Hey, I'm in the process of cycling a nuvo 10 gallon (display is an 11" cube) and was wondering how you're liking the micmol aqua mini as im thinking about getting one. It seems to be doing a great job for you, your tank is beautiful!
Thanks
I think it's a great light and as you can see, definitely grows corals no problems. it's very sleek looking and after getting used to the controls it is very quick to set up. the fan turns on once in a while when all the LEDs are turned up and is noticeable but not by any means loud.
it is super easy to take apart to clean and the inside is very simple, even the whole control board is small and enclosed with heatshrink to protect from any water damage.
I love how sturdy the mounting arm for it is, but I am not a fan of how the actual light is attached to the arm, it does work pretty well though.
I LOVE the fact that you have 6 or 7 (don't remember from top of my head) settings throughout the day from sunrise to sunset, with each channel being controllable from 0-100% with a noticeable change with each%, it makes it very easy to set up a beautiful light schedule that can be longer than a light that is just on and off.
I don't really know anything about the LED chips themselves but they seem ok and I love how deep the blues are.
for cons I'd have to say if you have an overflow box then you can only realistically mount the light at the highest mounting point as the vertical column slides downwards when you mount it lower down and it is blocked by the overflow box unless you cut the column. the LEDs are also mounted quite far apart from each other so you will find that the light doesn't blend perfectly if you look hard, though if mounted up high like I have, its not that noticeable.
overall I love the controllability of this light and it's dawn to dusk settings, how well it grows corals. the cons aren't very noticeable and a non problem as I don't really plan to mount it any lower. i definitely recommend this light.