Reef Light Question

[Bruttall]

In that price range, the neptune sky and ati straton may be a neat option. I usually don't recommend lights in these price ranges but they are near the orphek. A kessil + AI blade (or reef brite) combo would work well since they don't need to be mounted high off the water. Red sea led's would be a cheaper alternative to kessil but I wouldn't use them without the AI blades.


If you want to save money, I'd check out noopsyche. I haven't seen the maxspect jump in person but it might be worth looking into. Reefbreeders are another budget friendly option but like the orpheks, they need to be mounted high inorder to avoid hotspots.


Check out the recent brs investigates video series on lights. They offer a TON of information.

BRS video's is how I discovered Orphek lights! lol
I'd like to say Money is not an Option, but lets be serious, I have about $4k US budgeted for this build, I need a Skimmer, and Lights. I have everything else I need except substrate and some more dry "live" rock which I will buy a few pounds at a time when I go visit my LFS along with a bag of aragonite substrate.

Already looking at an OCTO external 8 inch skimmer. Ordered the 4 x7 media baskets from Eshopps for my es300 sump to replace the socks this morning.

I have to remove the wall I built out of old barn wood that covers the front of the tank, and I am going to move the tank forward 3 feet when I do this to give me a little more room behind it for maintenance, water changes etc. Since I am already doing that, gonna make my stand lower so the Sand Line in my tank, and the bottom of the window for it, are the exact same height as the top of the back of my cough, Feng Shui!

Mounting Height isn't gonna be an issue unless those iCon's need more than 20 inches. If they do my joists in my house run the same direction as the long side of my tank, so I can remove the drywall ceiling above the tank before I place itso I can position it between the joists to recess the lights. 14 inches between them, lights are less than 10 inches wide, that would give me another 4 inches for a total of 24 inches above tank with 2 7/8 inches left above that mark for a light 2.1 inches thick. Ya my wheels are turning.

 

[Bruttall]

What ever you decide, spend a lot of time researching every possible light you may want before making a decision. Lights are a steep price to regret later

Best Advice Ever!! and a lot of why I am here asking questions from people who I am sure, based off the tanks I am seeing, have probably forgotten more than I'll ever know!

I landed on the Atlantik iCon based off the stats they posted on the web site, did comparison to Radion (I have Ecotech water flow devices so the Radions seemed <- key word, a no brainer) till I saw the bandwidth and spectrums on the Orphek. the clencher though, I would need 4 radions at 950 each, or 2 orpheks at 985 each.

 

[Spare time]

BRS video's is how I discovered Orphek lights! lol
I'd like to say Money is not an Option, but lets be serious, I have about $4k US budgeted for this build, I need a Skimmer, and Lights. I have everything else I need except substrate and some more dry "live" rock which I will buy a few pounds at a time when I go visit my LFS along with a bag of aragonite substrate.

Already looking at an OCTO external 8 inch skimmer. Ordered the 4 x7 media baskets from Eshopps for my es300 sump to replace the socks this morning.

I have to remove the wall I built out of old barn wood that covers the front of the tank, and I am going to move the tank forward 3 feet when I do this to give me a little more room behind it for maintenance, water changes etc. Since I am already doing that, gonna make my stand lower so the Sand Line in my tank, and the bottom of the window for it, are the exact same height as the top of the back of my cough, Feng Shui!

Mounting Height isn't gonna be an issue unless those iCon's need more than 20 inches. If they do my joists in my house run the same direction as the long side of my tank, so I can remove the drywall ceiling above the tank before I place itso I can position it between the joists to recess the lights. 14 inches between them, lights are less than 10 inches wide, that would give me another 4 inches for a total of 24 inches above tank with 2 7/8 inches left above that mark for a light 2.1 inches thick. Ya my wheels are turning.

You may not need a skimmer right off the bat. I would start with a refugium and then add the skimmer when you feel its needed. As for the lights, the one comment I have about orpheks is that those style lights are more likely to have the famous discoball effect. They are very powerful though.

 

[Bruttall]

You may not need a skimmer right off the bat. I would start with a refugium and then add the skimmer when you feel its needed. As for the lights, the one comment I have about orpheks is that those style lights are more likely to have the famous discoball effect. They are very powerful though.

discoball effect? never heard of that

 

[Spare time]

discoball effect? never heard of that

It's when the color output of the lights blend poorly and you see their separation on the sand or plating corals. Usually the further spaced the individual diodes are, the more pronounced this is.

 

[Bruttall]

So, after doing some digging, I found out that the Ecotech Radion XR30 G6 does indeed have a 48x48 foot print. Visited my LFS and they have some G5's on a 72inch long x 36inch wide x30 inch tall 330g and the light spread is definitely greater than 24x24. So I have to admit I was misinformed on the Radion Light. It will more that fill my needs and since I am already running Ecotech Mobious equipment, I'm going to go with a pair of XR30 G6 Pro's to start and will add a 3rd, over the middle of my tank later on as money permits.

In addition to saving me about 50 dollars a light, I do not have to modify my tank stand or anything else to hang those lights. They claim 8 to 10 inches above water line instead of the 15 to 17 inches Orpheks want.

thank you for pointing me in the right direction guys, I feel really confident i have made a good decision on Lighting.

Going forward if that still is not enough light, I'll look into adding some light bars.

 

[OrlandoAIOReef]

You could go 5 OR3 120's with the OSIXX controller, 2 Blue Plus, 1 Sky Blue and 2 Reef Day Plus. All for around $1100-$1200 brand new

What size? Biggest they go is 5 feet so would 2 3 ft be okay to cover 8ft tank length wide or need the 2 4ft ?