Lighting Question

[MKFMedic]

I have a Nano Reef (34 Gallon) with a variety of soft and LPS corals, including a clam. It is an Innovative Marine tank with their match 30w LED lighting. The LED is 14k and includes 2 blue "Moon" lights. Everything in my tank seems to be healthy, happy, and doing well.

I noticed the other day that I could pick up a "Strip" light of Actinic lights that could span across my tank and was wondering if anyone thinks that there would be any benefit? Having never used actinic lighting, I'm not quite sure what they provide for a reef tank.

From what I understand, these will add a visually pleasing "Blue" effect to my tank? Are they worth it, in consideration of what I already have? Are there any potential problems?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

Mike

 

[carey]

I think it would be neat to add, will give your tank a bluer look if you run themwith the 14k's. And if you run just the blues I bet your corals will look awesome!

 

[MKFMedic]

Hi Carey!

Happy New Year. It's funny, I just went to my LFS to get some water and they are selling the ECOTECH Radion fixture for $600. They just started carrying them and he is only selling these at this price, then it goes up to the standard $735. What to do, what to do? Seriously expensive, but marked down considerably. It offers all kinds of features including a full spectrum of colors which are adjustable in color and intensity, sunrise & sunset, clouds, storms, wirelessly controllable, etc.

Uggg. I hate/love this hobby! I guess I could see if I could sell my current LED tablet and second born (Just kidding)?

Have a great day!

Mike

 

[carey]

That LFS is breaking the pricing rules if he is selling them for $600. LOL The ecotech items are MAP priced meaning they CAN NOT sell them for less than what the manufacturer says to sell it for. If I had $600 I would probably get it though haha....

 

[MKFMedic]

Wow. I didn't know that, I would really like to get that unit, but even with the rule breaking, $600 plus tax is a lot (For me anyway)!

I'm sure they will go fast and by the time I decide to go in, they may already be gone, problem solved! LOL.

Mike

 

[carey]

Since he is breaking the rules on the lights now might be the time to see if he will sell you a vortech powerhead cheap. LOL Same manufacturer and same MAP pricing rules. Alot cheaper though and still a great buy.

I wish i could find someone to sell me stuff that cheap, but in the end it's probably for the best or I'd have a ton of stuff and even less money than I do now. hehe

 

[FDshoes]

Those radions are real nice but.I heard today they are recalling some of them I believe the greens keep blowing out or something like that. So just check into that first.

 

[MKFMedic]

O.K.,

So I bit the bullet and went to my local fish store and bought the Radion. I'll be selling the innovative marine 30w tablet, so that will help offset the purchase. I was wrong about the price, it wasn't 600, but rather $635, still quite a price cut. The owner also gave me a deal on the deluxe hanging set.

I now have it installed, used the software to tweak the programming, I turned down the intensity to a max of 58%. This fixture at 100% is bright! Relative to my 18" tank depth. The amount of control is super neat, especially for a techno geek like myself. I can't wait to dial in the fixture for my tank. I used the provided mini USB and software to set up, so I can't comment too much on the touch controls, but are located on the top, are touch sensitive and actually have no "Real" buttons. The software is not overly complicated and relatively simple to use.

Initial observations after a couple hours of operation. All fish are out and about. They don't seem too upset by the change. My corals all seem normal, with my frogspawn looking particularly good under the blue lights. My clam also seems to be opening wider than I have ever seen before.

Just looking at the tank it seems almost to bright, by the way it is hanging about 8 to 10 inches above the surface. I may dial down the brightness 5 or 10% and see how that works.

Visually, I am very pleased with the sleek look of the unit. It is virtually silent, especially when compared to the Innovative Marine unit. The now dominant noise coming from my tank is the protein skimmer. The deluxe hanging set was well worth the purchase and it make the Radion seem as though it is floating over my rimless tank.

Overall, I'm pleased with the investment!

Mike

 

[mr_X]

be careful not to cook the corals. They need to be acclimated to that light slowly. Just because they are open now, doesn't mean you aren't doing damage. Back in my metal halide days, i simply changed a 10 month bulb out for a new one which was the same color, from the same manufacturer, and about 5 days later i started seeing corals freaking out. I lost large colonies.

 

[carey]

Great purchase! When are we gonna see some pictures? LOL

really good price too, can't believe someone is selling them that cheap. That extra $100 is a super selling point. lol

 

[Race3370]

Just a heads up Carey MAP pricing is only minimum advertised pricing, so the retailer can sell them for whatever they want. They just can't advertise under that price. In the future you know they are lieing if they say they can't sell them for under that. Sometimes their isn't much mark up, but 95 percent of the time their is.

 

[mr_X]

They get pretty upset if you sell them for whatever you want. They want them sold at a reasonable price so that they remain valuable. Sales and free shipping are allowed, but I know a few companies that would frown on major discounts.
Let's face it- this hobby isn't that big that things can be easily missed.

 

[Race3370]

Very true some companies do frown upon it, but what I was trying to say is that a lot of times people can sell stuff cheaper than they advertise it for. I know with my girlfriend working at the Lfs I can buy stud at employee pricing which is a huge discount on almost everything. Idk if that is an exception though. Anyways that is a sweet light at a great price!!!

 

[MKFMedic]

Pictures are coming.

Mr. X. thank you for your thoughts. I went in and programmed the lights never to go above 55% intensity, so the cycle still goes on, but it is only at the 55% intensity for a couple of hours and decreases after the peak, and works towards the peak in the morning.

Part of the program also coordinates with local sunrise and sunset times, so it is actually running less time than my other non adjustable LED.

I'll keep an eye on everything and hopefully, everything will adjust well.

Thanks,

Mike

 

[AquaRick]

That's one killer fixture. Grats!

 

[Race3370]

I didn't know the fixture would coordinate with sunrise and sunset. That is very interesting. How do you set that up?

 

[mr_X]

Even still, i use the analogy-if you stare at the sun for 2 hours or 10 hours, your still blind. Just because the photo period may be less or the fixture is at 50% doesn't necessarily mean the potency or potential for damage is not present. I'm just cautious after that incident I mentioned.

 

[MKFMedic]

Race 3370 - Upon further review, I believe I am mistaken, but you can set the sunrise & sunset times manually and totally customize a sunrise & sunset, spectrum and apparently, everything in between. Not sure I'll need all that, but so far, I'm enjoying it!

Mr. X - you are absolutely right! I'll keep a close eye on the tank and corals. I turned down the overall "Brightness" to 45%, so that no matter what program is running, the peak brightness will never exceed 45% and only for a short time in the program. I certainly don't want to lose any corals!

Thanks again everyone for your thoughts and input!

Mike

 

[Race3370]

Well the light is very cool either way. I really wanted to go with that setup, but it was just out of the budget.

 

[boardsurfer]

Congrats Mike on the great fixture! It's exciting to see the technology available to us now. So cool you can program the lighting throughout the day like that.