Seeking Proof (Ap700 only success)

[Makers Marc]

Actually it shows how little ap700 is used now...you can see so many used or barley used are for sale..

That definitely has a lot to do with it. I'm sure the amount of ppl that use the ap700 as a standalone is 20% of those who combine with t5s.

I was just hoping that there would be more ppl.

 

[DangerDave]

I use two ap700s over my 160g dt. Last year I added T5 with a 61” aquatic life hybrid fixture. There were no issues with the light itself, but I wanted to eliminate shadowing that occurs due to my rock configuration. I still use only ap700s over my frag tanks.

The display is a mixed reef. Not a lot of SPS, maybe 6-7 colonies. I have way sps more in my frag tanks which has no T5. They perform very well growing corals, and the light they provide is beautiful.

My only complaints are:

1. Still no apex support. This was said to happen years ago, and now they just laugh when asked.

2. Doesn’t perform well over the network, you need to connect to its WiFi directly for best reliability. This means you can only update the settings when home.

3. The app doesn’t allow me to have multiple groups of lights. The app also doesn’t work on an iPad. It would be helpful to me if the iPad app worked since I use an iPad as my aquariums display in the fish room.

 

[madweazl]

To be fair, most people shoot themselves in the foot with led because they're always changing settings. We're our own worst enemies with lighting especially.

 

[Makers Marc]

I use two ap700s over my 160g dt. Last year I added T5 with a 61” aquatic life hybrid fixture. There were no issues with the light itself, but I wanted to eliminate shadowing that occurs due to my rock configuration. I still use only ap700s over my frag tanks.

The display is a mixed reef. Not a lot of SPS, maybe 6-7 colonies. I have way sps more in my frag tanks which has no T5. They perform very well growing corals, and the light they provide is beautiful.

My only complaints are:

1. Still no apex support. This was said to happen years ago, and now they just laugh when asked.

2. Doesn’t perform well over the network, you need to connect to its WiFi directly for best reliability. This means you can only update the settings when home.

3. The app doesn’t allow me to have multiple groups of lights. The app also doesn’t work on an iPad. It would be helpful to me if the iPad app worked since I use an iPad as my aquariums display in the fish room.

Thanks for sharing DangerDave! Would love to see pics of the DT and frag tank.

And if you dont mind, what is your lighting schedule for both? Before you added the aquatic life t5s, how long did you run the standalone ap700s?

 

[DangerDave]

Thanks for sharing DangerDave! Would love to see pics of the DT and frag tank.

And if you dont mind, what is your lighting schedule for both? Before you added the aquatic life t5s, how long did you run the standalone ap700s?

A little more than a year before adding the T5s. I know you want to know about AP700s only, but I think most reefs with any brand led lights would be well complimented by a hybrid fixture for shadowing. Frag tanks don't really need it, since they are presented light in a more even manner.

Just about to leave for the beach, I’ll try and get a pic up tonight... this is a pic from a few months ago.

 

[Makers Marc]

A little more than a year before adding the T5s. I know you want to know about AP700s only, but I think most reefs with any brand led lights would be well complimented by a hybrid fixture for shadowing. Frag tanks don't really need it, since they are presented light in a more even manner.

Just about to leave for the beach, I’ll try and get a pic up tonight... this is a pic from a few months ago.

If I had an in-wall tank like that, I also would've added t5s from day one. Unfortunately my tank sits in the middle of my living room, so LED only was the initial goal for aesthetics purposes.

But thanks for sharing. Do you max out your frag tank at 100%, and have you noticed any issues acclimating new frags from t5 tanks or wild?

 

[DangerDave]

If I had an in-wall tank like that, I also would've added t5s from day one. Unfortunately my tank sits in the middle of my living room, so LED only was the initial goal for aesthetics purposes.

But thanks for sharing. Do you max out your frag tank at 100%, and have you noticed any issues acclimating new frags from t5 tanks or wild?

No issues with acclimating usually. No, all of the tanks run at about 65% at max. I'm about to add two more AP700s with new frag tank. I think I'm going to get an ipod to support those, and run an independent group. It will be better that way...

 

[Joshua Mummery]

i use a ap700 on a 110 tall and went with the aquatic t5 hydrid 36" 4 bulb with the ap700 inside of the t5 fixture. After that combo i am seeing great growth and coloration. As a stand alone i did not like the ap700

 

[Makers Marc]

No issues with acclimating usually. No, all of the tanks run at about 65% at max. I'm about to add two more AP700s with new frag tank. I think I'm going to get an ipod to support those, and run an independent group. It will be better that way...

Great details. Thank you. Care to share pics of the frag tank? Interested in your mount height + total depth to the frags.

After renting an apogee 510 and viewing par charts from Dana Riddle and BRS investigates to confirm, one would assume you need to max at 100%, mounted 7" from water level, to sufficiently light acropora (assuming the placement is anywhere 12 inches or lower from water level.)

But if you are able to sustain acro growth maxing out at 65%, then its likely me and others have been burning acros to death since I maxxed near 100% on my 180g, since I thought theres no way 200 par 12 inches down could burn em.

 

[ChaseBurke]

Im running the 36" T5/ AP700 combo mounted at 12"and at 50%, and am struggling to keep everything but zoas alive. Tank is stable, ICP test came back good, par readings are right where they should be for that type of coral. Starting to wonder if the "Dense Matrix" is really as good as kessil thinks it is. Im now thinking of switching to some XR15's to see if there is any improvement.

