Orpheks or not?

syte

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So I purchased a @Orphek Atlantik Gen 2. It is still entirely within the box, never used. When I had bought the Orphek's everyone seemed to be promoting them as fantastic lights. A few years later and it's an entirely different story. So many people have complained about an atrocious failure rate where one or more leds get burned out. The folks who are still under warranty who contact Orphek are sent replacement LEDs that they themselves have to solder into place. I really don't want to deal with bad customer support over a luxury product.

My question is this, how bad are the Orphek Icon's. Do they still have very high failure rates. To be honest, I'm thinking about moving away from Orphek entirely but I'd be flushing away 800 dollars that I spend on the original Orphek Fixture.

I'm in the process of setting up my tank right now. I have a few lighting options. I plan on doing a SPS dominant reef tank.

1) Get away from Orphek entirely. Either go with Kessil a500x, ReefLed 90, hydra 32s, or xr15s. Thoughts? This is going to be a lot more costly. I was thinking I'd get half the lights now (spend about 1k). Then over several months, get the other half. Of the options, I listed ReefLed would definitely be the cheapest option coming in at 1200 dollars. xr15 would require 4 units, which would amount to 1700 dollars with the RMS mount. Finally, the Kessil a500x would be 1500 with the gooseneck. Hydras would also be around 1500.

2) Take a gamble with Orphek Icons. I know they have an upgrade kit for the Icons. If I were to upgrade my Gen2 to Icon I wonder if the failure rate would dramatically decrease.
 

Mjl714

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Wow, since you’ve already got the orphek, I’d give it a try, while i worked out the ultimate plan. Then you could gather your own orphek reliability data.
 

Poochaku

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I would add reefi and quanta bars to the differential. Quanta bars being the most economical option by far unless you decide to stay with orphek.
 

fishgirljockey

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So I purchased a @Orphek Atlantik Gen 2. It is still entirely within the box, never used. When I had bought the Orphek's everyone seemed to be promoting them as fantastic lights. A few years later and it's an entirely different story. So many people have complained about an atrocious failure rate where one or more leds get burned out. The folks who are still under warranty who contact Orphek are sent replacement LEDs that they themselves have to solder into place. I really don't want to deal with bad customer support over a luxury product.

My question is this, how bad are the Orphek Icon's. Do they still have very high failure rates. To be honest, I'm thinking about moving away from Orphek entirely but I'd be flushing away 800 dollars that I spend on the original Orphek Fixture.

I'm in the process of setting up my tank right now. I have a few lighting options. I plan on doing a SPS dominant reef tank.

1) Get away from Orphek entirely. Either go with Kessil a500x, ReefLed 90, hydra 32s, or xr15s. Thoughts? This is going to be a lot more costly. I was thinking I'd get half the lights now (spend about 1k). Then over several months, get the other half. Of the options, I listed ReefLed would definitely be the cheapest option coming in at 1200 dollars. xr15 would require 4 units, which would amount to 1700 dollars with the RMS mount. Finally, the Kessil a500x would be 1500 with the gooseneck. Hydras would also be around 1500.

2) Take a gamble with Orphek Icons. I know they have an upgrade kit for the Icons. If I were to upgrade my Gen2 to Icon I wonder if the failure rate would dramatically decrease.
I use the coralife light and its been great. You really do not need anything fancy. This light was about 200 I would say 36" sits on my tank close to the water. I have it on 20% white and 80% blue - my coral are THRIVING. It fell in the water 4 times (not because of the design, but entirely because of me moving it and being clumsy) and still works to perfection. Strong lights!
 

Blue Spot Octopus

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What is the dimension of the tank?
Since the light is new just do not turn it up to the max, if you can put some light bars on it, watch the BRS videos on lighting.
 

Spare time

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I'd go with kessils + a strip light (AI Blade, Reefbrite, Quanta, etc.)
 

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