Right, that will be plan B if it doesn’t work.
Thanks a lot for your suggestion.
How you liking the lights so far?
I’m setting up an IM INT-100, I think the 2 x 200W are more than enough.
Honestly, my original plan was to get the Quantas Helix bars primarily because they come in 71in length and I have a rockscape such that the edges of my tank get shadowing pretty bad, limiting my ability to grow some corals along the sides, one of which is a big viewing angle. The rockscape was made when I first got into the saltwater portion of this hobby and I just didn't think about it, unintended consequence. Nonetheless, those sold out quickly before I was ready to pull the trigger and I learned of these in the meantime. Of course I will never know what I am missing out on the Quantas but given my experience thus far with these, I could not be happier.
I like the controller tech more than fiddling with 0-10V with my Apex. One of my Reef Breeders Photon V2+ internal timer was failing casuing my lights to be out of sync. These use an external controller that not only keeps all units in sync via wired control but can be replaced for $50.
These lights are SOOOO strong. I would have obtained the same wattage from the number of Helix units I was going to get so that may have been a similar experience with those. Not trying to knock the Quantas here. But the Nicrews are real nice.
Having more spectrum control I think favors these. I was never sure how many of each color bar I should have bought from the Helix units.
The wide lenses on these surprisingly seem to prevent any shading issues I was concerned with for these pendent-style lights. The Helix also has 120* wide angle lenses according to another post though, so that could have been similar. Though LED's from tank edge-to-edge, you might suffer more light bleed.
But the end proof is in the dosing. Looking at my Apex history, I went from dosing 30mL of All-for-Reef and 240mL of kalkwasser daily to (as of now) 50mL of All-for-Reef and 550mL of kalkwasser a day. And thats the quantity it took to stop my alk from continuing to drop.
TLDR, if the fan noise at "day" light settings used for growth doesn't bother you and you can get used to the raw heat these things put out in a canopy, these lights are honestly a dream.
They seem a better option then the noops k7 v3 after reading this threat
I had considered those some months/years back but recall some feedback about the vendor kinda shy'ed me away. But I definitely am a Nicrew fanboy after my results.
