Orphek OR4s

[twentyleagues]

Do you have the Kessil spectral controller?

 

[Reefer911]

Do you have the Kessil spectral controller?

Yes but I’m currently using the WiFi dongle

 

[Hairyteeth]

I use both I have two kessils on my 150,
2 day bars and 2 blue sky, I go from white natural look to a deep windex at night!
I used to have the blue plus and they burned out so I rebuilt them with the blue sky
Couldn’t be happier, keep the kessils!!

 

[Ooh fiddlesticks]

I have 2 Reefled 50s on my tank. Gen1, so very narrow blue spectrum, 450nm peak with a small amount in the 400s somewhere.
I want to eliminate any future shading spots and broaden that spectrum a bit (considerably) so I opted for the OR4 Blue Plus.
One bar set at roughly 15degrees off vertical roughly 12 inches above the surface is enough to illuminate the entire display, though I doubt it has enough par to grow much of anything on its own. This is a supplemental light only and purchased primarily for the wide spectrum.
What I was NOT expecting was when the white channel on my Reefled comes on and blends with the OR4, was just how incredibly CRISP the light in the tank is.
If you have a tuna blue I wouldn’t fully replace it with Orphek bars. There’s very little to no shimmer that comes out of them and they illuminate the tank in a blanket similar to t5s, though not nearly as well.
my vote is to keep your kessil, turn up the white channel and supplement with an couple or4. you might be happy.
If not you could always eliminate the kessil and run a blue sky and a blue plus. Or more.

 

[twentyleagues]

Yes but I’m currently using the WiFi dongle

So you can run a schedule that runs blue to white back to blue with just the Kessils then. The Kessil in blue mode isnt enough blue? I think the Kessil is a far superior light than the Orpheks in most categories. I mean if you need a fill light sure get some Orpheks or Helix but imo the kessil is better and I think as a kessil owner you'll miss them if you replace them.

 

[Reefer911]

So you can run a schedule that runs blue to white back to blue with just the Kessils then. The Kessil in blue mode isnt enough blue? I think the Kessil is a far superior light than the Orpheks in most categories. I mean if you need a fill light sure get some Orpheks or Helix but imo the kessil is better and I think as a kessil owner you'll miss them if you replace them.

I’ll try to see if I can get that color pop with the whites all the way down. If you’re thinking it’s possible, maybe at the very least I’ll add on a reefbrite fixture and call it a day

 

[Hairyteeth]

I also have xhos and think they are worth the money all the way

 

[twentyleagues]

I’ll try to see if I can get that color pop with the whites all the way down. If you’re thinking it’s possible, maybe at the very least I’ll add on a reefbrite fixture and call it a day

I dont know the exact size tank we had a single a360x on at the lfs I worked at, I think it was 24x24x24". Ran the spectral controller started ramping all blue went to white for peak at midday and back to blue around 6pm. Had plenty of pop for most of the day but especially during the blue phase. I was a mixed reef with acros in the top 1/3, Euphyllia, favia, zoas everything that would pop did.

 

[Reefer911]

I dont know the exact size tank we had a single a360x on at the lfs I worked at, I think it was 24x24x24". Ran the spectral controller started ramping all blue went to white for peak at midday and back to blue around 6pm. Had plenty of pop for most of the day but especially during the blue phase. I was a mixed reef with acros in the top 1/3, Euphyllia, favia, zoas everything that would pop did.

Sounds good. Guess I’ll try that first lol
Mine is a Waterbox 35.2

 

[Reefer911]

I dont know the exact size tank we had a single a360x on at the lfs I worked at, I think it was 24x24x24". Ran the spectral controller started ramping all blue went to white for peak at midday and back to blue around 6pm. Had plenty of pop for most of the day but especially during the blue phase. I was a mixed reef with acros in the top 1/3, Euphyllia, favia, zoas everything that would pop did.

How long would you peak midday?

