light bars i need are still not released. My corals in back of tank have been browning out and dying. Another thing im ticked off about.

I could easily put 4 g5 on my main display and call it a day. If i was buying new. That is what i would do.

My frag tank has 2 gr15 G5's. The color is amazing and i cant wait to see what new. Frags will look like in months to come.

Both lights have great color, but they are drastically different. After the been there and done that. I prefer the small size and usability of the G5, but im too far invested on main display to make a change at this point there so i will enjoy both.

I can make comparison of coral color between the 2 down the road. That will be fun.
 

orionstrident

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Why are you thinking of switching to G5s?

I have 1 Atlantik v4 over a 48inx24inx16in tank. The par readings are good and on the far corners at the bottom are my only low areas around 100 but thats perfect as I have mostly SPS on my minimal rock scape in the center and some LPS on the far edges. However I want a little more even coverage for when the sps grow out, they are all frags right now as its a newer tank. The light works and I have good growth but moving forward wanting more coverage I will need another fixture. Another Atlantik v4 would put fixtures from edge to edge of the tank and spill a lot of light on the sides and i think be a waste. A compact is a good option to add in but at $770 idk how I feel about paying that for a compact. OR bars are another thing I was thinking of but I contacted orphek and they will never be controllable via the app and the reasons for why were a little pathetic to me. Why not have the bars work with the app the majority of your customers already use. Then the app is another story, It is terrible!!!! Half the time my light doesnt show up, the other half when I go to make any changes the app crashes and i know its not used a lot but considering how easy it is to make something clean and simple to work its not really acceptable and they have made no attempts to make it better. All of it kinda rubs me the wrong way. I could sell my atlantik and pick up 3 gen 5 xr15's for about the same total cost to me in the end of buying a compact or 4 xr15's for the same as adding another full sized atlantik. Then the issue of adding a small frag tank that I have laying around and I want to have the same lights over both tanks. An xr15 would fit the frag tank perfectly and is way cheaper then having to buy and atlantik compact for the frag tank.

TLDR: Will need another fixture possibly two in the future and just feel meh towards orphek. They are great lights that grow coral but idk
 

atoll

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I have 1 Atlantik v4 over a 48inx24inx16in tank. The par readings are good and on the far corners at the bottom are my only low areas around 100 but thats perfect as I have mostly SPS on my minimal rock scape in the center and some LPS on the far edges. However I want a little more even coverage for when the sps grow out, they are all frags right now as its a newer tank. The light works and I have good growth but moving forward wanting more coverage I will need another fixture. Another Atlantik v4 would put fixtures from edge to edge of the tank and spill a lot of light on the sides and i think be a waste. A compact is a good option to add in but at $770 idk how I feel about paying that for a compact. OR bars are another thing I was thinking of but I contacted orphek and they will never be controllable via the app and the reasons for why were a little pathetic to me. Why not have the bars work with the app the majority of your customers already use. Then the app is another story, It is terrible!!!! Half the time my light doesnt show up, the other half when I go to make any changes the app crashes and i know its not used a lot but considering how easy it is to make something clean and simple to work its not really acceptable and they have made no attempts to make it better. All of it kinda rubs me the wrong way. I could sell my atlantik and pick up 3 gen 5 xr15's for about the same total cost to me in the end of buying a compact or 4 xr15's for the same as adding another full sized atlantik. Then the issue of adding a small frag tank that I have laying around and I want to have the same lights over both tanks. An xr15 would fit the frag tank perfectly and is way cheaper then having to buy and atlantik compact for the frag tank.

TLDR: Will need another fixture possibly two in the future and just feel meh towards orphek. They are great lights that grow coral but idk

Understand about the ap it sucks, in fact I emailed them last week about it and they replied telling me they are working on an upgrade for it, about time to.
Regarding your tank surely you 3 x compacts but understand your dilemma. A 4' tank is not ideally catered for. I have 2 x Atlantic's on my 5' which is ideal. I also have a 120 blue plus light bar attached to them angled towards the centre of the tank limiting shading even more.
4 x or gen5s seem an expensive way to light your 4' but being in the UK I am not sure how expensive compared to 3 compacts in fact many might suggest 2 compacts would suffice, I can't say if they would be, I guess it all depends on a number of factors.
 

Sdot

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Doesnt Orphek recommend them at about 14 inches off the tank to maximize spread etc?


corey
Actually 16 inches... i have mine mounted at 14 and the par is really really good even at 60%. Im getting over 250 par on the sandbed
 
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