Reef breeders photon v2?

[Velcro]

Do you think on a 36x36x16 tank 1 photon 32 or 1 photon 24 would be good for Sps or do you think dual photons are necessary?

I'm currently conflicted on what to order because I don't know there exact coverage width wise. Length they have on the site but they don't mention width coverage anywhere

Logan at reefbreeders told me 1 photon with 2 of the actinic supplement bars he just added to his website would cover 30x30. I wanted to reduce shading and Adam at battle corals said he uses 2 of the 24" lights on his 30x30 display. At the pricepoint, I'd rather go overkill since it's all SPS and I'm coming from T5. For your footprint I would be looking at 2x 32" v2's personally.

 

[Salty_Box_Reef]

Do you think on a 36x36x16 tank 1 photon 32 or 1 photon 24 would be good for Sps or do you think dual photons are necessary?

I'm currently conflicted on what to order because I don't know there exact coverage width wise. Length they have on the site but they don't mention width coverage anywhere

In my opinion the more the better. You'll notice on a lot of the truely successful large tanks where it's led only, they run a TON of fixtures. I've seen some 300-500g tanks with 15+ radions on them. Leds are so focused it's hard to compare them to other light sources. The ways to work around that are to hang them high which reduces par, or cover the entire area with with a blanket of light and risk burning corals with hot spots.

On my photon v2 at 18" and 100% on all channels I get similar average par to my six bulb t5. The caveat to that is there's a few spots where par is pretty high in comparison. If I drop the fixture just 4" to 14" these couple hot spots almost double. One spot from 450-750, additionally the par on the ends of the tanks drops by over half from 250 to 80-100.... And that's still higher than the factory mounting legs allow you to mount the light.

My t5 fixture you could mount between 6" to 10" and par would barely shift at all in comparison.

So double what you think you need for fixtures and hang them higher than you think you should. That should skip a lot of the "led acclimation" BS that so many people struggle with.

 

[Velcro]

With all the money you save buying reefbreeders I would HIGHLY recommend buying a par meter. I use the apogee USB 200 series sensor. Yes there's an unknown correction factor because of all the blue in LEDs but I just assume it reads low about 30% and watch the corals when raising past a par of 250 with all LED.

 

[hart24601]

I use a 24" and a 16" on my 24"


Why not 2 24"? The corner overflow takes up space so no point in covering it, but almost all the non-overflow surface is covered then.

I replaced two radion g3 - yes two - with these and the RB blow them out of the water. I also got a cheap lux meter and put in plastic Ziploc to rough gauge par using lux/60.

 

[christiantt]

Velcro - how does your 24h schedule look for the lights??

 

[Rakie]

With all the money you save buying reefbreeders I would HIGHLY recommend buying a par meter. I use the apogee USB 200 series sensor. Yes there's an unknown correction factor because of all the blue in LEDs but I just assume it reads low about 30% and watch the corals when raising past a par of 250 with all LED.

I think some testing from BRS showed the Seneye par meter is actually as accurate as the Apogee units -- which is super impressive for a $200 par meter.

Also gotta say, the new orphek LED bars look promising... They finally have full spectrum LED bars available, and LED bars that have UV with Blue for quality pop.

 

[Kurry]

So lights still running good I might order one tomorrow just making sure you guys like them

 

[Salty_Box_Reef]

I love mine. I’ll be selling a 48 with two supplemental strips here soon. I went from a standard 120 48” tank to a waterbox 100.3 so I had to order a smaller light.

It’s been a awesome light and I have absolutely zero complaints. I setup a schedule that mimicked a ecotech ab+ type schedule and it grows everything great. My tank is pretty much only sps with a few softies in the sandbed.

 

[TexasTodd]

Steve, what percent are you running at?

 

[Salty_Box_Reef]

At peak I am running the blue channels at 100, white at 80 and the reds and greens at 40. But that’s only for 2 hours. For about 3hrs before and two hrs after peak I am 100 on blues and between 40 and 60% white with 20% or less greens and reds.

 

[gatorbait01]

Are you guys running these as a stand alone fixture or adding some other type of supplementation? I'm in the process of setting up a sps reefer 250 and thought of doing a hybrid t5/led or full t5 but now considering this. For anyone doing sps have you had any shadowing?

 

[Salty_Box_Reef]

Are you guys running these as a stand alone fixture or adding some other type of supplementation? I'm in the process of setting up a sps reefer 250 and thought of doing a hybrid t5/led or full t5 but now considering this. For anyone doing sps have you had any shadowing?

I run the fixture with a couple led strips on the sides. RB calls them lumenBars.

 

[Salty_Box_Reef]

It’s also for sale too.

 

[gatorbait01]

I run the fixture with a couple led strips on the sides. RB calls them lumenBars.

My new setup is a 36" tank so I would need the 32 version. Are you staying with this fixture on your new setup or trying something different?

 

[Salty_Box_Reef]

My new setup is a 36" tank so I would need the 32 version. Are you staying with this fixture on your new setup or trying something different?

I am still undecided. I am considering going with radions due to the mounting solutions. This light is awesome but truth be told I think I could grow nice corals with any of the newer lights. If I was running a tank with a hood then yeah hands down I would. Or if they made something like the radion defusers I would run it cause I could run it really low.

 

[DonTavo27]

I’ve been running a 24” V2 over my 36” long, and I seem to get great coverage. I recently added a couple of ati bulbs to a retro fit above my V2, and I noticed a great response in my Coral within the first week.
I think the T5 combo was my best move. But it sure works well as a stand alone.

 

[Salty_Box_Reef]

I’ve been running a 24” V2 over my 36” long, and I seem to get great coverage. I recently added a couple of ati bulbs to a retro fit above my V2, and I noticed a great response in my Coral within the first week.
I think the T5 combo was my best move. But it sure works well as a stand alone.

I think photons are photons and the reason people see great results with t5’s is basically just coverage. A 36” tank should have a 36” fixture and if it’s more than 18” front to back it should either have two fixtures or supplements on each side for added coverage.

I noticed no difference in growth switching from a 6 bulb t5 fixture to my v2 with lumenBars. But I also have my v2 hung about 16-18” above the water so coverage is a nice blanket of light similar to a t5.

 

[Salty_Box_Reef]

Nems are super happy, I have acros growing in the sandbed 24” deep. No complaints with the light at all.

 

[Salty_Box_Reef]

Awesome colors

 

[gatorbait01]

I think photons are photons and the reason people see great results with t5’s is basically just coverage. A 36” tank should have a 36” fixture and if it’s more than 18” front to back it should either have two fixtures or supplements on each side for added coverage.

I noticed no difference in growth switching from a 6 bulb t5 fixture to my v2 with lumenBars. But I also have my v2 hung about 16-18” above the water so coverage is a nice blanket of light similar to a t5.

So do you run them at ~16" just to diffuse the light more? Do you run the lumen bars just to get more blues?