Sam's Oceanic 120 NP K7v3 voyage - lighting upgrade over time.

[Projects with Sam]

I recently had the good fortune of getting a great second hand tank with some Blackbox lights. For the most part, tank setup went great and the lights worked well. I am new to the hobby so I had no idea how far lighting has come over the past few years, or what to expect.
Nonetheless, The blue channel failed on one so I went to the lighting forum to research and I stumbled on a Noopsyche lighting giveaway. I entered it (a photo of the tank with a brief description) as I was aware of their products from prior R2R raffles.
As it turns out the sale was on and I ended up pulling the trigger on two of the lights. They were delivered in 5 business days (spanning a weekend) to my delight as I've ordered things from Bang Good, AliExpress, and the like for my YouTube projects and have waited months for delivery.
After setting up the lights (my Dub-T mount needed the middle bar added), I turned them on and was blown away by how different they made the tank look. I wasn't getting the large colored patches on the rockwork, but instead was getting subtle shafts of shadow and light just like in the sea.
The remote was confusing at first but a little playing around and I figured out enough to do everything I wanted. I played around with some settings but really was happy with the built-in automatic schedules and mixes so I reset to factory made my paltry few changes to the lighting mix at different times of the day (I like heavy actinic in the evening) and locked it all in. I didn't really touch the remote again until the third light came.
This thread will suffice as my unboxing/coral growth update thread for the 3rd light. Ill post some images of my current corals, discuss my equipment, and inform of my dosing/feeding schedules.

 

[Projects with Sam]

Noopsyche K7V3 Unboxing:​

Shipping:​

The two fixtures I purchased came crazy fast from China. I think 5 business days spanning a weekend. The light I won took significantly longer because of the COVID lockdowns affecting parts of China. If you have the Shop app for your smart phone you're kept appraised of delivery automatically. I ended up just going to DHL page through the app then refreshing there for the most up to date info...

Packaging:​

Decent, environmentally friendly packaging material; bubble wrap - two layers in some places. No Styrofoam. Everything in its own little taped-shut bag. Screw bag securely taped to the mounting bracket for all three lights.
Each light came in its own box, then there was another box around that. Quality carrier instead of bulletproof packaging. Mostly solid state so not too worried about damage. All my lights came in perfect condition, not a scratch on the mounting arm.

Design:​

Simple, purposeful, function-driven design characterizes these lights for me. I am hard-pressed to find a useless design feature. A lot of folks comment that the remote isn't the most intuitive which I am not going to argue; yet at the same time I don't need anything more; it gets the job done great.
The lights feel solid and are heavier then I anticipated for their size; construction is flawless on all three lights and I have a sense of quality when handling them. When handling my black box lights or my gardening grow lights I do not get the same sense of solid quality as with these K7s.
The new power-brick is awesome; another well thought out part of an already great light. In my case, the PSU was slim enough I could slide it behind my tank so I didn't have to fish the power cord from the top. The PSUs have mounting brackets pre-installed and are sleek enough to conveniently fit in many tight places. All the wiring is modular so there are management options.
The light's weight comes from the huge machined aluminum heat sinks that run the entire length of the light. Nice that the design conceals them so well while still allowing them to do their job; cooling the massive heat generated by the LED arrays. The impressive LED array has a huge lens in front of it, which looks like it was cast onto the PCB, over little, circular lenses above each diode. In all my ignorant glory, I am going to theorize the small sphere lenses spread out the light, which then is combined by the large lens. (After reading post, the beads distribute heat generated by the led.)
The light mounting points are logical and svelte and the included hardware works well. The tank-mounting arm designed for the light is lightweight aluminum and feels quite sturdy when mounted on my 1-1/4" Oceanic rim.
The lights have a feeling of importance that well-designed things have, like iPhones or fine watches - a feeling of it being designed / thought about.

<insert video link>

Noopsyche K7V3 Installation: ​

The lights are about 12" off the water. They are hung on a DIY hanger that also has 2 54W T5HO ATI Blue Plus bulbs that I will be turning on for a few hours at peak once I install the hood's cooling system.
I am using the X-bracket and attaching the lights to the frame with the included screw.


