*Reef Breeders Photon v2 and T5 installation, testing, and review*

[reeferfoxx]

And like I said in the first post. I'm far from a lighting expert and have no idea what the best lighting is or what is best for corals color, intensity, par, pur, etc wise. I can just get numbers.

Well, my numbers and suggestion should be taken with a grain of salt. Folks that are suggesting 250 at 18-24" depth are using legit par meters. I'm basing my numbers off lux to par @60 conversion or X/60=Y. That 60 is based off typical mars aqua. Mine however is a modified populargrow with various diode and lens swaps.

 

[jason2459]

So......

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/p...ull-spectrum-underwater-quantum-meter.292681/

 

[jason2459]

Hmm... I think I can already tell a difference in my anemones. They seem to be starting to fill out again. They still look pale. Mostly all blues are on right now and they should be standing out a lot but they aren't. Hopefully again soon.

First to show negative effects and first to show positive ones? I hope.

 

[jason2459]

I just bumped up the percentages another 2% . The fans haven't kicked on at all which is awesome if they never need to. No noise.

I was hoping to have my actinic and blue+ bulbs in but they didn't get here yet. I'm looking forward to trying those out.

 

[reeferfoxx]

I just bumped up the percentages another 2% . The fans haven't kicked on at all which is awesome if they never need to. No noise.

I was hoping to have my actinic and blue+ bulbs in but they didn't get here yet. I'm looking forward to trying those out.

I'm not familiar with bubble tips. Does pale mean they need more light or is that another issue?

 

[jason2459]

I'm not familiar with bubble tips. Does pale mean they need more light or is that another issue?

Yeah, everything in my tank went pale and what ever could reach up was reaching up. Par on the sand was below 100. My purple haze monti and red mushrooms seemed fine and cyano was happy.

 

[reeferfoxx]

Yeah, everything in my tank went pale and what ever could reach up was reaching up. Par on the sand was below 100. My purple haze monti and red mushrooms seemed fine and cyano was happy.

get rid of the cyano lol.. your nitrates are low.

 

[jason2459]

Nah, I'm not worried about cyano. I have faith in my tank to get back in balance. I'm more about just keep consistent and let it work itself out. I have the patience to wait it out.

But I think this is the first time I've had a light induced cyano outbreak.

My nitrates hover around 2.5-5mg/L and phosphates range around .02-.08ppm.

 

[reeferfoxx]

Nah, I'm not worried about cyano. I have faith in my tank to get back in balance. I'm more about just keep consistent and let it work itself out. I have the patience to wait it out.

But I think this is the first time I've had a light induced cyano outbreak.

My nitrates hover around 2.5-5mg/L and phosphates range around .02-.08ppm.

Ya. First time I've heard of it.

 

[jason2459]

Amazing what a change in lighting can do. For the better or worse. Cyano is already going away (still around) and my anemones are already getting their color back and looking better. It's been about a week running the new setup.

Corals still very pale but the cyano around them are diminishing.

 

[jason2459]

FYI, I have the seneye and apogee sitting on the sandbed in the middle of the tank logging all day to get a look at lighting through out the day. So far the apogee mq510 and seneye have been reading the same mirroring the results I got when posting the par shootout thread.

 

[jason2459]

I have to say, if anyone has the opportunity and means to completely plaster LEDs over the entire tank it makes for extremely even par everywhere. T5 strip down the middle and the slight angle inward all seems to help. Edit: Also to note the lens used on the photon v2 are 100 degrees if that makes a difference at all. I guess a nice compromise between penetrating 90 and spread of 120?

From the bottom of the tank to half way up is a difference of about a PAR of 50. On the same plane I have not found any hot spots and pretty even through out. About a PAR of 20 drop around the front glass and 25-30 drop on the side glass. Using the Apogee for that and have been taking about a million readings all day.

Here's peak settings right now

And PAR on the bottom

I don't know if I should or need to bump that up anymore? I didn't expect to hit 200 so quickly at such low percentages.

I will be changing bulbs out so don't know what that will do or may end up liking the look of the Coral+ still. Won't know until I try it.

 

[Reef Man]

Wow! With this information, I feel I need to change to leds for my sps tank

 

[jason2459]

Wow! With this information, I feel I need to change to leds for my sps tank

Nah, If you're running T5 or MH with good reflectors then you should have some good spread. Why MH reflectors got bigger and bigger... The spread and blending of colors is why I went the way I did.

It seems LEDs with the way they are setup with small or few fixtures lack in that area as tanks get bigger. Then people try and compare LEDs to the MH or T5s they had and the lack of spread ends up causing some disappointment and you get these I'm switching back to xyz threads.

Sanjay is then used as an example to show LEDs can look and be just as effective as MH but he has a ton of LEDs over his tank. Another great LED setup is by another member Slief. He has an amazing setup with a combination of Mitras and Kessils. He has his setup in that new Mitras thread by d2mini.

I am personally a fan of the colors and softness of T5 but like a little shimmer so to me its a perfect blend.

 

[Reef Man]

Thats why! I have a tank of 48"*40" and 22" high, and I am using 12 - T5 bulbs. I really miss shimmer on my tanks and I think you can use less watts with leds than T5 or MH. If results are good, I think reduce my electric bill will not hurt.

 

[jason2459]

Yeah, then there is raising the LEDs higher then you have to drive them harder. Helps their spread but reduces their effectiveness and efficiency.

 

[Reef Man]

How high do you have them?

 

[jason2459]

How high do you have them?

Good question, I just had to measure.

T5s are 9" off the water

Back sides of the fixtures are 8.5" off the water
Front sides of the fixture are 10.5" off the water

 

[Reef Man]

Asking, because I have my tank under main stairs and not o much to move them high. I think I have like 7" only for space between lamp and water

 

[jason2459]

I had my ocean revive fixtures about 7.5-8" above the water and the spread was horrible. The red and greens created a disco effect in narrow spots. At first I was happy but over time the annoyances got worse and adding the T5s helped a bit but still had a ton of variation in par in random places. Bringing them up higher may have helped but I was already at 100% power on them and bringing them up higher would have helped spread but hurt PAR.