Please help me silently light this tank

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Dave-T

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I think the orpheks are not going to provide shimmer but instead give you the fuzzy disco effect. Shimmer is strongest from single point light sources.
A friend of mine has Orphek bars to supplement his other lights. I’m not sure what the other ones are. I think T5s. He says the Orphek bars produce nice shimmer.
 

mfinn

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The Philips CoralCare gen 2 fixtures are awesome.
I went from ATI T5's ( Radions before) on both my tanks to CoralCare gen 2 fixtures.
Control is either Bluetooth or WiFi.
Fanless = totally silent.
I did add the Reef Brite XHO blue strips I used with the T5's
 
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Dave-T

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A friend of mine runs 4 Atlantics on his 300 and they are quiet. He runs them at 50% so maybe higher setting are the issue.
I’ve heard that elsewhere about the Atlantiks. Maybe they’re smarter and only come on when the unit is actually hot.
 

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I’ve heard that elsewhere about the Atlantiks. Maybe they’re smarter and only come on when the unit is actually hot.
That may be the key. I will talk to my friend this week and have him turn it up to see the difference.
He started with 8 60" bars but changed to the panels because he could not control ramp up/down.
 
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Dave-T

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Yes, I just learned that about the Orphek bars. That will be a deal breaker for me. Whatever I add to supplement the Straton panels, I do want programmability.
 
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Dave-T

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Ugh. The Stratons are back ordered 4-6 months. Plus, it turns out that the manual says not to have them in a canopy. They need air circulation. So that knocks them out of contention. It’s not looking like I’m going to find fanless lights. So now I’m considering lights with fans that only come on when they’re hot, unlike the Orpheks. A friend lent me a Reefbreeders light, and its fan doesn’t seem to come on at normal temperatures. So that’s good! But I’ve heard they have the disco effect. Not so good.

I don’t think a bar alone solution will work because I want ramp up and down, and moonlight.
 

mfinn

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Ugh. The Stratons are back ordered 4-6 months. Plus, it turns out that the manual says not to have them in a canopy. They need air circulation. So that knocks them out of contention. It’s not looking like I’m going to find fanless lights. So now I’m considering lights with fans that only come on when they’re hot, unlike the Orpheks. A friend lent me a Reefbreeders light, and its fan doesn’t seem to come on at normal temperatures. So that’s good! But I’ve heard they have the disco effect. Not so good.

I don’t think a bar alone solution will work because I want ramp up and down, and moonlight.
I still think there are a couple options for you.
The Straton and the CoralCare gen2 fixtures both still might work if you installed fans in your canopy. We used to make air vents and install fans when we used metal halides. ( they were hot!). Might be a good idea no matter what light fixture you get.
The orphek bars could also still be an option. There are control power strips available that allow a different on time for each outlet. Get however many light bars you need and just have each come on at a different time.
 
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Dave-T

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Thanks. Even if I could cool the Stratons, they're out of the running because I can't get them. I will look at the Coralcare. I thought I'd heard bad things about them, but I forget what that was. BRS says they're "discontinued". What's up with that? I do see people saying that the Coralcare isn't good at producing the more blue light that most reefers seem to prefer.

Regarding bars, I do want ramp up/down, and moonlight, maybe other things that you can't get with bars. (AFAIK)
 

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Thanks. Even if I could cool the Stratons, they're out of the running because I can't get them. I will look at the Coralcare. I thought I'd heard bad things about them, but I forget what that was. BRS says they're "discontinued". What's up with that? I do see people saying that the Coralcare isn't good at producing the more blue light that most reefers seem to prefer.

Regarding bars, I do want ramp up/down, and moonlight, maybe other things that you can't get with bars. (AFAIK)
I doubt there is a down side to the CoralCare gen 2 fixtures other than they are probably the heaviest fixture on the market. That seems to put people off. Plus they don't give off the high blue pop that many other fixtures do. They mimic T5's. I switched from a ATI T5 fixture to the CoralCare gen 2 fixture. I have 2 over my 233 mixed softy tank, and 1 over my 66 gallon LPS tank.
BRS discontinued selling them about the time the investment into the Sky fixture happened.
A lot of other places sell them.

I agree that the CoralCare doesn't give the led blue pop, I added reef brites light xho bars to mine.
 

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If you do have ones with fans, expect them to come on if you have them enclosed in a canopy. Of course, you could vent the canopy, but that would also require a fan.

You mention that the tank will be close to the kitchen table. Do you spend a significant amount of time there each day, or just for dinner? I can honestly say that when my 4 Radion XR15 pros have their fans going, I don't even notice it. I guess it just blends into the rest of the ambient house noise.
 
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Dave-T

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I doubt there is a down side to the CoralCare gen 2 fixtures other than they are probably the heaviest fixture on the market. That seems to put people off. Plus they don't give off the high blue pop that many other fixtures do. They mimic T5's. I switched from a ATI T5 fixture to the CoralCare gen 2 fixture. I have 2 over my 233 mixed softy tank, and 1 over my 66 gallon LPS tank.
BRS discontinued selling them about the time the investment into the Sky fixture happened.
A lot of other places sell them.

I agree that the CoralCare doesn't give the led blue pop, I added reef brites light xho bars to mine.
Hey Mfinn!

Your tank is very similar to mine. I'll be 72x28x28, you're 72x24x30, correct? Do you have a picture of your tank? I see your build thread, but it's 13 pages long! How do you have your reefbrites set up? Do you have good blues and shimmer with your setup? I do want to grow SPS, so I'm not sure whether or not mimicing your setup would be right for me.