The PSUs are in the stand. I added them to a painted board and put it in the back of my sump. I 3D printed spacers for the PSUs so they are about a 1/4" off the board and zip-tied all the wires.

Tank Info & Equipment:​

120 gallon Oceanic with an overflow on each side. 4' x 2' x 2' with sizable middle brace
Eshopps R-300 Sump Gen 1 (36x16x16)
CAD Lights PLS-150 (conic) Super Space Saving Pipeless Protein Skimmer
Slaouwo 100W NOAH-S-X-100 plant grow light (repurposed as refugium light)
300W Eheim JAGER Aquarium Heater
JBJ ATO
Jebao Programmable Auto Dosing Pump DP-4
Jerepet SND-7000 return pump ~1850GPH DC pump
Jerepet 3400GPH Aquarium Wave Maker DC 24V Powerhead
2 VorTech MP40Ws
Apex classic
54W T5HO ballast
2 ATI Blue Plus bulbs
3 Noopsyche K7V3 lights

Stocking:​

2 clowns, sailfin tang, 2 hippo tangs, 4 lyretail anthias, 5 green chromis, 2 banggai cardinalfish, 2 lawnmower blenny, foxface lo, court jester goby, green banded goby, canary blenny, scooter blenny, striped blenny, skunk cleaner shrimp, arrow crab, peppermint shrimp, 2 emerald crab, condylactis anemone & 2 red bubble tip anemone, blue devil damsel (sump), purple dottyback (sump), filefish (sump), copepods

Feeding:​

I feed the fish around 4-5 cubes of frozen food, an automatic feeder adding 3 types of pellets 5 times daily, and I add dead bottled phyto and zooplankton. I am starting to cultivate my own phyto and plan to dose that in excess.

Dosing:​

Kent Coral-Vite 1ml twice daily
Kent Iodide 1ml twice daily
BRS 2-part as needed

Lighting schedule:​

I am running the LPS/SPS preset without much modification. I think I start the ramp-up a little earlier.
The refugium light is on from 21:45 to 13:00.

Kalk schedule:​

21:00	30ml
22:00	30ml
23:00	30ml
00:00	30ml
01:00	30ml
02:00	30ml
03:00	40ml
04:00	40ml
05:00	40ml
06:00	40ml
07:00	40ml
08:00	40ml
09:00	40ml
10:00	40ml
11:00	30ml
12:00	30ml

Photography: ​

Most of the photos will be taken on an iPhoneXs with the Orphek lens kit.

Corals - 5/10:​

Corals - 5/16:​

​

​

Tank Parameters ​

2022-05-09 3:02 PM	Alkalinity	10.1
2022-05-09 3:05 PM	Calcium	435
2022-05-09 3:08 PM	Magnesium	1335
2022-05-09 3:16 PM	Nitrate	5
2022-05-09 3:15 PM	Phosphate	0.1
2022-05-10 9:54 PM	Alkalinity	10.1
2022-05-10 10:01 PM	Calcium	450
2022-05-10 10:05 PM	Magnesium	1425
2022-05-12 4:03 PM	Alkalinity	10.1
2022-05-12 4:07 PM	Calcium	440
2022-05-12 4:10 PM	Magnesium	1410
2022-05-15 4:19 PM	Alkalinity	10.5
2022-05-15 4:27 PM	Calcium	425
2022-05-15 4:30 PM	Magnesium	1365
2022-05-15 4:35 PM	Nitrate	2.5
2022-05-15 4:37 PM	Phosphate	0.1
2022-05-17 10:01 PM	Alkalinity	9.4
2022-05-17 10:06 PM	Calcium	425
2022-05-17 10:10 PM	Magnesium	1380
2022-05-18 9:55 PM	Alkalinity	9.1
2022-05-18 9:58 PM	Calcium	445
2022-05-18 9:59 PM	Magnesium	1380
2022-05-19 2:58 PM	Alkalinity	9.7
2022-05-19 3:01 PM	Calcium	425
2022-05-19 3:04 PM	Magnesium	1245
2022-05-20 9:52 PM	Alkalinity	8.9
2022-05-20 9:56 PM	Calcium	435
2022-05-20 9:58 PM	Magnesium	1350
2022-05-21 10:14 PM	Alkalinity	9.1
2022-05-21 10:17 PM	Calcium	450
2022-05-21 10:20 PM	Magnesium	1320

 

[Goaway]

Looking forward to this. I love these lights. Have you kept montipora before?

