Best overall lighting?
- Thread starter Lnmclean
- Start date
We are looking at getting a Waterbox 230.6 so it’s about 23 inches deep. Not sure what corals we want to keep as of yet. As for budget, we are building our dream tank so I wouldn’t say there is a budget.
I will add, I’m new to reefing so I just want to do it right the first time!
Yes I agree, what ever fits your budget and there are so many options and so many people have different tanks sizes and stuff inside. So it is not really about what is best out there, should be about what is best for what your trying to achieve. Yes good to ask people to compare their tanks with your vision of what you want you tank to be.. I did the same thing, seeing all the cool tanks changed my mind alot, but one thing was I was always NOT going to do a lot of sticks. To this day that is still my foundation... I am adding sticks SLOWLY but I am only after those very high prized ones....I have 4 radion xr30 blues I bought new on the 300...I added 3 Kessils A360x, which I picked up slightly used, saved $$$ and I have them(one each) in between the radions. For me I like the combination...I used th Kessils as my 7am to 9pm lights and the Radions as my 9am to 6pm additional lights to ramp up par. I can tell you when I jump to a 500 or 600 gallon I am researching the new Orpheks with Kessil combination...Just my preference ...
Sounds like it’s going to be a killer tank!
I don’t think you’ll make a bad decision here. There are lots of great options for lighting.
If you wanted to see the radions on tanks before making a decision, they have them over the tanks at Limited Edition Corals and Reef Monsters.
I like the Radions because you can use you phone or laptop and down load the Mobius app. With this app you can do all sorts of stuff like change the light cycle time, change intensity and color spectrum and do so much editing with out having to get to a controller. Also if you have ecotech versa pumps for sumps or wave makers such as MP10,MP40 or MP60 you can program them and change speeds so easy with app. I just got a ecotech 4 station dosing station for dosing Kalk mix, a DIY mix of carbon dose formula, Tropic Marin A+ and Tropic Marin K-. Also all controlled on Mobius app. The kessils have a controller which I have mounted on the side of the stand. I think the Mobius app spoiled me.... I did see that orpheks might have a app now too.
I did install a Red Sea auto top off system with their 10 gallon container for RODI and their app is good too.
I have a GHL KH director system I got slightly used with a second doser new in the box. I have not set that up yet as I am thinking of getting the ION Director also. The 300 dose not demand alot of ALK,CA, or MG yet and I been reading GHL may have a app soon too.
With all these apps I am thinking of just using a ipad for the tank...
Just shared this as you progress in your tanks journey...
I did install a Red Sea auto top off system with their 10 gallon container for RODI and their app is good too.
I have a GHL KH director system I got slightly used with a second doser new in the box. I have not set that up yet as I am thinking of getting the ION Director also. The 300 dose not demand alot of ALK,CA, or MG yet and I been reading GHL may have a app soon too.
With all these apps I am thinking of just using a ipad for the tank...
Just shared this as you progress in your tanks journey...
My .02...
I have an issue with $1000 lights, there I said it! I know there are thousands of reefers who use XR30s and they love them, that's great I'm happy for them. But those spendy lights don't fit into my reef tank budget. I started out with the Amazon special ViparSpectra lights and even desoldered LEDs on the board and put in what I wanted, they work decently but are lacking any color control, I currently grow SPS with them on my frag tank. For my display I invested in Reefi UNO 2.0 Pros, they are relatively new to the market, half of the cost of an XR30, have a 3 year warranty, and according to tests performed by Telegraham will outperform an XR30 in every aspect. With that said, I have had 2 failures with 2 of mine that caused me some grief and ultimately the loss of a few corals but I'm over it now and trying to move forward with them. The user interface is an app which works with any type of phone, tablet, laptop, MAC or PC, it is proprietary to Reefi and works well, firmware updates are issued on a regular basis over the internet. Your light profile is not stored on a cloud server but is programmed into the "master" light of the group over WiFi (think Reefi). It is easy to understand and use, and the light configuration is nearly limitless. Personally, I use the default SPS profile with mine and like it. Daniel Wu, the guy who developed them is a good guy and will answer an email within a very reasonable amount of time, the same day for sure, usually within the hour. Anyways they are pretty high tech and do what I need them to do, on my 24" deep tank I'm seeing 250 PAR on the bottom even with the output set to 72 watts (they max out at 260 watts). 120 degree reflectors are installed when you get them, a 90 degree reflector is included but I haven't had the need to use it yet. With the standard 120 degree reflectors there is almost no light bleed into the room, you don't get blinded.
