Please help me silently light this tank

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Dave-T

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Ok, here's a (possibly useless) table, with the lights I'm considering. All are panel style except for the puck style Kessel. Is it valid to consider the LED density, or the wattage density? I would think higher LED density would help with spread and help minimize disco. But maybe the type of diffuser negates that consideration. Looking at density, the Radions and Hydra win. The reefbreeders and coralcare lose. But the Phillips Coralcare is fanless, so I'm strongly considering them. Thoughts on the Coralcare?

Radions look nice, but the noise complaints worry me.

Regarding the Reefbreeders, I was able to get the fan to come on by putting them in a bathroom I heated to 80 degrees with a space heater. And they're louder than I'd like, about 45db. But they don't seem to come on in a room temperature room.

LightNoise?LEDsWattsLEDs/sq inWatts/sq inDimensions
Kessel A360xMinor fan noise90
Radion XR30Has noise complaints1022151.232.6011.871.5
AI HydraFan noise sounds to be ok681351.072.1211.8755.3751.42
Neptune SkyNot sure...1042190.881.8512.89.25
Phillips CoralcareNo fan!681700.230.5718.116.42.24
ReefbreedersSilent fan441400.220.7023.58.51
GHL MitrasFan supposed to be quiet721950.711.9312.807.91.65
 

mfinn

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If you didn't do the CC lights, my vote would be Radions.
I did Radions from gen 1's all the way to gen 4's. I bought some gen 5's, but when they came damaged and ETM expected me to do the repair ( they supplied the parts) I went back to T5's. Plus I wasn't crazy about the bluetooth app.
I'm better with it now.
As far as fan noise ( IMO with any fixture) they all are pretty much near silent, until they age, and without cleaning.
I think with how popular the brand is ( doesn't everybody compare Radions to other products?) you are going to see more threads about them and with that see more negative.
 
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Dave-T

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The Radions are tempting, but the noise complaints make me nervous. That thread I linked to says they're 49db. That's about the same as the Orphek and Reefbreeder fans that I've heard. And that's too loud for my situation. If they rarely came on, that would be totally fine. And if I could test them first to verify that, I'd be willing to give them a shot. But what if the noise is a problem?

If you google radion "fan" noise, there are many complaints, so it seems like there's something to it.

Such as here.

"It seems like the fans really don't have a "low" mode. The noise almost seems to be the same whether I'm running at 50% or 100% intensity"

"the fans kick on and off constantly at 45% intensity with a much louder and more annoying sound than the Gen3's"

"I can definitely say the G5s are louder than the G4s."
 

Preyou

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I think you may be underestimating the size of the CoralCare fixtures.
Thanks. I will have a mount fabricated out of aluminum, whichever lights I get.

I'm thinking with the Coralcare I'd get 4 lights, because that would fit, and would give better spread. @Preyou, I was also considering adding the Kessel for shimmer, but I'd be concerned about fan noise.

@mfinn, I saw a post from you back in December that some of the LEDs in your Reefbrites had burned out. Did you get that resolved? That scares me away from them a bit.

You may be fine with 3 of the CoralCare fixtures. In my case, my display is 1/2 the width of yours and I have two. Leaving 1.5" between fixtures, they sit on the edge of the display on both sides. If you left 1.5" between fixtures, they would likely overhang the ends of your display.

I will put a picture of mine below:

20220223_130006.jpg


20220223_130142 (1).jpg
 
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Dave-T

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I think you may be underestimating the size of the CoralCare fixtures.


You may be fine with 3 of the CoralCare fixtures. In my case, my display is 1/2 the width of yours and I have two. Leaving 1.5" between fixtures, they sit on the edge of the display on both sides. If you left 1.5" between fixtures, they would likely overhang the ends of your display.

I will put a picture of mine below:

20220223_130006.jpg


20220223_130142 (1).jpg

Yes, it would be close, but why leave 1.5" between the lights? If I left 1 inch, they'd fit. Or I could just get 3 which is probably fine.
 

Oldreefer44

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I have a similar setup with 3 Stratons and 2 60 inch OR3 bars. Would recommend to start with that and see what you think. I get some shimmer but hard to say what is enough for you. The difficulty will be finding the Stratons.
 

Preyou

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Thanks for posting the pictures. Your tank looks nice!
Thanks.... there is a lot of overlap between fixtures. Not a bad thing, but I feel like you could leave 7 inches between lights and have enough overlap to get good, even coverage. Maybe even reduce light spill over the sides of the display. That is what I have issues with at the moment. I really want the fixtures to sit four inches inboard of the ends of the display.
 