 

[Projects with Sam]

Looking forward to this. I love these lights. Have you kept montipora before?

I haven't kept anything before! The last monti frags I got I over-dipped them... they weren't long for this world.
I am literally 5-6 months into saltwater. hehe total noob. Just got my system to where I think it should grow corals and am just hoping all I read and all I setup will work appropriately. I'll run-down my setup and everything I'm doing - will be thorough since if I fail, I want to be able to do a post-mortem to figure out where I went wrong.

 

[Goaway]

I haven't kept anything before! The last monti frags I got I over-dipped them... they weren't long for this world.
I am literally 5-6 months into saltwater. hehe total noob. Just got my system to where I think it should grow corals and am just hoping all I read and all I setup will work appropriately. I'll run-down my setup and everything I'm doing - will be thorough since if I fail, I want to be able to do a post-mortem to figure out where I went wrong.

I don't know about most SPS. Growing montipora for years, they will deplete the the big 3 out of your system QUICKLY. I thought giving my acropora would help keep my numbers from declining so quick. I was wrong. I will go from 8.4 dkh to 7 over night. I have to keep my dosing correct. Calcium 40 and magnesium 100 over 2 days. Montipora are greedy creatures.

 

[tbrown]

I recently had the good fortune of getting a great second hand tank with some Blackbox lights. For the most part, tank setup went great and the lights worked well. I am new to the hobby so I had no idea how far lighting has come over the past few years, or what to expect.
Nonetheless, The blue channel failed on one so I went to the lighting forum to research and I stumbled on a Noopsyche lighting giveaway. I entered it (a photo of the tank with a brief description) as I was aware of their products from prior R2R raffles.
As it turns out the sale was on and I ended up pulling the trigger on two of the lights. They were delivered in 5 business days (spanning a weekend) to my delight as I've ordered things from Bang Good, AliExpress, and the like for my YouTube projects and have waited months for delivery.
After setting up the lights (my Dub-T mount needed the middle bar added), I turned them on and was blown away by how different they made the tank look. I wasn't getting the large colored patches on the rockwork, but instead was getting subtle shafts of shadow and light just like in the sea.
The remote was confusing at first but a little playing around and I figured out enough to do everything I wanted. I played around with some settings but really was happy with the built-in automatic schedules and mixes so I reset to factory made my paltry few changes to the lighting mix at different times of the day (I like heavy actinic in the evening) and locked it all in. I didn't really touch the remote again until the third light came.
This thread will suffice as my unboxing/coral growth update thread for the 3rd light. Ill post some images of my current corals, discuss my equipment, and inform of my dosing/feeding schedules.

My white channel failed on one of mine. I had 7 LEDs burn out. It only takes 1. I thought about replacing the burned out diodes (even bought a few new ones), but my solderer doesn't get hot enough for the solder they used.

 

[Projects with Sam]

I am using the other for coral QT but to be honest, I'm nervous about the safety of the burnt out one - its not worth it with my family in the house. I have way more faith in my DIY T5 fixture.

 

[tbrown]

I am using the other for coral QT but to be honest, I'm nervous about the safety of the burnt out one - its not worth it with my family in the house. I have way more faith in my DIY T5 fixture.

Yeah. The blue channel is the more important channel for coral growth anyway and if diodes are shorting out it's probably more trouble than it's worth anyway. That's why I got my Noopsyche lights. Better quality, better spectrum, better controllability...

 

[Projects with Sam]

I have been noticing coral growth the past few days! I came back to checkout these photos and am quite surprised to already see some growth. I've been pretty busy so Its all I can do to get my parameters and update this thread. (second post has been getting updates)

 

[noopsyche]

awesome！great to hear that

 

[Projects with Sam]

On vacation for a week! hope all my automation pays off. I have my kids baby/catsitter dropping 2 cubes of food in twice a day (I hope) and changing the kalkwasser bottle. My 33 gallon ATOR is full. I doubt the babysitter will even know if something is wrong. I haven't setup any alarms on my apex yet. Still stumped trying to connect the mp40s to WXM.