Fwiw, the first failure I had was early on, the 420mn royal blue channel quit working on 1 light. I sent it back to Daniel on my dime, he found a poor solder joint and repaired it then sent it back to me, it took 3 or 4 days total. The second failure was a few months later on a different light that caused it to quit working altogether. It ended up being a voltage regulator or something like that which blew the non serviceable fuse in the external power supply, a new component was installed on the board and the power supply was replaced and sent back to me. I admit it took me several days to get it boxed up and sent off (again on my dime) which resulted in the loss of one of my lights for a full 7 days, I had slid the other 2 lights over to compensate for 1 being gone and moved them all back when the bad one came back. As it turns out, a few of the SPS corals didn't appreciate that and were bleached white within a few days of putting all 3 of them back online. My fault? Totally my fault!
Anyways as you can imagine I'm long winded sometimes, lol. Before you buy anything, take a look at Reefi, they are really nice lights. And then borrow the club's PAR meter to get them set up, you cannot just eyeball it and hope it's good, modern LEDs are capable of huge amounts of PAR.
Keith
I have an issue with $1000 lights, there I said it! I know there are thousands of reefers who use XR30s and they love them, that's great I'm happy for them. But those spendy lights don't fit into my reef tank budget. I started out with the Amazon special ViparSpectra lights and even desoldered LEDs on the board and put in what I wanted, they work decently but are lacking any color control, I currently grow SPS with them on my frag tank. For my display I invested in Reefi UNO 2.0 Pros, they are relatively new to the market, half of the cost of an XR30, have a 3 year warranty, and according to tests performed by Telegraham will outperform an XR30 in every aspect. With that said, I have had 2 failures with 2 of mine that caused me some grief and ultimately the loss of a few corals but I'm over it now and trying to move forward with them. The user interface is an app which works with any type of phone, tablet, laptop, MAC or PC, it is proprietary to Reefi and works well, firmware updates are issued on a regular basis over the internet. Your light profile is not stored on a cloud server but is programmed into the "master" light of the group over WiFi (think Reefi). It is easy to understand and use, and the light configuration is nearly limitless. Personally, I use the default SPS profile with mine and like it. Daniel Wu, the guy who developed them is a good guy and will answer an email within a very reasonable amount of time, the same day for sure, usually within the hour. Anyways they are pretty high tech and do what I need them to do, on my 24" deep tank I'm seeing 250 PAR on the bottom even with the output set to 72 watts (they max out at 260 watts). 120 degree reflectors are installed when you get them, a 90 degree reflector is included but I haven't had the need to use it yet. With the standard 120 degree reflectors there is almost no light bleed into the room, you don't get blinded.
Fwiw, the first failure I had was early on, the 420mn royal blue channel quit working on 1 light. I sent it back to Daniel on my dime, he found a poor solder joint and repaired it then sent it back to me, it took 3 or 4 days total. The second failure was a few months later on a different light that caused it to quit working altogether. It ended up being a voltage regulator or something like that which blew the non serviceable fuse in the external power supply, a new component was installed on the board and the power supply was replaced and sent back to me. I admit it took me several days to get it boxed up and sent off (again on my dime) which resulted in the loss of one of my lights for a full 7 days, I had slid the other 2 lights over to compensate for 1 being gone and moved them all back when the bad one came back. As it turns out, a few of the SPS corals didn't appreciate that and were bleached white within a few days of putting all 3 of them back online. My fault? Totally my fault!
Anyways as you can imagine I'm long winded sometimes, lol. Before you buy anything, take a look at Reefi, they are really nice lights. And then borrow the club's PAR meter to get them set up, you cannot just eyeball it and hope it's good, modern LEDs are capable of huge amounts of PAR.
Keith