 

[Makers Marc]

Im running the 36" T5/ AP700 combo mounted at 12"and at 50%, and am struggling to keep everything but zoas alive. Tank is stable, ICP test came back good, par readings are right where they should be for that type of coral. Starting to wonder if the "Dense Matrix" is really as good as kessil thinks it is. Im now thinking of switching to some XR15's to see if there is any improvement.

You're unique in that you're actually using T5s and still having issues.

 

[ChaseBurke]

I don't get it either but it's driving me crazy. What bulb combo is everyone using? wondering if that could be an issue as well? Right now from front to back im running Blue plus, Coral plus, Purple plus, Blue Plus.

 

[Makers Marc]

I don't get it either but it's driving me crazy. What bulb combo is everyone using? wondering if that could be an issue as well? Right now from front to back im running Blue plus, Coral plus, Purple plus, Blue Plus.

Probably want to ask that on another thread.

This thread is specifically addressing AP700 as a standalone lighting choice.

 

[Xmoji]

I realize im several months late in seeing this thread but randomly came across it and wanted to chime in. It looks like no one ever responded to the OP with an answer to his question about a stand-alone AP700 over an sps/acro dominated tank. Well I have a stand-alone AP700 over a 57 gallon tank. :D

I’ll start out by saying that yes it‘s possible. I have good success growing and coloring up sps. I will say that the best areas for growth and color are definitely in between the two pucks. Once you fall too much outside of of the outer edges of the lights then the color isn’t quite there. I believe there simply isn’t enough par to pull those colors that we all want to see in our sps.

that being said I am planning on adding some additional lighting to boost those par levels and to fill in shaded areas of the tank.

 

[inletfish]

Ha ha ha. The first sentence and last are contradictory.
How is the light great if it doesnot keep sps alive?

because sps isnt the only thing people intend on keeping alive?

 

[minus9]

Whether it's Kessil or Radion, you'll need multiple fixtures in order to light sps effectively. There's plenty of par and spectrum to grow and color sps with Kessil's. I have two AP700's and a single 360x over my custom 90g. I'm going to replace the 700's with 360x's in order to place them exactly where I want them. I do use Orphek OR2 blue plus bars on three sides of my tank to add a little pop, but I can easily use all kessil's and be covered. I'm successfully growing and coloring sps and clams in my tank just fine. The clams, two maximas and one noae are on the sand bed and are growing. I honestly think 95% of sps guys just use radions, mh or T5 because there's been success using those fixtures, but that's not to say those of us who use Kessil can't do the same.
I grew plenty of sps in my 22g nano with three 160's. I used some T5's in the end because I got a great deal on a T5 fixture and I knew I was going to upgrade to a bigger tank and didn't want to buy anther 160, especially when the T5 was cheaper than the 160.

Top down before the upgrade. You can see the three 160's.

Just a couple from my 90g.

 

[Xmoji]

Whether it's Kessil or Radion, you'll need multiple fixtures in order to light sps effectively. There's plenty of par and spectrum to grow and color sps with Kessil's. I have two AP700's and a single 360x over my custom 90g. I'm going to replace the 700's with 360x's in order to place them exactly where I want them. I do use Orphek OR2 blue plus bars on three sides of my tank to add a little pop, but I can easily use all kessil's and be covered. I'm successfully growing and coloring sps and clams in my tank just fine. The clams, two maximas and one noae are on the sand bed and are growing. I honestly think 95% of sps guys just use radions, mh or T5 because there's been success using those fixtures, but that's not to say those of us who use Kessil can't do the same.
I grew plenty of sps in my 22g nano with three 160's. I used some T5's in the end because I got a great deal on a T5 fixture and I knew I was going to upgrade to a bigger tank and didn't want to buy anther 160, especially when the T5 was cheaper than the 160.

Top down before the upgrade. You can see the three 160's.

Just a couple from my 90g.

How do you like your OR2 Led bars? Do you think they provide any additional par to your tank? I’m thinking of supplementing my AP700 with one of these.

 

[minus9]

How do you like your OR2 Led bars? Do you think they provide any additional par to your tank? I’m thinking of supplementing my AP700 with one of these.

Yeah, I really like them. They compliment each other rather well. They're plenty strong on their own. They're a deeper blue, but I run my Kessil's with a little more day light to compensate a little so it's not too blue.

 

[Triggreef]

I wouldn't base my decision on a thread asking for answers because who sees it to respond? Idk I haven't been on here barely at all over the summer. Probably better to do some searching.

But that said I've had nothing but kessil for a couple years now. 200g with 4 foot x 3 foot footprint. One ap700 and 6 a360 Kessils. Grows just fine for me. I had reef breeders before along with a dozen t5 and had no drop off after switching to Kessils.

Growth is more directly linked to nutrients and stability. In my experience. This was taken today. I would have taken a better pic with filter if I had thought it was gonna be posted but you get the idea.

 

[divewsharks]

I am a Kessil user. I had great growth in my SPS dominated mixed reef -150G with my AP700’s, to point that growth led to a lot of shading. As such I added the v2 Aquatic Life Hybrid fixture.

i also have heavy flow in the tank and input a lot of nutrients; all of which I believe equally contributes to success with SPS.