The real Black Box light study

[Manose]

Are you painting the back wall of the cube black? Just to be a little bit more representative of the typical application. Unpainted glass is highly reflective.

Yes the cube back will be painted or covered black and trying to figure out a grid for the bottom as to get equal tests for each light. Thinking of using some black pvc as depth risers as to ensure testing depth per section will be consistent.

 

[MSB123]

Following!

 

[Ariel V Rosa]

Yes the cube back will be painted or covered black and trying to figure out a grid for the bottom as to get equal tests for each light. Thinking of using some black pvc as depth risers as to ensure testing depth per section will be consistent.

A 48X24 tank would have been more consitent as some of these lights are mean to cover more than 24 inches and it would allow you have have extra data points concerning spread. The guys at BRS use a grid. I think a grid made of acrylic would do the job well.

something like

YOu could probably get a large piece of plexi cut it down to the tanks dimensions, route a grid on to it with a router going a few millimeters into the surface. Sick some rare earth magnets on the intersections you want to sample and have a magnet on the probe that stick to that magnet. The magnets would help with alignment and keep the positions consistent. YOu could also buy four acrylic rulers to set at each corner to set the different heights with out the worry for a level since all corners should be at the same measurement. An acrylic rod with magnets on both sides held by magnets on the outside of the tank could be used to hold the height.

Unless you are going to go with static points of measurements. I think the guys over at BRS TV have a rig they use, maybe it's worth shooting them an email see if you can get your hands on it or plans to make one. They use a 24x24 cube except when they are measuring lights meant to be wider than that.

 

[Ariel V Rosa]

 

[Manose]

A 48X24 tank would have been more consitent as some of these lights are mean to cover more than 24 inches and it would allow you have have extra data points concerning spread. The guys at BRS use a grid. I think a grid made of acrylic would do the job well.

something like

YOu could probably get a large piece of plexi cut it down to the tanks dimensions, route a grid on to it with a router going a few millimeters into the surface. Sick some rare earth magnets on the intersections you want to sample and have a magnet on the probe that stick to that magnet. The magnets would help with alignment and keep the positions consistent. YOu could also buy four acrylic rulers to set at each corner to set the different heights with out the worry for a level since all corners should be at the same measurement. An acrylic rod with magnets on both sides held by magnets on the outside of the tank could be used to hold the height.

Unless you are going to go with static points of measurements. I think the guys over at BRS TV have a rig they use, maybe it's worth shooting them an email see if you can get your hands on it or plans to make one. They use a 24x24 cube except when they are measuring lights meant to be wider than that.

We do have have a bunch of new 120g aquariums but they have the center brace and would make things difficult. I like the idea of using the magnets as a way of holding the probe down and would work even better if we used a devise like BRS does with pre drilled holes for the meter.
I have some black pvc pipe that i could cut into different height sections then use a acrylic 24x24 sheet and have indentions in it that fit and hold the pvc up rite for perfect consistency.

 

[garbled]

An interesting test would be a giant shared water system, with one type of frag, split among the many tanks, each under different light, so you have the same parameters for everything else, just different lights.

 

[Manose]

An interesting test would be a giant shared water system, with one type of frag, split among the many tanks, each under different light, so you have the same parameters for everything else, just different lights.

That is the what the big vats with tanks on top will be used for. In our case many frags from the same mother colony will be used along with some of the main mother colonies.

 

[juniorrocketdad]

Following

 

[Aaronhome27]

Great thread so far (I've read most of it) . Very interested in your results with constant variables.

When setting up my tank I installed a galaxyhydro which I picked up for $60 shipped brand new. It was a temporary light. I had a friend who bought one of the main stream premium lights. Although I cannot adjust all channels I can get a look that I like. My light is a 2 channel which dual power. When I compare growth in my buddies tank my tank has matched and even exceded his growth on most coral. My tank is LPS dominant though. I can't attest to sps growth but I haven't had any coral that haven't done very well in my tank. Most actually look and extend better than they did at my LFS under reef builder lights. I adjusted my color and lux to match what they do. I've not had to acclimate any coral to lighting in doing so. I've bought all my coral from this one shop as they have a huge selection of coral and very highly regarded in our area. I don't have a par meter so all I did was do a simple lux measurement at the top of thier LPS tanks. I matched that to mine exactly and my coral are within 1 to 2 inches of depth as they keep theirs.