 

[minus9]

If you haven't bought the Orpheks yet, I would look into Quanta Helix instead. Here

 

[twentyleagues]

How long would you peak midday?

I think it was around 5 hrs.
Pretty sure it was set at a pretty high intensity except for like a 1/2 hour ramp up and down, probably on for a total of 10hrs.

 

[Reefer911]

If you haven't bought the Orpheks yet, I would look into Quanta Helix instead. Here

I have looked into them at others’ recommendations but mounting seems to be an issue. If he could come up with something similar to the reef brite add on kit I’d be all over it.
But I’m going to see what I can get out of my Kessil first.

 

[twentyleagues]

I have looked into them at others’ recommendations but mounting seems to be an issue. If he could come up with something similar to the reef brite add on kit I’d be all over it.
But I’m going to see what I can get out of my Kessil first.

I like the reefbrite with kessils if you really want blue idea. I really wanted OR4s at one point but then saw them in reality really kind of ruined that idea for me. I was talking to someone in a thread about the Helix and saw a pic and seems they may have the same issue I would not be able to stand. I can't handle when I look at a tank and see different color spot lighting on the sand and rock. Those types of bars just dont blend well at all it seems.

I should say at home I just have 3 a160s tuna suns on my 125g planted fahaka tank. They run on the spectral controller starts the day at about 6000k and ramp to a 7500ish k back to some where in between. Not sure how much control the dongle gives you I have never used one. The only real world tuna blue kessils I have worked with have been when I worked part time at that lfs. We sold a lot of them but also had AI and ecotech on a few tanks. The kessil tanks always looked the best, most dramatic maybe. Coral growth always seemed good maybe not to the level that the ecotech tanks were but good and healthy.

 

[minus9]

I like the reefbrite with kessils if you really want blue idea. I really wanted OR4s at one point but then saw them in reality really kind of ruined that idea for me. I was talking to someone in a thread about the Helix and saw a pic and seems they may have the same issue I would not be able to stand. I can't handle when I look at a tank and see different color spot lighting on the sand and rock. Those types of bars just dont blend well at all it seems.

I should say at home I just have 3 a160s tuna suns on my 125g planted fahaka tank. They run on the spectral controller starts the day at about 6000k and ramp to a 7500ish k back to some where in between. Not sure how much control the dongle gives you I have never used one. The only real world tuna blue kessils I have worked with have been when I worked part time at that lfs. We sold a lot of them but also had AI and ecotech on a few tanks. The kessil tanks always looked the best, most dramatic maybe. Coral growth always seemed good maybe not to the level that the ecotech tanks were but good and healthy.

That isn't the case with Quanta bars, especially the meso blue. I have the pro version which has 4 different sets of colors/spectrum run throughout the bar and there is no separation. The pro version has two diodes per lens, so the Orphek OR4 is just now catching up with Luca's 1st gen bars, but with the Helix, there are only 2 sets of colors/spectrum that run the length of the bar with 4 diodes per lens. I've directly compared the Orpheks and XHO's against my meso blues and it was night and day difference to me. XHO's work well because there are only two diodes that run the length of the bar, but they are poorly made and overpriced for what they are.

 

[Hairyteeth]

That isn't the case with Quanta bars, especially the meso blue. I have the pro version which has 4 different sets of colors/spectrum run throughout the bar and there is no separation. The pro version has two diodes per lens, so the Orphek OR4 is just now catching up with Luca's 1st gen bars, but with the Helix, there are only 2 sets of colors/spectrum that run the length of the bar with 4 diodes per lens. I've directly compared the Orpheks and XHO's against my meso blues and it was night and day difference to me. XHO's work well because there are only two diodes that run the length of the bar, but they are poorly made and overpriced for what they are.

