Orphek or Reefbreeders - Best Lumen Bar Supplement for T5s?

[JCOLE]

Hello everyone!

I have a 6 bulb LET Retrofit kit with all ATI bulbs and I am looking at adding some LEDs for supplementation and that coral pop that I miss. Looking at either the Orphek 150 Blue Plus bar or the Reef Breeders UV or Blue hybrid lumen bar.

I currently run the following ATI bulbs

Blue+
Blue+
Actinic
Blue+
Purple+
Blue+

I am thinking of changing out another blue+ or the actinic to a coral+. This would be a much whiter spectrum and I would like to add that pop into the mix with LEDs.

What do you think and recommend?

 

[Jorda320]

I can't give you any information on the reef breeders but I do have three orphek OR3s above my 75 right now. They are the only lights I'm using I think the blue plus are absolutely gorgeous. They give a great pop that I did not get with T5s. Two words of caution I throw out, there are some threads out there showing the difference in light spread. The reef breeders seems to be made for mounting at a height closer to 8 to 12 in with a nice spread however the orfix are really meant to be mounted pretty high. I have mine 18 in off the water because they are very focused. If you mount them somewhere closer to 8 in you're going to see a very noticeable bright line going through your tank. The extra height is what diffuses the lights since the LEDs are larger, whereas the reef breeder seems to have many small LEDs which diffuse themself. The orphic bars seem to have lower PAR but a nicer spectrum in my opinion. Again though I have never had the reef breeders so take that for what you will.

Secondly I'd stay far away from the Orpheck Day Plus Park. Well it does make an overall white spectrum it is just not attractive. They have some yellow LEDs in there, I something along the lines of a 5000k bulb, and even at 18 in it does not seem to blend in the tank. I have noticeable spots of white as well as noticeable spots of yellowish white in the tank. I bought a light over the day plus to fix this issue but I really don't think I should have to do that. They should have fixed that initially. That's my two cents on it. Hope it helps

 

[Jorda320]

I can't give you any information on the reef breeders but I do have three orphek OR3s above my 75 right now. They are the only lights I'm using I think the blue plus are absolutely gorgeous. They give a great pop that I did not get with T5s. Two words of caution I throw out, there are some threads out there showing the difference in light spread. The reef breeders seems to be made for mounting at a height closer to 8 to 12 in with a nice spread however the orfix are really meant to be mounted pretty high. I have mine 18 in off the water because they are very focused. If you mount them somewhere closer to 8 in you're going to see a very noticeable bright line going through your tank. The extra height is what diffuses the lights since the LEDs are larger, whereas the reef breeder seems to have many small LEDs which diffuse themself. The orphic bars seem to have lower PAR but a nicer spectrum in my opinion. Again though I have never had the reef breeders so take that for what you will.

Secondly I'd stay far away from the Orpheck Day Plus Park. Well it does make an overall white spectrum it is just not attractive. They have some yellow LEDs in there, I something along the lines of a 5000k bulb, and even at 18 in it does not seem to blend in the tank. I have noticeable spots of white as well as noticeable spots of yellowish white in the tank. I bought a light over the day plus to fix this issue but I really don't think I should have to do that. They should have fixed that initially. That's my two cents on it. Hope it helps

Sorry that was a lot of voice to text chat. What I'm trying to say is I have a diffuser over the day plus and realistically plan to swap it out pretty soon because it's just not that nice.

 

[Tjm23slo]

What is the intended effect of the additional light. Color, spread, addidtional par?
I mount my Orphek bars at 20” and angled. I don’t need more par with my Atlantiks but ther are spots that I need more spread and a pop. I mount this way to remove the spot lighting effects of leds.

 

[JCOLE]

I get all the spread, spectrum, and PAR from my T5s. The only reason for the lumenbar is for the missing pop from leds. I only plan on running them before and after the T5s for the pop. I might run them during the T5s as well for the added shimmer.

I just recieved the Reefbreeders Blue/UV hybrid in and plan on mounting today. The only issue I have is if this is going to throw off the spectrum in a bad way.

 

[Jack Ravensbergen]

Last week i installed a orphek or3 violet bar as an extra addition to my philips coral care leds.
I was surprised what it did more.
Colours realy pop more so i am very pleased with it.
Grtz jack