Attention Orphek Atlantik Owners

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CastAway

CastAway

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My two v2.1b’s have some issues. I think they’re about three years old now.

One has lost all WiFi connectivity. So far, besides not being able to control it at all, the only real negative is that it’s an hour off from the other fixture due to day light savings. Easy enough to adjust the other working fixture I guess, but I have the feeling it’s going to fail any minute because I can’t even see the thing. It’s running off memory.

Both have clouded over UV diodes. There is a brown powdery residue on the acrylic lens. Of course I can’t measure myself, but I’m pretty sure these diodes are useless at this point.

Neither were ever able to connect simultaneously to my router. Only one ever connected. Even after changing out the entire board in the other, and hundreds of attempts, it just would not pair up. One can be controlled via my router and the other must be controlled as WiFi-socket, requiring me to disconnect and reconnect the WiFi connection on my android device (a tablet I purchased just for the lights) to control one or the other.

I absolutely love the color, adjustability (when I could adjust it), intensity and spectrum. They indeed grow thriving SPS! I was a Nilus owner before the Atlantiks, and was 100% sold on Orphek.

But, I’m growing increasingly frustrated, and wonder if others have encountered similar issues?
 
BRS
I'm also interested in hearing other's experiences. I ordered two v4's for my 220g last night. My Reefbreeders photon 48 V1 died after 4.5 years. Completely went dark, display and all. Tinkered a bit without any success. I'm excited about the upgrade but not happy about dropping 2G's on lighting. Oh well, I recently started over and put the 220g in the wall, no going back now.
 
Chewy.com
Can someone point me to a thread that discusses android updates and the failure to find WiFi-socket issue?

Really struggling with this fixture....
 
This is for Atlantik V4's.

The best I can do is share my experience and opinions. I have had the lights only since Friday ( or at least that's when the Gateway showed up that BRS forgot to ship, oops ).

Overall

0 Not for sure that it would have changed my mind but I didn't realize, and do not like, the fact that the gateway is just that. It's a gateway to a cloud service that the app works with. That's convenient if you want to control your light remotely ( from your phone and off of your home network ) but I doubt that will ever benefit me. I'd prefer local software that if my internet connectivity goes out I can still change my light's schedule or possibly dim them during an extended power outage running off my generator. The app on your phone sends any changes to the cloud based service and it communicates to the light. It's possible it's just a proxy but you're still dependent upon it being available.

o The Android app is a little clunky. I have a high tolerence for pain so I'm not going to gripe about it too much but do not expect a high end app.

o Too early to really say but I've been pleased with the light output and control options. I'm coming from Reef Breeders V1's and these are certainly an upgrade. I had two V1's, a 24" and a 48" on my 72" 220g. Now I have two Atlantic V4's.

o The lights appear to be high quality construction and are pleasing to the eye. That's not really important to me since they are hidden from general view but I would have no problem putting these on display.

My Setup Experience

o Used the hanging kit to hang the lights. Very similar to Reef Breeders kit although the cable will pull through the the clasp until it is screwed tight so you have to be careful not to let the light drop. The Reef Breeders version you had to push in the clasp to allow the cable to pull through.

o BRS was nice enough to provide an ethernet cable and I am fortunate enough to already have a small network hub connected in my fish room so I just connected the cable to a free port and plugged it in. The most I've tested the light to Gateway connectivity has been a few feet so no idea what the range is.

o After the Gateway was plugged in and the red light started flashing I plugged in the lights.

0 Installing the app is pretty straight forward, open the Android play store search for Orphek and choose the Orphek V4/V3+ series app.

o Configuring the app required me to input the ID from the Gateway label. Initially, still thinking I was talking directly to the Gateway, I entered it's IP address I pulled from my router but that obviously did not work.

o After a few minutes to let the lights connect I opened the app on my phone, went to settings and clicked search. I'd like to say both my lights instantly popped up and all was good in the world but they didn't. It took a couple times of me stopping the app, unplugging everything and plugging them back in following the before mentioned order before both lights showed up in the app. Once they showed up I was able to use the"Quick" and "Program" options but there is some delay in the lights receiving the changes. In the Program section, it took me a minute to realize I had to press the send button before it would forward the program but now that sort of makes sense. The Quick Section allows you to control the individual channels realtime and select between individual lights and "All" lights.

o I also was able to name the lights so I know which is which but I don't expect to control them separately so it will not help much except possibly trying to debug a future issue.