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Dave-T

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I have a similar setup with 3 Stratons and 2 60 inch OR3 bars. Would recommend to start with that and see what you think. I get some shimmer but hard to say what is enough for you. The difficulty will be finding the Stratons.
Yeah, I've given up on the Stratons. Can't get them. Plus they say not to use with a canopy. Good on you for finding some though!
 

oreo54

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Plus they say not to use with a canopy.
Well now you threw another dimension into this.
I was going to remind you of an outside the box light that if you get the dimmable drivers you have a wee bit of control and the benefit of no fans.
Need fairly good clearance and no need for "color tuning"..


Actually they seem to have a controllable version I was unaware of.
 
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Dave-T

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Well now you threw another dimension into this.
I was going to remind you of an outside the box light that if you get the dimmable drivers you have a wee bit of control and the benefit of no fans.
Need fairly good clearance and no need for "color tuning"..


Actually they seem to have a controllable version I was unaware of.
Thanks! Those look cool, but I think they’re way too high. My wife doesn’t want a big box for the canopy. Plus I would suspect they have pretty loud fans.
 
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Dave-T

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Thanks! Those look cool, but I think they’re way too high. My wife doesn’t want a big box for the canopy. Plus I would suspect they have pretty loud fans.
OK, wait, you said they had no fans. Hmmm. Still seem too high.
 

oreo54

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Thanks! Those look cool, but I think they’re way too high. My wife doesn’t want a big box for the canopy. Plus I would suspect they have pretty loud fans.

OK, wait, you said they had no fans. Hmmm. Still seem too high.
At 60 degrees you only need to be about 2 feet off the water line.
But at that you would need 3 probably for length.


2 if you have more room and can control front/back spill.
Problem w/ square lights on rect. tanks.
2 1/2 feet for 2 from the front to water line

Orphek can confirm.

Oh you meant "tall" 6" without 11" with the overly tall bracket..
Bracket allows space for the "chimney" effect of cooling.
An open top hood not on the ceiling and that bracket height is probably unnecessary.
 
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Dave-T

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My wife wants the "vertical thickness" of the canopy to be minimum. I told her it would be 12 inches above the water. So we'd have a 12 inch tall canopy on the tank, with the light panels mounted in the top of the (open) canopy. So if the canopy needs to be 2 feet tall and the lights are 10 inches tall, that would be a problem. We could hang the canopy from the ceiling and have the lights inside that, but then would worry about light spill out the bottom of the canopy. So I don't think those Orpheks work.
 

oreo54

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My wife wants the "vertical thickness" of the canopy to be minimum. I told her it would be 12 inches above the water. So we'd have a 12 inch tall canopy on the tank, with the light panels mounted in the top of the (open) canopy. So if the canopy needs to be 2 feet tall and the lights are 10 inches tall, that would be a problem. We could hang the canopy from the ceiling and have the lights inside that, but then would worry about light spill out the bottom of the canopy. So I don't think those Orpheks work.
Your call... Not trying to sell these but with reflectors vs lenses technically you could mount them to the ceiling ( or close )
with the right lens and have very little light spill in the room.
Without a hood it is actually fairly minimal






Of course nothing like a sort of sealed cabinet arrangement.


frashwater-LED-light-amazonas-320-1162x1060-2[1].jpg
 

Oldreefer44

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Yeah, I've given up on the Stratons. Can't get them. Plus they say not to use with a canopy. Good on you for finding some though!
I have had mine in an open top canopy for about 15 months with no issues. A closed canopy would be a totally different thing.
 
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Dave-T

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I have had mine in an open top canopy for about 15 months with no issues. A closed canopy would be a totally different thing.
I envy you. Stratons with Orphek bars is what I was hoping for. (Love to see your tank. Do you have a build thread?) But can't get the Stratons. Want to sell me yours? Otherwise, the Coralcares are looking pretty appealing, after reading this thread:

 

Luc Vogels

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Maybe @Luc Vogels can shed some light on the Philips CoralCare gen 2 light, how many and what you can do with it.
If there are any specific question regarding Lighting or CoralCare please let me know.. happy to help!
ps. that table on the top of the page is scientifically inaccurate; "LEDs/sq" is not a relevant metric for your tank, especially when you compare passive and actively cooled devices together. Could you share some information about the canopy dimensions?
 

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