Reefi Lab Duo Extreme

Njdevils1220 · Jun 8, 2020

So I have had every major light combo there is within the last two years; from T5/Reefbrites, to Orphek Compacts, to XR30 G4 Pros/T5.
My favorite of those was the XR30 T5 combo.

But over the last few months I’ve seen mention of a new contender; Reefi Labs. After reading Dana’s thread on the lights I decided to buy two of their Extreme Duo models for my 120g SPS system. My initial impressions were good. The design is very forward thinking and innovative. They are built to last. They have a 3 year warranty and I immediately could see colors popping on my corals that I wasn’t seeing under the Radions. Also, no side glare.

I was so happy with them that after three weeks of using two I ordered a third. Daniel, the owner, has been so awesome he even custom made me brackets for them to work on my 4040 profile t slot light mount.
The par readings I have are with a apogee 200 so not the most accurate for LED BUT that just means on a 500 series the numbers would be higher. With the third REEFI light I’m seeing an even 300 or across the bottom of my tank. I do plan to rent a newer par meter so that I can get more accurate readings at all points of the tank.

Shirak · Jun 9, 2020

Nice colors! looking to go with 3 on a tank build sometime this summer. 60" wide tank. I am interested in your middle orientation running parallel while the two outer fixtures are perpendicular. What are your thoughts on this configuration?

ca1ore · Jun 9, 2020

Most of the tank photos I have seen of the reefi lights have a pinkish cast ....something that does not look natural to me at all. I know it can be hard to get color accurate photos sometime. Do you see it with your eyes? COVID got in the way of me seeing these in person unfortunately.

LDog74 · Jun 9, 2020

I have 4 on my new tank and love them. I have a JF Fox Flame that never colored up in previous tank under MaxSpect 120. After two weeks under the ReefI’s it is not only coloring up & am getting PE as well.

Njdevils1220 · Jun 9, 2020

Shirak said:
Nice colors! looking to go with 3 on a tank build sometime this summer. 60" wide tank. I am interested in your middle orientation running parallel while the two outer fixtures are perpendicular. What are your thoughts on this configuration?

I think three on a 60” would be fine. I just like over kill.
mad for my orientation I chose to run the center light parallel because the back overflow protrudes so much forward it would have just been tossing light into the overflow. Running it the way I have gives it closer to a 3 cluster per end layout.

Njdevils1220 · Jun 9, 2020

ca1ore said:
Most of the tank photos I have seen of the reefi lights have a pinkish cast ....something that does not look natural to me at all. I know it can be hard to get color accurate photos sometime. Do you see it with your eyes? COVID got in the way of me seeing these in person unfortunately.

I do not see a pink to the lights at all. The reason my photo looks how it does is because of the white balance setting and gel filter on my phone mixed with the ridiculous amount of coraline my tank grows. If you like Radions then you will love these that’s the best I can describe it.

xiaoxiy · Jun 9, 2020

ca1ore said:
Most of the tank photos I have seen of the reefi lights have a pinkish cast ....something that does not look natural to me at all. I know it can be hard to get color accurate photos sometime. Do you see it with your eyes? COVID got in the way of me seeing these in person unfortunately.

In my experience with the ReeFi, the pinkish hue is dependent on how high the warm white and amber channel are set.

ca1ore · Jun 9, 2020

xiaoxiy said:
In my experience with the ReeFi, the pinkish hue is dependent on how high the warm white and amber channel are set.

Ok, that's true of all LED lights of course. I will have to try to see these in person at some point.

Shirak · Jun 9, 2020

Njdevils1220 said:
I think three on a 60” would be fine. I just like over kill.
mad for my orientation I chose to run the center light parallel because the back overflow protrudes so much forward it would have just been tossing light into the overflow. Running it the way I have gives it closer to a 3 cluster per end layout.

AH Ok that makes sense. I plan on running a 24" slim in tank overflow w/external box on the one side where the end of the tank is towards a corner in the room. Tank depth 28". So I think 3 running perpendicular was what Daniel suggested since I would like to have a mixed reef 24" depth with a good portion SPS. I prefer to have a little overkill and turn them down as necessary.

My other thought was perhaps running one of the end units a little lower power to give a bit more room for some softies and lower light LPS. Have to build the tank etc so will be a while yet for that!

Petesreef · Jun 9, 2020

ca1ore said:
Most of the tank photos I have seen of the reefi lights have a pinkish cast ....something that does not look natural to me at all. I know it can be hard to get color accurate photos sometime. Do you see it with your eyes? COVID got in the way of me seeing these in person unfortunately.

I've noticed that as well which is a concern of mine. I know you can adjust the settings but seems like more than just a coincidence, also there are a lot of violet LEDs in those lights.

xiaoxiy · Jun 9, 2020

Petesreef said:
I've noticed that as well which is a concern of mine. I know you can adjust the settings but seems like more than just a coincidence, also there are a lot of violet LEDs in those lights.

I don’t think the purple hue is a result of the violets in the light. In my experience so far, any purplish hue from the light is a result of the red spectrum from the warm white and amber LEDs mixing with the blues.