 

[N1tew0lf1212]

On vacation for a week! hope all my automation pays off. I have my kids baby/catsitter dropping 2 cubes of food in twice a day (I hope) and changing the kalkwasser bottle. My 33 gallon ATOR is full. I doubt the babysitter will even know if something is wrong. I haven't setup any alarms on my apex yet. Still stumped trying to connect the mp40s to WXM.

Hope all goes well and that you have a good vaca. Gonna have to taking reef sitter applications to choose the best candidate lol. Makes me nervous having someone else watch lets just say vacations put on hold for a little while. Crazy the growth in just a few days makes me feel as if i need that upgrade now.....hey @noopsyche we need an answer on the mini lol.....

 

[Projects with Sam]

Just posted my controller holder on thingiverse:

Noopsyche K7V3 Controller Holder by ProjectsWithSam

Noopsyche K7V3 Remote controller holder. This holds the usb remote made for the K7V3 light made by Noopsyche.

www.thingiverse.com

 

[noopsyche]

Just posted my controller holder on thingiverse:

Noopsyche K7V3 Controller Holder by ProjectsWithSam

Noopsyche K7V3 Remote controller holder. This holds the usb remote made for the K7V3 light made by Noopsyche.

www.thingiverse.com

looks nice!

 

[Projects with Sam]

I don't know about most SPS. Growing montipora for years, they will deplete the the big 3 out of your system QUICKLY. I thought giving my acropora would help keep my numbers from declining so quick. I was wrong. I will go from 8.4 dkh to 7 over night. I have to keep my dosing correct. Calcium 40 and magnesium 100 over 2 days. Montipora are greedy creatures.

I think I am starting to see the Alk drain; now that its been stable for a bit and everyone has started growing I think I need to up my dosing. I got Reef Crystals to mix with my IO but to be honest, I haven't really done a water change in 3-4 weeks aside from a few gallons here and there for cleaning / dipping.

 

[NowGlazeIT]

Corals look great, good picture quality. Excited to see the progression. Hopping all the individual LEDS stand the test of time

 

[Projects with Sam]

Corals look great, good picture quality. Excited to see the progression. Hopping all the individual LEDS stand the test of time

You and me both! at least if they don't, I didn't spend $900 on the light(s).
Thanks re: corals/photos! iPhone10 w/Orphek lens kit

 

[NowGlazeIT]

You and me both! at least if they don't, I didn't spend $900 on the light(s).

Exactly right. Are you enjoying the spectrum output?

 

[Projects with Sam]

Exactly right. Are you enjoying the spectrum output?

Well, my first reef lights were old Galaxy Hydros (potentially from 2013 - earliest receipt from prior tank owner.) Both have dicey dimmers and rusty screws. Their shimmer was in big colored patches. When I added the T5s it didn't help much... Then it was all just washed-out (wish I got the actinic bulbs.) They only had on and off and manual dim and no built-in timer but at least the blues and whites were separate (more on this later).
So, my upgrade its like going from a Pinto to a Corvette. The difference in hues that I see now is amazing; plus, it all changes throughout the day. I do miss being able to turn everything off and just blast the ultraviolet but I figure I'll put actinic bulbs in my T5s for that. The K7V3s do allow you to control the different channels so I have a manual setting for actinic lighting but its not the same pop. It could simply be that I don't know what I'm doing but I'm not going to fiddle with it too much. The lights do so much more then I thought.
The K7s strive to emulate the sun for our corals; throughout the day the corals seem to react to the queues given by the lights; something I never saw when running my old lights.

 

[Projects with Sam]

I am going to postpone my update by a week because of some new develoopments.
I've been running my aquarium hot (80-82 - it got away from me) in the hopes of speeding up coralline growth but, after turning it down to more sane levels, 79-80 on Wednesday, I've noticed increased growth. I'm going to run with it so I've something to show...


Since Wednesday, I've gotten all these new zoas and even three new hammer buds: