Testing a different type of LED lighting, the Orphek Atlantik V4 | BRStv Investigates

[HippieSmell]

Thx. So this has me wondering now. If I have a 48"x24"x30" deep sps dominant tank would one of these do it with or without lenses or would I need two? I will have clams on sand bed so want par all the way down.

Was thinking aquatic life T5 with 4x ati blue+ and then either XR15Ws or A360s across to deliver the par but now they release this video...

Would love others thoughts. It's great to have options

You won't need the optics. Two compacts will give more flexibility, and a little more par. One compact is half a full size Atlantik, plus one extra row of diodes, so a little more than half, total.

 

[Bruce Burnett]

Thx. So this has me wondering now. If I have a 48"x24"x30" deep sps dominant tank would one of these do it with or without lenses or would I need two? I will have clams on sand bed so want par all the way down.

Was thinking aquatic life T5 with 4x ati blue+ and then either XR15Ws or A360s across to deliver the par but now they release this video...

Would love others thoughts. It's great to have options

I believe the lens choice is 60 and 90 degree. BRS does not have the compact on their site but 2 of the compacts would do it. If it was a mixed tank one full size will do it. Stick with the standard lenses. Remember if using the MQ-510 full spectrum par meter the leds in this fixture exceed the range of the meter.
I have never had an email to Orphek take 24 hours. I screwed up my app and sent an email just a couple hours later we went back and forth with a few emails and he sent me a new app not on their web site and it took care of the problem.
@Ryanbrs are you going to be carrying the compact? Are there discounts for multiple units?

 

[cycled123]

I have 48x36x24 custom tank on order. Quickly learning this is a very odd size to light. Planning mixed reef. Mostly LPS and Softies with a few SPS sprinkled in. I know the recommended spread is 40x24 with max 48x35 at 16in height (according to orphek). If I plan the tank right as far as aquascape and SPS placement can I get away with one of these lights? Will it light the whole tank? And at what height?

 

[Jerzyray]

after buying the light, Then you have to buy a $130 link box to run the app? No Thanks /...

 

[Bruce Burnett]

after buying the light, Then you have to buy a $130 link box to run the app? No Thanks /...

That is so you can adjust all your lights at the same time from anywhere in the world you have internet. including multiple tanks

 

[Reef Monkie]

That is so you can adjust all your lights at the same time from anywhere in the world you have internet. including multiple tanks

Isn't that why most people already have a wifi router in house? It makes no sense to have a gateway in between a router and a wifi-enabled device unless you have 200 devices or so you need to manage on one network. Most home routers will be able to handle dozens of lights as well as all other wifi devices one has in a home so I really don't understand the logic here.

Don't get me wrong, the lights look pretty nice but to me it looks like they are forcing home users to buy a device designed for large industrial scale applications, this seems like overkill and a mistake from a marketing standpoint.

 

[Pmj]

I looked at these lights before going Mitras as well. Few things:
They seemed to have below average support in the US from what I read. Their email responses to me didn't seem like a big company responding and were in broken english. Now that BRS is selling them that increases my opinion though.
I also read on another site their rep responding directly that they had the perfect spectrum on the v3 and didn't need all these other spectrums that other brands had. Then v4 comes out with LEDs in all those other spectrums (still wondering about their choices on some of them - they have LEDS in the IR range?)
I also agree that the size was slightly odd for the big fixture, at least for my 4 foot tank. One would probably not be enough and two would probably be overkill. The smaller ones would have made more sense.
I also think, like others have wrote, it looks like a black box in a fancier package. I already had black boxes and wanted something with more shimmer and with higher quality LEDs to see if they would make a difference. They really didn't give any specifics on the LED quality/origin so at the time, you would be taking their word for it. Having BRS do a review definitely helps.

Thanks for doing the review. Now that BRS is selling them, we should get more feedback from other reefers.

 

[Bruce Burnett]

Isn't that why most people already have a wifi router in house? It makes no sense to have a gateway in between a router and a wifi-enabled device unless you have 200 devices or so you need to manage on one network. Most home routers will be able to handle dozens of lights as well as all other wifi devices one has in a home so I really don't understand the logic here.

Don't get me wrong, the lights look pretty nice but to me it looks like they are forcing home users to buy a device designed for large industrial scale applications, this seems like overkill and a mistake from a marketing standpoint.

