Neptune Sky, not happy at all!

[fuelman]

just throwing it out there. but i seen a few people on the Neptune page on facebook got their new sky installed & was very disappointed at how dim they were. then realized they have a white protective coating on them that was mistaken for part of the diffuser panel, after pealing it off they were far more pleased.

 

[ckozma]

I can guarantee they are not using 35 cent leds. There are many, many different types, wattages, quality, and bins of LEDS out there.

 

[tippin.turtle]

$1100

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At least with leds you get a power supply and " bulbs"

Covers 48x24 area; add 4 new bulbs ($100)= $230.00
Cant cover that area with LED's at that price

 

[Stain]

If my apex controller didnt look like a giant chunk of crappy plastic, i'd be happy. The eb832 looks like something a hip gamer would buy, i want to swap it out for the old black one.

 

[Shooter6]

Agreed! Especially for a 900 light fixture.
Alas that light is not marketed to someone like me. I’m just a poor man in a rich mans world but My tank looks awesome with a couple 199 lights

Ledzeal.com x200 or x300 superblue will give you rich man's results on a poor man's budget

 

[Jon's Reef]

Yet, the SKY is 14*10 and claims 36*24 is possible.

Covering 36x24 no problem

I'd say research and development and cost of manufacturing is cheaper than ever with CAD and 3D printing and the like.

Not true. Just because you can prototype with 3D printing does not mean you can manufacture with it. The surface finish and material properties on many 3D prints is not sufficient. To get the right finish/ properties costs similar to conventional manufacture, but allows to do things that conventionally cannot be done. In the end, for R&D it is having the right team of people (electronics, manufacturing, purchasing, project management) and that does not come cheap. Doing assembly/ testing in the US also is not cheap.

I see a day where a proven reef capable LED light will be brought to the market by BRS/Neptune at a very affordable price.

There are a wide range of lights available today. Cheap LEDs off of Amazon, T5's, LED bars. Really something in every price point. But things come with a price. Maybe it doesn't have good integration/ software, it can't be dimmed below 10%, the color of the LEDs vary in the light fixture or from fixture to fixture. They may not have UL certification, loud fans, improper cooling.

There is a solution for just about everyone, but it is not the same solution for everyone. There is no "Best" for everything... just a "Best" for your specific setup.

 

[Jon's Reef]

If my apex controller didnt look like a giant chunk of crappy plastic, i'd be happy. The eb832 looks like something a hip gamer would buy, i want to swap it out for the old black one.

Then switch to GHL or Hydros. Lots of options.

 

[reefiniteasy]

Can I ask, why did you choose the Sky over the CoralCare Gen 2? Why not get the technology from the creator instead of what appears to be a knock-off? I’m genuinely curious. All the people I know who use CoralCares swear by the look, coverage, and growth.

 

[cesar6261]

Is going back to your old light setup a option? Save yourself frustrations and headaches.

 

[DWill]

Can I ask, why did you choose the Sky over the CoralCare Gen 2? Why not get the technology from the creator instead of what appears to be a knock-off? I’m genuinely curious. All the people I know who use CoralCares swear by the look, coverage, and growth.

Exactly

 

[areefer01]

Can I ask, why did you choose the Sky over the CoralCare Gen 2? Why not get the technology from the creator instead of what appears to be a knock-off? I’m genuinely curious. All the people I know who use CoralCares swear by the look, coverage, and growth.

Coral Care Gen 2 by Philips is a great light. However you need to know what the spectrum is ahead of time because if you are looking for the more blue look and feel you are not going to get it. You will have to dial back a lot of the LEDs in the Gen 2 to get that look. Now that is only important if that is what you like. If you like the natural look of a high noon spectrum then that light is unbeatable.

The SKY is not a knock off. I'm guessing this is being spread around because Terence was running the Coral Care Gen 1 but if you look at the SKY and the Philips they are not the same. The LED choice alone will support this not to mention it does not use passive cooling, etc.

But to your question(s). No, the SKY isn't a knock off. Yes, the Philips is a great light. Why the choice I have no idea that we leave to the OP.

 

[Ashish Patel]

Your mistake was thinking this fixture would be better than T5+ radion. T5 are the best light IMO and i feel every tank should have at least 2 rows of them supplementing whatever LED is in the middle.

 

[MikeandDee]

Sky vs Chinese black box…. You judge based on par if sky is worth it

 

[theishkid]

BRS has stated T5's are the "Gold standard".. I'll take their word for it.

Ryan said that the ATI T5 bulb was the mark for spectrum. He also said nobody buys T5's and they are collecting dust in their warehouse.

 

[rtparty]

Covers 48x24 area; add 4 new bulbs ($100)= $230.00
Cant cover that area with LED's at that price

Let's be real here. This fixture can not cover 24" front to back unless we're talking the lowest light corals out there. 4 T5s cover 12-16" at most.

And I say this as one of the biggest proponents of T5s out there.

These fixtures are also known to have serious rust issues and problems after 2-3 years over our tanks.

 

[KarlsReef]

Absolutely a big issue with Neptune products. They should spend money and time modernizing their core controller. It’s a good piece of gear but it built with cheap components and runs on ancient archaic software. Far difficult to use than it should be.
If of reverse engineering an obscure light maybe they should have just looked at the competitor that’s taking market share from them is doing.

I beg to differ on the difficult to use factor, almost everything can be set via the tasks setting and it's pretty darn easy, then if you want to programme things further and go for more complicated methods.
Also software wise, while it may appear to not have changed much over the years it's pretty easy to use and easy to read... Plus looking at what they have coming soon it appears there is going to be a front page type view that shows info tiles together. They are always tinkering with updates to improve stability and fix any issues too. My main bug bear with Neptune is the cheaper feel quality of hardware, I don't hate the design aesthetic but it does come across a bit Fisher Price rather than the premium priced product that it is. That being said I still love my Neptune System and have had no issues that have impacted negatively on my experiences and aquarium.

 

[Jon's Reef]

Sky vs Chinese black box….

What benefit does the 460-500 nm area of the spectrum provide? Other than empirical carryover from B+ bulbs, it does not not match zoox. IMO it gives an undesirable green haze.

Also, remember that those plots are normalized to 100%. If you take the total area under the curve, then scale based on wattage, you will likely shift the whole sky curve up by 25%.

 

[anygiven60]

just throwing it out there. but i seen a few people on the Neptune page on facebook got their new sky installed & was very disappointed at how dim they were. then realized they have a white protective coating on them that was mistaken for part of the diffuser panel, after pealing it off they were far more pleased.

Talking about the big piece of obviously solid white plastic that fits over the bottom that looks very much out of place? Yes, it was removed. Still not sure how people miss that part

 

[tippin.turtle]

Let's be real here. This fixture can not cover 24" front to back unless we're talking the lowest light corals out there. 4 T5s cover 12-16" at most.

And I say this as one of the biggest proponents of T5s out there.

These fixtures are also known to have serious rust issues and problems after 2-3 years over our tanks.

I'd disagree with your assertion; tank 48x24.

 

[DWill]

Then switch to GHL or Hydros. Lots of options.

Yep, get Hydros and never look back. That’s on what I did for my display. Moved the Apex to my newly set up frag system.

A quick example of the difference. Two week ago I installed a Klir filter on both the frag system and the display. Hydros on the display, 30 minutes all set up. Apex, 2 weeks still trying to get it to work.