Product Review: Reef Breeders Photon 48-V2+

[mattzang]

I purchased the photon48 lights a few weeks ago for my 120g 4x2x2. The spread is adequate for 48 inches length side but not adequate for 24 inches front to back with wall to wall coral. Would be perfect for a 90 that is 48x18 if you mount them 10 inches or more off the water.

I am also disappointed with the spectrum though. Too purple for my tastes and generally the tank appears too dark like it's not enough light. Although the corals do look great, but the fish do not. The yellow and blue tangs colors just aren't as impressive and bright as they were under the Chinese LEDs I had before.
If course this could be partially because I don't have them run above 70/35 power wise so maybe will look brighter if I can get closer to 90/45 or 100/50

Thanks, i appreciate the insight. my tank is 48x24 too so..

That was kind of my concern after seeing the recent youtube video by reef dork, although he's euro and has the evergreen version of the light. but it just looked.. dim? spectrum obviously varies and who knows what he had it at. i know of an lfs near me that has some reefbreeders so i still want to go check it out to see for myself

 

[ApoIsland]

Thanks, i appreciate the insight. my tank is 48x24 too so..

That was kind of my concern after seeing the recent youtube video by reef dork, although he's euro and has the evergreen version of the light. but it just looked.. dim? spectrum obviously varies and who knows what he had it at. i know of an lfs near me that has some reefbreeders so i still want to go check it out to see for myself

Yes, I do believe the spectrum is just off. And dim is the perfect word to describe the overall look. Hopefully that will change as I can ramp them up closer to 90% or so. I suppose I should reserve judgement until then.

As far as spread goes it really depends on how you do your reefscape. You can see in my profile photo I have mine all the way up on the back corners and pretty high up on the back wall. The light doesn't work for that. If you have one of the minimalist reefscapes that are so popular now this light would have no problem covering the 4x2x2.

 

[Bpb]

Yes, I do believe the spectrum is just off. And dim is the perfect word to describe the overall look. Hopefully that will change as I can ramp them up closer to 90% or so. I suppose I should reserve judgement until then.

As far as spread goes it really depends on how you do your reefscape. You can see in my profile photo I have mine all the way up on the back corners and pretty high up on the back wall. The light doesn't work for that. If you have one of the minimalist reefscapes that are so popular now this light would have no problem covering the 4x2x2.

I’d want a pair of them on a 24” deep tank for acros all over the place. It’s only what? 8” front to back? I wouldn’t expect ANY fixture only 8” to cover a 24” depth. Not a halide pendant. Not a t 5 unit. And certainly not an led unit.

 

[ApoIsland]

I’d want a pair of them on a 24” deep tank for acros all over the place. It’s only what? 8” front to back? I wouldn’t expect ANY fixture only 8” to cover a 24” depth. Not a halide pendant. Not a t 5 unit. And certainly not an led unit.

Yes this is true. I have very easy to keep sps though so was hoping it would work if I had it high enough. No Acros in my tank.

 

[mattzang]

I’d want a pair of them on a 24” deep tank for acros all over the place. It’s only what? 8” front to back? I wouldn’t expect ANY fixture only 8” to cover a 24” depth. Not a halide pendant. Not a t 5 unit. And certainly not an led unit.

even then, $1400 to really blanket a 4' tank is a sweet deal

 

[Bpb]

even then, $1400 to really blanket a 4' tank is a sweet deal

Agreed. Absolutely a high value option from a performance level for what you pay

 

[SinCityRee4r]

I purchased the photon light a few weeks ago for my 120g 4x2x2. The spread is adequate for 48 inches length side but not adequate for 24 inches front to back with wall to wall coral. Would be perfect for a 90 that is 48x18 if you mount them 10 inches or more off the water.

I am also disappointed with the spectrum though. Too purple for my tastes and generally the tank appears too dark like it's not enough light. Although the corals do look great, but the fish do not. The yellow and blue tangs colors just aren't as impressive and bright as they were under the Chinese LEDs I had before.
If course this could be partially because I don't have them run above 70/35 power wise so maybe will look brighter if I can get closer to 90/45 or 100/50

I have been running this light for 2 years on my 120G build. I did recently add the aquatic life hybrid as I wanted to get the t5 spectrums you can not get from led (3) blue+ and (1) coral+ lamp I run thes from 12-4PM. I have attached my program which is their version of ab+. (see Below)

My light is 12” above the water on a 48” x 24” x 24” tank. I have a mixed reef setup (Included current photo with just the photon on no filter)

Polyp Lab yellow filter (below)

IMHO this is a solid light and I have had great growth and success utilizing it. One other thing. The reef-breeders customer service and 2 year included warranty is second to none and the company is in the USA. Wakefield RI.