A simple non scientific example of growth I've seen is with a Duncan. I purchased this 2 head frag from this store. They also had several others there, and several are still in the store to date. My parameters are very near what the store has as well. They check water 2x a week and actually write the parameters right in each tank. They do have higher calcium and magnesium than I maintain but it's still very close. My Duncan went from 2 heads to 7 heads in less than 2 months in my tank. Several of thier have some pups as well but not nearly as many nor the growth as mine. Now I know there are many variables that go into play. But one I can attest to is that my $60 light is growing coral quite well. I'm not at home now so I don't have an up to date pic of the Duncan. But I do have one in my phone from a while ago to show growth.

I did go to tear this light down to "upgrade" some led's but decided against it after getting some advice here on this forum. I just upgraded the fans to an ultra quiet set of fans. ($12 on eBay for 2). This light is built very well. It heatsink is actually very thick. And the power source is nothing like these fire traps I've seen online. I was very surprised at the quality of the build for the price. The board is very well sealed from the elements as I had not seen online anywhere either.

I know this post may come across as a fan boy post. But when it boils down to it I do honestly like this light. It wasn't a money thing for me in the end. I blew my budget by about 5x once I got going with the vision for this tank. So a few extra on a light wasn't going to make a difference.

Not I'll post a pic of the Duncan a week after purchase. Then a pic from 2 months later. I just realized I didn't even have an updated pic.

 

[Aaronhome27]

Posted for reference of above post

Duncan's 1 week after purchase and 2 months under light.

Also hammer 1 week after purchase and just under 1 month growth.

View attachment 20181214_163014.jpg

View attachment 20181214_163032.jpg

 

[Manose]

Update
Still waiting on The Coral Reef in to get the tanks finished. Hopefully they will get the cube moved and finished so we can start getting some numbers.
Sorry it is taking so long

 

[Manose]

OKAY TESTING IS STARTING ON THE 21st!!!!!

The first round of tests will start on Friday the 21st. First up will be taking par numbers for all the lights then putting them into a database so we can generate a par map for each light.
Other tests will be given this is just the first set.
The first lights tested will be the control lights:
will be measured 6in and 10in above the water
1.)AI 25HD
2.)Radion XR15pro
3.) New Kessil 360x
These lights were furnished to us by @noopsyche for our study so please go give his sponsor thread a like.

Once finished with the control lights we will start on the "Black Boxes"
Other brands will be tested as they come to us
1.)Noopsyche K7 PRO2

2.)Mars Aqua 165w
3.)Viparspectra 165w

4.)Aquarium System Solutions ASML-2

5.) Shenzhen Houyi Lighting Co.,LTD

 

[Ariel V Rosa]

I am very excited to see your initial results, very very interested in this Noopsyche light, this vendor seems to be putting his money where his mouth is and I like that. I don't care so much about crazy par numbers, my main concerns are distribution and spectrum.

 

[Matt Carden]

These Noopsyche lights would only cost me $1100 for 6 to cover my tank. Where as all the other "name brand lights" would cost me $2200-$2400.

I currently have 3 - 16" SB reeflights. I feel that to have better, shadow less coverage I need 3 more which would be a total cost of $1000. Additionally SB reeflights discontinued the model I have so if I buy 3 more, they won't look the same as the 3 I already have.

 

[Saveafish]

I'll light my 400g with them from day one. And do two yrs of resulted studies. Plus I'll go coral for coral with it. I'll light the frag tank with a MH as a gold standered to comparison with.
@noopsyche

 

[symon_say]

You start testing?

 

[Manose]

We will have some numbers to share later tonight. The Noopsyche light will be put up against the Kessil x,XR15 pro, and Hydra 26. I cant wait to see the outcome.

 

[Manose]

I am here now setting up lights and getting the tank fine tuned so here are some pics of the cube we are using to start the testing

 

[Manose]

After dealing with getting the setup just right we got around to getting the Kessil 360x hooked up. We took 17 baseline numbers from each frag plug at 24in deep with the light at 8in above the water. I took pictures of the 17 different Seneye screens and will post them to give reference data as soon as we get back to testing on the 26th.
We thought getting the full setup and parameters was more important than rushing through getting random par numbers. Taking a small break till one day after Christmas was the right call I believe as to go spend time with our family before we barrel head first into this process.
This will be a long process and I want to think everyone for being patient as we go through this study.

Thanks,
Matt

 

[DesertReefT4r]

Good thread. Following