Hope this helps.
 
Last edited:
Just updated my post ensuring everyone reading this knows these are new V4's and not V2's that Jeff is asking about. I just realized that, sorry for hijacking the thread @CastAway .
 
Top Shelf Aquatics
CastAway said:
My two v2.1b’s have some issues. I think they’re about three years old now.

One has lost all WiFi connectivity. So far, besides not being able to control it at all, the only real negative is that it’s an hour off from the other fixture due to day light savings. Easy enough to adjust the other working fixture I guess, but I have the feeling it’s going to fail any minute because I can’t even see the thing. It’s running off memory.

Both have clouded over UV diodes. There is a brown powdery residue on the acrylic lens. Of course I can’t measure myself, but I’m pretty sure these diodes are useless at this point.

Neither were ever able to connect simultaneously to my router. Only one ever connected. Even after changing out the entire board in the other, and hundreds of attempts, it just would not pair up. One can be controlled via my router and the other must be controlled as WiFi-socket, requiring me to disconnect and reconnect the WiFi connection on my android device (a tablet I purchased just for the lights) to control one or the other.

I absolutely love the color, adjustability (when I could adjust it), intensity and spectrum. They indeed grow thriving SPS! I was a Nilus owner before the Atlantiks, and was 100% sold on Orphek.

But, I’m growing increasingly frustrated, and wonder if others have encountered similar issues?
Click to expand...
I can only connect 1 of my 2.1b’s at a time, but if I’ve read the instructions correctly that’s how it is, and you can’t synchronise them. I’ve got 3 of them so I have to go through 3 WiFi sockets to adjust my lights, a pain but I did expect this. No sign of the brown residue you describe mine are 2.5 yrs old.
 
Mortie31 said:
I can only connect 1 of my 2.1b’s at a time, but if I’ve read the instructions correctly that’s how it is, and you can’t synchronise them. I’ve got 3 of them so I have to go through 3 WiFi sockets to adjust my lights, a pain but I did expect this. No sign of the brown residue you describe mine are 2.5 yrs old.
Click to expand...

Ugh! When Scott was with them we must have had half a dozen calls trying to get both sync’d. He sure seemed of the opinion they could be.

Is this official with #orphek?
 
I have v2 If you turn off all the units and only turn on one at a time and connect them you should be successful.
 
BRS
If you go through Orphek customer service James or Ofir ill help you. Had an odd ongoing issue with connectivity myself and they hung with me over about a 4 week period of time and kept at it until it was fixed. Cant say enough good things about the lights or their customer service.
 
Orphek said:
ORPHEK CUSTOMER ASSISTANCE & SUPPORT

HOW DO I CONTACT ORPHEK TO ASK ABOUT A PRODUCT OR PLACE AN ORDER?
It is very easy! Just email us at: [email protected]

1. Atlantik V2 How to connect to the Wi Fi Router
https://orphek.com/atlantik-v2-connect-wi-fi-router/

2. Upgrade to Atlantik V4 from Older version
https://orphek.com/upgrade-to-atlantik-v4-from-older-version/
Click to expand...
Where can I buy the kit to upgrade to V4, I currently have 3 V2.1b’s and how much are they. I’m in the UK
 
Top Shelf Aquatics
i have 2 V4 compacts and have had NOTHING BUT TROUBLE with the CONNECTIVITY of the light.
I have played with the point of sale Gateway and point of sale App too many times.
Light Good, Connectivity/Gateway/App VERY BAD

Wish i stuck with Hydra for reasons of connectivity alone.
Tech Support is PAINFUL via email
 
i have 2 V4 compacts and have had NOTHING BUT TROUBLE with the CONNECTIVITY of the light.
I have played with the point of sale Gateway and point of sale App too many times.
Light Good, Connectivity/Gateway/App VERY BAD

Wish i stuck with Hydra for reasons of connectivity alone.
Tech Support is PAINFUL via email
 
Nutramar Foods
i have 2 V4 compacts and have had NOTHING BUT TROUBLE with the CONNECTIVITY of the light.
I have played with the point of sale Gateway and point of sale App too many times.
Light Good, Connectivity/Gateway/App VERY BAD

Wish i stuck with Hydra for reasons of connectivity alone.
Tech Support is PAINFUL via email
 
Hi gdemos,
On behalf of all Orphek Customer Assistance Team we would like to appologize for any issue raised regarding installation, maintenance or troubleshooting of the purchased Orphek units.
Orphek clients are definitely our most important assets, therefore we are 100% committed to their satisfaction.
We normally don't offer customer assistance in forums and other social medias, but we decided to address to your issue here since it seems to be urgent.
We will ship you 2 units of our latest Wifi module and 1 unit of our New Gateway 2 with the latest firmware updated.
This will fix all your connection issues and we are pretty sure that you will be more then happy with our light!