By the way great review write up from the reviewer. very bias

 

[Aardvark1134]

$1400 for a 4ft tank light is not that amazing of a price... for that you could get 2xKessil 360x with a front and back supplemental orphik bar. That combo would grow anything in a 4 ft 120.

 

[Bpb]

$1400 for a 4ft tank light is not that amazing of a price... for that you could get 2xKessil 360x with a front and back supplemental orphik bar. That combo would grow anything in a 4 ft 120.

I mean this as nice as I can. And I know some people will chuckle...but I’d trust a reef breeders before I’d trust an Orphek. And I don’t like the point source nature of kessils. Price may be close but the way the lights behave is very different

 

[Aardvark1134]

To each their own...a local store near me has all 3 on display and I can tell you the reefbreeders disco ball the sand bed. Kessils do not, and if mounted high the orphik don't, and the old gen 4 radions with a diffuser don't. Each person has different things they look for. I know some peope can't handle a lot of shimmer...for me I refuse to have a rainbow discoball. This is why you will never get everyone to agree on any light. They all will grow corals if you have them setup right in enough quanity.

 

[Bryknicks]

To each their own...a local store near me has all 3 on display and I can tell you the reefbreeders disco ball the sand bed. Kessils do not, and if mounted high the orphik don't, and the old gen 4 radions with a diffuser don't. Each person has different things they look for. I know some peope can't handle a lot of shimmer...for me I refuse to have a rainbow discoball. This is why you will never get everyone to agree on any light. They all will grow corals if you have them setup right in enough quanity.

That's interesting. I don't have any disco ball in the sand bed or even on the rocks. When looking at the tank from above I can see the disco ball reflection on the top of the water but nothing in the tank.

 

[Aardvark1134]

Probably depends on how high the light is and how much surface turbulance you have. I know mounting height really effects the orphiks a ton. At like almost 2 ft they look great...at 1 ft not so much.

 

[Bryknicks]

Could be. I have mine about 10 inches off the surface. Do you recall how high it was at the LFS?

 

[Aardvark1134]

No its been like 2 months since I was there. He had 1 tank each with just about everything the radion, orphik, reefbreeders, kessils, AI, reefbrites, ATI T5s etc. Pretty much every tank had a different major light set on it. And they all were supporting corals without a problem. So I think LED lighting is more about picking the 1-2 types you like the look of then finding out how many you need to arrange what way and on what setting to make the corals happy. If I remember right I think the reefbreeders were on a large about 6 inch tall frag display

 

[montethemoster]

Thanks for doing this. It would be great to see a spectral distribution of the fixture at full power, in addition to the individual leds.

 

[Silver14SS]

Thank you for sharing your time and expertise with all of us, great article!

 

[Dana Riddle]

Addendum to the article: Spectral Quality at full power.

 

[montethemoster]

Thanks. Appreciate it!

 

[biecacka]

I think the issue with Orphek isn’t anything more than their componen issues.

corey

 

[ApoIsland]

To each their own...a local store near me has all 3 on display and I can tell you the reefbreeders disco ball the sand bed. Kessils do not, and if mounted high the orphik don't, and the old gen 4 radions with a diffuser don't. Each person has different things they look for. I know some peope can't handle a lot of shimmer...for me I refuse to have a rainbow discoball. This is why you will never get everyone to agree on any light. They all will grow corals if you have them setup right in enough quanity.

In my short experience with this Reefbreeders Photon the disco ball effect has more to do with how your tank is aquascaped than anything else. I have equal surface turbulance front to back. There is definitely plenty of disco ball effect on the back half of the sandbed where the light is disrupted by branching coral colonies and rock scapes that create a little shadowing. The front sand bed where the light goes straight from the fixture has no disco effect. I have tried this fixture at 8, 10, 12, and now 15 inches above the water and the disco effect is the same regardless of height.

If you have a simple minimal rock scape with very small sps frags with minimal branching you should not see much disco ball effect anywhere. If you have larger branching colonies of sps and some intricate rock work, then unfortunately you are most likely going to have to get used to a fair amount of the discoball.

As of right now (2 or 3 weeks in) I am not happy with this light but maybe my expectations were a little high. Things could also improve regarding spectrum and brightness once the corals get acclimated and I am able to ramp up to more than the current 70/35 settings.

Edit...in fairness to the PhotonV2....Maybe I am too picky coming from T5's as I have also not been happy with the Kessils (shading), or any of the AI line of lights (quality). I did like the appearance of my tank under AI line the best (Prime and Hyrda 26) but I can't stand that 2 of the 3 lights I received from them have failed within 2 years so will never buy from that company again.