Are the xhos poorly made? I’ve never taken them apart, I’ve rebuild orpheks, and tore apart kessils….curious what was cheap about them….cause they have been tanks for me
Pun intended

 

[twentyleagues]

That isn't the case with Quanta bars, especially the meso blue. I have the pro version which has 4 different sets of colors/spectrum run throughout the bar and there is no separation. The pro version has two diodes per lens, so the Orphek OR4 is just now catching up with Luca's 1st gen bars, but with the Helix, there are only 2 sets of colors/spectrum that run the length of the bar with 4 diodes per lens. I've directly compared the Orpheks and XHO's against my meso blues and it was night and day difference to me. XHO's work well because there are only two diodes that run the length of the bar, but they are poorly made and overpriced for what they are.

Well thats good and bad news for me then. Now I want to go back to running helix with my reefi on the 180 to fill any gaps in coverage. I did see someone in this or a different thread that had helix and I saw color separation they said they hadnt blended them with their lights yet and I asked how you do that. No reply yet. Ill see if I can find the post.

 

[twentyleagues]

That isn't the case with Quanta bars, especially the meso blue. I have the pro version which has 4 different sets of colors/spectrum run throughout the bar and there is no separation. The pro version has two diodes per lens, so the Orphek OR4 is just now catching up with Luca's 1st gen bars, but with the Helix, there are only 2 sets of colors/spectrum that run the length of the bar with 4 diodes per lens. I've directly compared the Orpheks and XHO's against my meso blues and it was night and day difference to me. XHO's work well because there are only two diodes that run the length of the bar, but they are poorly made and overpriced for what they are.

Orphek Natura vs ReeFi Uno 2.1

I can’t load my reefi settings, since I’m not home. And you also can’t see the quanta helix reef crest bar mounted in front of t of the reefis, but at 114w on both at peak gets me 350-400 on the acros on the top. The tank is a 50 lagoon for reference. I can see color separation on the sand is...

www.reef2reef.com

Post 40, 41 and 43.

 

[minus9]

Orphek Natura vs ReeFi Uno 2.1

I can’t load my reefi settings, since I’m not home. And you also can’t see the quanta helix reef crest bar mounted in front of t of the reefis, but at 114w on both at peak gets me 350-400 on the acros on the top. The tank is a 50 lagoon for reference. I can see color separation on the sand is...

www.reef2reef.com

Post 40, 41 and 43.

That color separation is from the Reefi and not the helix. Like I mentioned earlier, there are only two sequences running the length of the helix meso blue. The violet has four different diodes and the blue has four different diodes. They are blended at the source, plus, the meso blue is just blue and violet and what you’re seeing in those pics are a lot of different colors. My guess is that person has the narrow reflectors on the Reefi and they’re mounted pretty close to the water. If I ran the uno’s I would use the 120 lenses/reflectors. My meso blues are the pro version and they have four different sequences the length of the bar and I still don’t see any separation.

Sorry for the crappy pics, but here are two old pics with just the meso blues.

 

[twentyleagues]

That color separation is from the Reefi and not the helix. Like I mentioned earlier, there are only two sequences running the length of the helix meso blue. The violet has four different diodes and the blue has four different diodes. They are blended at the source, plus, the meso blue is just blue and violet and what you’re seeing in those pics are a lot of different colors. My guess is that person has the narrow reflectors on the Reefi and they’re mounted pretty close to the water. If I ran the uno’s I would use the 120 lenses/reflectors. My meso blues are the pro version and they have four different sequences the length of the bar and I still don’t see any separation.

Sorry for the crappy pics, but here are two old pics with just the meso blues.

You are right I dont see it in yours. I have Reefis 1 on my current reef there is no separation on my current reef I do run the 120 lens though. I have 3 for my 180 planning on running the 90s on those but they are the 2.1 with the newer 90 degree lens. I have the 90s on when I first fired up the reefi on my current tank dont remember seeing any separation there either. Wonder if its because they are running the reef crest and not the meso blue? They say in post 43 it is from the helix. If I went with a helix I think I would want the whiter one. My 180 is going to be a bit of a pain to light, partly from the cross bracing and partly from the reef wall on the back of the tank. May end up going with 2 t5s for fill and to give some extra light to the back wall.