Have a great weekend,
Orphek Customer Assistance Team
 
Wow! Really? Congrats @gdemos. Lucky you. [emoji35]
 
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I finally got a price to upgrade my two v2.1b's. Debating it.

2k worth of light, plus more now to get them to 100% functionality. Throw in the cost of my original Nilus fixture, and I'm feeling kind of foolish; skiddish at least.

Moreover, the two fixtures are dimensionally are not enough for my 60"x 28" rimless IMO. My corals all tilt towards the fixtures, on the center-line of the long axis. I ramp up to 100% on all channels. If I re-oriented the fixtures to get better front-to-back coverage I'd need four in total.

Decisions decisions.......
 
I’m with you ^

Honestly not sure we need new boards, I feel I haven’t learned these yet lol.

I would like all these successful sps systems using these lights to share their light schedules.

I’ve been using their last version v3 year and a half and i’m Still playing with them.

Connectivity is spotty at best works when it wants to. The app don’t work all that well imo doesn’t save doesn’t delete old programs. When you log back in all the old programs show up again ha.

Would like to try the v4 and upgrade but the costs to do that I may try the new Radions for a year or so to see if their at any other changes.

I usually make changes and leave em be for 4-6 months at at time so I’ve now run about 4-5 programs in tha year and a half ownership.

I feel the last change I made is the best yet running white channels down at 30% for 4-5 hours. I set all the blues at 100% for 4-5 hours with a ramp up and down.

Feel like Ive been cooking coral for a year and a half and I have them at 12” off the water.
 
Hi reefkeeper,like you I have had v3+ fo about one and a half years,and have been unsettled with settings,tried onboard prog,others I have seen with high power with short day profiles and eco techniques ab+ type over an sps/lps tank,24 inch deep,reasonable colour slow growth,with no stun problems but not really happy with the look and growth.i do not these days worry overmuch about ulna just maintain readable n/p and 7-8dkh.
I have been running brs(Ryan) prog suggested in their video re Atlantik,c1@80%,c2@100%,c3@100% and c4@ 40%,for 10hr photoperiod with one hour rap each end.this I am enjoying with better results,I feel much more comfortable wit perceived power and measured par now.my fittings are at 13 inches over water and as said are v3+ not as in brs case v4.in other respects spread,reliability an program they have been perfect.i changed out 400w halides for orphek sand have changed them back a few times but honestly once you have seen colour and ramp could.not go back to halides this is of course only my opinion.hope this helps rather than additional confusion as you hinted not to much solid help or info out there yet!
Regards graham.
TheReefKeeper said:
I’m with you ^

Honestly not sure we need new boards, I feel I haven’t learned these yet lol.

I would like all these successful sps systems using these lights to share their light schedules.

I’ve been using their last version v3 year and a half and i’m Still playing with them.

Connectivity is spotty at best works when it wants to. The app don’t work all that well imo doesn’t save doesn’t delete old programs. When you log back in all the old programs show up again ha.

Would like to try the v4 and upgrade but the costs to do that I may try the new Radions for a year or so to see if their at any other changes.

I usually make changes and leave em be for 4-6 months at at time so I’ve now run about 4-5 programs in tha year and a half ownership.

I feel the last change I made is the best yet running white channels down at 30% for 4-5 hours. I set all the blues at 100% for 4-5 hours with a ramp up and down.

Feel like Ive been cooking coral for a year and a half and I have them at 12” off the water.
Click to expand...
 
Tidal Gardens
Thanks Graham
So the schedule I am running is almost the same except I’m running c1 @ 30% and c4 @ 30% too

When and if stuff Browns I’ll for sure turn up the 1 and 4 channels.
 
Last edited:

IF YOU HAD TO TAKE A REEFING EXAM, WOULD YOU PASS?

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  • No.

    Votes: 26 37.1%

  • Other (please explain).

    Votes: 3 4.3%
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