Kind of like Ecotech's reeflink that you would need if you don't have an Apex

 

[Bruce Burnett]

I looked at these lights before going Mitras as well. Few things:
They seemed to have below average support in the US from what I read. Their email responses to me didn't seem like a big company responding and were in broken english. Now that BRS is selling them that increases my opinion though.
I also read on another site their rep responding directly that they had the perfect spectrum on the v3 and didn't need all these other spectrums that other brands had. Then v4 comes out with LEDs in all those other spectrums (still wondering about their choices on some of them - they have LEDS in the IR range?)
I also agree that the size was slightly odd for the big fixture, at least for my 4 foot tank. One would probably not be enough and two would probably be overkill. The smaller ones would have made more sense.
I also think, like others have wrote, it looks like a black box in a fancier package. I already had black boxes and wanted something with more shimmer and with higher quality LEDs to see if they would make a difference. They really didn't give any specifics on the LED quality/origin so at the time, you would be taking their word for it. Having BRS do a review definitely helps.

Thanks for doing the review. Now that BRS is selling them, we should get more feedback from other reefers.

Like I have previously said I have two of the V2.1b running for 4 years no problems. I actually dealt with 2 sales people here in the US. One the info was given to me by Bob Fenner, I think most of you know who he is. It can be tough for a foreign company to break into the USA. They have been studying lighting needs and also some of the leds in certain nm were not available. They are the only one that actually give the spectrum in nm for all the leds. These are meant to grow from softies to SPS, shallow lagoon to deep water. I am not saying they are the only option but between their, compact and full size Atlantik and their slim line they have a lot of it covered. I know that on my 72"x30" tank two Radions would not cover it even 3 would not work as they cover a 24"x24" area. I figured five Radion to two Atlantik. Yes some of the contact direct with them the English was broken but still ok to work with. Many of the led light options out there say they have UV but the leds are not under 400 nm which means they are violet not uv. Reefbrite has their XHO actinic that is 450 nm so really it is blue not in the 410-420 range. One of the things the video showed was how well the Atlantik performed in the violet and blue range the area that is great for SPS and color. This was a good video and I expect it to be good for Orphek to have BRS carry their entire line.

 

[biecacka]

Wu tang, what size is your tank?
Dimensions?


Corey

 

[Wu Tang Clam]

Wu tang, what size is your tank?
Dimensions?


Corey

It's 6ft long 32 inches wide and 24 inches high

 

[Ryanbrs]

It's 6ft long 32 inches wide and 24 inches high

I just have to say, you have one of the best usernames. I can't wait to see the eventual matching avatar

 

[silvernblackr35]

Glad to see these finally reviewed! Their ability to cover such a large area (I have 2 on a 2x6) is why I went with them over other led options. While more expensive per fixture than the competition, the total cost to light the tank was less.

Thanks for the review!

How high do you have them hung? Are there significant shadows?

 

[rppvt]

I'd love this for my 50 corner seahorse tank. It looks like it might help keep the seagrass growing. So if they're giving one away, count me in!

 

[JonJ]

How high do you have them hung? Are there significant shadows?

They are currently 6” from the top of the tank with no shadowing whatsoever. They were originally 14” from the surface and I’ll end up somewhere in between these 2 heights. I’ll adjust as necessary once I start adding corals. I moved them down to get higher par numbers at the color I liked.
You can check out how they were mounted in the build thread below.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/new-red-sea-reefer-xxl750-build.323190/

 

[Bronx19]

Why on Earth don'y they sell an arm mount?

 

[JonJ]

Why on Earth don'y they sell an arm mount?

Probably because each one weighs almost 20 lbs. Until you see them, you don’t appreciate how big they are- 24 inches across. If they were to make a tank mount it would have to be at least 2 arms and even then I’d worry about the pressure on the glass.

 

[ShinyRobot]

I have a canopy with exactly 9" clearance from the water line - would a pair of these work to replace my existing T5's?

[EDIT] I just read @JonJ's post above and it looks like I will have enough room. JonJ Since you have both of them combined, are you able to do any nice sunrise/sunset cycles or variation some days? Do they connect to each other or are they fully independent?

 

[JonJ]

I have a canopy with exactly 9" clearance from the water line - would a pair of these work to replace my existing T5's?

[EDIT] I just read @JonJ's post above and it looks like I will have enough room. JonJ Since you have both of them combined, are you able to do any nice sunrise/sunset cycles or variation some days? Do they connect to each other or are they fully independent?

You can run them together or separate and dim in 1% increments so sunrise/moonlight is great. I believe I read that you aren’t supposed to mount them in an enclosed space but you could cut some of the top of your canopy out and probably be fine. There are 4 fans on top that would need to vent.

 

[ShinyRobot]

You can run them together or separate and dim in 1% increments so sunrise/moonlight is great. I believe I read that you aren’t supposed to mount them in an enclosed space but you could cut some of the top of your canopy out and probably be fine. There are 4 fans on top that would need to vent.

Yeah, making sure it vents properly is important. My canopy is pretty well ventilated with fans on either side blowing cool air in and venting out the back but maybe that's not enough... I would need to know if the reasons are that something might get wet (from a splash or evaporation) or adequate heat dissipation.