@T-J, the table is for dinner, but it's in a big open room where we spend a lot of time. I could hear the Orpheks from across the room, and they're relatively quiet fans. Much quieter than the reef breeders, but the reefbreeders seem like they wouldn't come on very much.
 

mfinn

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Hey Mfinn!

Your tank is very similar to mine. I'll be 72x28x28, you're 72x24x30, correct? Do you have a picture of your tank? I see your build thread, but it's 13 pages long! How do you have your reefbrites set up? Do you have good blues and shimmer with your setup? I do want to grow SPS, so I'm not sure whether or not mimicing your setup would be right for me.
My tank is 72" long x 30" wide x 25" tall.

I made my own mounts for my CoralCare fixtures so I only had to use 2 wires going to the ceiling.
I went with only 2 fixtures on this setup because of the advertised spread. 2 is plenty for mixed softy tanks.
I currently have my fixtures set at 60% and get about 270 par 6"- 8" down in the tank and and about 120 at the sand bed in between the 2 fixtures. I'm on a Philips CoralCare gen 2 facebook group ( the majority are international users ) and people have posted some really high par numbers and use them on sps dominate tanks. These fixtures have been around for a while and have a pretty good track record.
I haven't updated my build thread in a while on my 233. It's just a plain old softy tank. It's what I've been doing on my dining room tank space for the last 25 years.
I did a little research on the CC before I bought them ( the first day they were available in the USA) and saw that to get the led pop, I would have to add a supplemental led bar.
Since I already was using them with my ATI 8 x 80 watt T5 fixture, it was easy to add them.
I absolutely love the XHO Reef Brites. I've had sets of them for about 4-5 years. They add alot.

You could very easily go total sps with the CC gen 2 fixtures.
Just because BRS doesn't sell them doesn't mean anything other than they have other products to sell.
 

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I doubt there is a down side to the CoralCare gen 2 fixtures other than they are probably the heaviest fixture on the market. That seems to put people off. Plus they don't give off the high blue pop that many other fixtures do. They mimic T5's. I switched from a ATI T5 fixture to the CoralCare gen 2 fixture. I have 2 over my 233 mixed softy tank, and 1 over my 66 gallon LPS tank.
BRS discontinued selling them about the time the investment into the Sky fixture happened.
A lot of other places sell them.

I agree that the CoralCare doesn't give the led blue pop, I added reef brites light xho bars to mine.
I have to agree with @mfinn here. The only downside I could come up with was the weight. The out of the box warranty is twice what anyone else's is (2-years) and they are passively cooled. The do not have the crazy blue pop that some people really want to see, but that is personal taste. I really like the color temperature of the fixtures and you cannot argue that the corals like it too. I did not add any supplemental blue light to mine, but again, that all comes down to personal preference. I will say that, of all things, I did not like the Phillips app. This did not matter much to me though because I have my Apex controlling the lighting.

I have been considering the addition of a single Kessil a360 between my two fixtures to give the display some extra shimmer. This isn't necessary for coral health though as the CoralCare fixtures are plenty for my display.
 
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Dave-T

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My tank is 72" long x 30" wide x 25" tall.

I made my own mounts for my CoralCare fixtures so I only had to use 2 wires going to the ceiling.
I went with only 2 fixtures on this setup because of the advertised spread. 2 is plenty for mixed softy tanks.
I currently have my fixtures set at 60% and get about 270 par 6"- 8" down in the tank and and about 120 at the sand bed in between the 2 fixtures. I'm on a Philips CoralCare gen 2 facebook group ( the majority are international users ) and people have posted some really high par numbers and use them on sps dominate tanks. These fixtures have been around for a while and have a pretty good track record.
I haven't updated my build thread in a while on my 233. It's just a plain old softy tank. It's what I've been doing on my dining room tank space for the last 25 years.
I did a little research on the CC before I bought them ( the first day they were available in the USA) and saw that to get the led pop, I would have to add a supplemental led bar.
Since I already was using them with my ATI 8 x 80 watt T5 fixture, it was easy to add them.
I absolutely love the XHO Reef Brites. I've had sets of them for about 4-5 years. They add alot.

You could very easily go total sps with the CC gen 2 fixtures.
Just because BRS doesn't sell them doesn't mean anything other than they have other products to sell.

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.
 

mfinn

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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.
After doing some research on that fixture, I found that I had bought it 5 years ago. ( I sold 2 strips to a friend and one of them turned out to be the newer one)
I guy that is local to me said there was a easy fix since the leds that were out were all on the same circuit. I gave it to him in trade.
 
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Dave-T

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My tank is 72" long x 30" wide x 25" tall.

I made my own mounts for my CoralCare fixtures so I only had to use 2 wires going to the ceiling.
I went with only 2 fixtures on this setup because of the advertised spread. 2 is plenty for mixed softy tanks.
I currently have my fixtures set at 60% and get about 270 par 6"- 8" down in the tank and and about 120 at the sand bed in between the 2 fixtures. I'm on a Philips CoralCare gen 2 facebook group ( the majority are international users ) and people have posted some really high par numbers and use them on sps dominate tanks. These fixtures have been around for a while and have a pretty good track record.
I haven't updated my build thread in a while on my 233. It's just a plain old softy tank. It's what I've been doing on my dining room tank space for the last 25 years.
I did a little research on the CC before I bought them ( the first day they were available in the USA) and saw that to get the led pop, I would have to add a supplemental led bar.
Since I already was using them with my ATI 8 x 80 watt T5 fixture, it was easy to add them.
I absolutely love the XHO Reef Brites. I've had sets of them for about 4-5 years. They add alot.

You could very easily go total sps with the CC gen 2 fixtures.
Just because BRS doesn't sell them doesn't mean anything other than they have other products to sell.

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.
 

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