Reluctantly looking for LED, thinking about Reefi

[reef’r]

I’ve been kicking around the idea of making the switch from MH to LED for a while. I’ve always been interested Quanta, his helix bars and his new panel light that’s coming out is exciting. I’ve also always heard the Reefi is good stuff, at least from the people that use them they absolutely love them I like the duo extreme from them. My tank is 4x2x16 SPS system. I’ve also looked into reefbreeders but a Photon v2 pro not the meridian. What do you guys think? Any Reefi users out there?

 

[exnisstech]

No reefi but I really like my photons v2 pros over my SPS tank. Photons would most likely have to be found used. I also have meridians. I like the meridians but given a choice I would choose the photons. I was looking at the reefi bars to add to my meridian 45 and see they don't run on an app. I see that as a positive.

 

[oreo54]

No reefi but I really like my photons v2 pros over my SPS tank. Photons would most likely have to be found used. I also have meridians. I like the meridians but given a choice I would choose the photons. I was looking at the reefi bars to add to my meridian 45 and see they don't run on an app. I see that as a positive.

There looks to be some 16" and 24" Photons still available.
24" is like $620 if you include the side tank mounts ( $70 mounts ).

 

[mfinn]

I briefly had a Reefi Uno I was going to use but the plans fell through.
I did fire it up ( over a empty tank ) and was impressed with the color and the amount of light that fixture put out.
One thing I was really impressed with was how solid and well built the fixture was.

 

[oreo54]

I’ve been kicking around the idea of making the switch from MH to LED for a while. I’ve always been interested Quanta, his helix bars and his new panel light that’s coming out is exciting. I’ve also always heard the Reefi is good stuff, at least from the people that use them they absolutely love them I like the duo extreme from them. My tank is 4x2x16 SPS system. I’ve also looked into reefbreeders but a Photon v2 pro not the meridian. What do you guys think? Any Reefi users out there?

2 duo extremes at the current sale price of $550 each (215w each) is an almost impossible deal to beat
BUT it depends on what you like as to how much of that wattage is usable to you. $2.56/watt

 

[reef’r]

2 duo extremes at the current sale price of $550 each (215w each) is an almost impossible deal to beat
BUT it depends on what you like as to how much of that wattage is usable to you. $2.56/watt

Would 2 of them cover my needs for SPS growth throughout the tank?

 

[oreo54]

Would 2 of them cover my needs for SPS growth throughout the tank?

Depends on the spectrum you use and light height and tank dimensions.

Bunch of data here.
Didn't see anything that leads me to believe 2 can't do it for a 90 gal relatively shallow (<24" deep) tank:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/interesting-new-led-light.640820/page-10

 

[fish_collector]

I use them over my SPS tank and I love them.

 

[X-37B]

I’ve been kicking around the idea of making the switch from MH to LED for a while. I’ve always been interested Quanta, his helix bars and his new panel light that’s coming out is exciting. I’ve also always heard the Reefi is good stuff, at least from the people that use them they absolutely love them I like the duo extreme from them. My tank is 4x2x16 SPS system. I’ve also looked into reefbreeders but a Photon v2 pro not the meridian. What do you guys think? Any Reefi users out there?

The Photon is a great light. I run 2 50's over a 60×30 and a 24 over my 35g nem system.
You will only have about 13" to the bottom. I ran 4 xr15's over my 48×24×16 and could grow anything.

 

[reef’r]

The Photon is a great light. I run 2 50's over a 60×30 and a 24 over my 35g nem system.
You will only have about 13" to the bottom. I ran 4 xr15's over my 48×24×16 and could grow anything.

I’ve thought about xr15s… funny because I just sold a g6 pro. Problem with that is even used is be spending the same as two new reefi and would have a lot more cables and power bricks to hide

 

[X-37B]

The Photon will grow whatever you want. I would have went with the Meridian but they were not out yet. I do run 2 24"14K edge bars over my Halide syatem.
My current 60×30×21 running 2 Photon 50's and 3 OR4 uv/v bars. They make a nice combo.

 

[areefer01]

If you are looking at the Meridian's do your homework first. There is a thread here with talk of subscription for some features that are included by every other light or there about. Not needed to run the basic features but something to be aware of.

Do a search using your favorite search engine on telegraham lighting tests and maybe that will help. You could always buy a noopsyche k7's off of amazon, test it out, and return it within 30 days if not happy. If acceptable buy a couple to start while doing a deeper search on what you really want.

There is a lot of personal bias when it comes to lighting. The more or less will all grow corals assuming you are buying a LED made for reefing.

Good luck.

 

[fish_collector]

I’ve thought about xr15s… funny because I just sold a g6 pro. Problem with that is even used is be spending the same as two new reefi and would have a lot more cables and power bricks to hide

Reefis use a 320w power supply, I’ll post a photo of them when I get home. They are a robust piece of hardware.

I like my reefis because they use built in WiFi to broadcast the user interface to your device, pc, phone, tablet etc. the UI and settings are stored internal to the lights and do not rely on anything external to work, no cloud server, nothing. If Reefi ceased to exist you can still access the UI and control your lights as you always had.

Daniel Lu did a great job engineering them, he’s a chip guy from Washington state, Intel if I recall correctly. He continually puts out firmware updates for free to make everyone’s Reefi experience seamless and trouble free. You can go back through the firmware logs to see exactly what each update addresses. I sent him an email with a question about an issue I had with the latest update and he responded with the solution within 5 minutes, that’s someone who cares about their customers, no waiting until Monday morning, he responded immediately and had me back up and running smoothly in 1/2 hour. Ends up the latest firmware doesn’t recognize an off period and automatically tries to ramp the 10pm endpoint to the 7am warm up. The fix was to drop the first and last time periods to zero watts and problem solved.

FWIW I use the default SPS settings without any color tweaking and it’s good for me.

Of course they do custom acclimation, 24 hour time zone moon schedules, random cloud cover setting etc., and optional included 120 degree reflector. They really are nice lights, all with a 3 year warranty. I think the Reefi Uno 2.1 Pro is selling for about $550 these days. Daniel has no distribution network, no wholesalers, no warehouses, it’s all him so that’s how he keeps the cost down.

 

[SlothMartin]

i have 2 reefi uno 2.x and really like them. very solid, mount very clean. the web interface has a ton of options. my tank is only a few months old and only have lps so cant give as good feedback as others. i use an LPS preset and its only like 35% power. presets ramp up and down. were cheaper than other options i looked at

 

[jonelder68]

I love my Reefi’s and quanta bar set up

 

[fish_collector]

I’ve been using 3 over my lowboy, I do have a 4th one I’ve been meaning to sneak in there maybe I’ll do that while I’m thinking about it lol.

 

[reef’r]

they’re really nice lights I may wait a few months and see what info comes out about the new quanta panel. His 5 bar helix package is enticing also… mounting included at a really good price

 

[fish_collector]

 

[reef’r]

I love my Reefi’s and quanta bar set up

The quanta helix don’t have an app for control correct? It’s either manual dimming with a knob they supply or controlled through an apex and hydros?

 

[oreo54]

The quanta helix don’t have an app for control correct? It’s either manual dimming with a knob they supply or controlled through an apex and hydros?

There are other 0-10v controllers. GHL has a "simple" affordable one.
But of course all have the normal limits of 0-10v systems.
And the Helix is stick not color channel dimmable.