Evergrow / Reefbreeders LED - thoughts?

Greaps · Aug 3, 2017

Wow nice fixture like that more than lots of smaller units.

Ou8me2 · Aug 4, 2017

Love my Reefbreeders Photon48 V2 , best lights I have ever owned. They really are powerful and underrated in my book.

sasa · Aug 4, 2017

Hi there,

I used this Evergrow unit for 2 months. Got it as a test from an LFS for free. I rather gave it back to them, it was a huge disappointment in every aspect. The slim design the only thing I liked, but nothing else.
Hope you'll like it better than I do.

Gweeds1980 · Aug 4, 2017

sasa said:
Hi there,

I used this Evergrow unit for 2 months. Got it as a test from an LFS for free. I rather gave it back to them, it was a huge disappointment in every aspect. The slim design the only thing I liked, but nothing else.
Hope you'll like it better than I do.

What didn't you like about it? Spectrum / controllibility / disco effect / power / noise?

And why?

Really interested to hear specifics as haven't really had any negative feedback...

What were you using before and what are you using now?

Thanks

Gweeds1980 · Aug 4, 2017

Greaps said:
Wow nice fixture like that more than lots of smaller units.

There's two of the 48" units end to end... for the same coverage (not talking PAR here) I'd have needed about 8 hydra 52s or radions!

sasa · Aug 4, 2017

Gweeds1980 said:
What didn't you like about it? Spectrum / controllibility / disco effect / power / noise?
And why?
Really interested to hear specifics as haven't really had any negative feedback...
What were you using before and what are you using now?
Thanks

The spectrum was kinda OK, corals enjoyed it. However from experience I feel that leaving for the user to adjust ever spectrum manually is a very VERY bad idea. What looks good and what is good for the corals is 2 completely different thing Very very risky.
Controlability was a nightmare with that remote controller. Setting up every channel 24x, could only adjust hours, etc.. Controller loosing batter in about a week from full to zero.
Disco effect was hideous. Even when I raised the lamp 30 cm above the water you could see different colors at the bottom of your tank. And as you increase the power of the lamp it is getting worse.
Noise is very loud - probably because of the poor quality fans.
With the light power there is no issue - actually it is very strong (measured with PAR Meter). Corals need time to adopt to it, so be very cautious at the beginning. 30% is perfect to start with and raise it very slowly.

All together they sell for around 650 EUR at my place in the LFS. For that price it did not seem a good deal for me. I had the 80 cm unit what could cover around 90 x 60 cm area with loads of shadows.

One of our LFS uses them, corals quite enjoy the light, so luckily there is not a major issue with that. Only those I mentioned above.

Before this unit I used an ATI powermodule.
Now I am using Philips Coralcare LED units.

Gweeds1980 · Aug 4, 2017

sasa said:
The spectrum was kinda OK, corals enjoyed it. However from experience I feel that leaving for the user to adjust ever spectrum manually is a very VERY bad idea. What looks good and what is good for the corals is 2 completely different thing Very very risky.
Controlability was a nightmare with that remote controller. Setting up every channel 24x, could only adjust hours, etc.. Controller loosing batter in about a week from full to zero.
Disco effect was hideous. Even when I raised the lamp 30 cm above the water you could see different colors at the bottom of your tank. And as you increase the power of the lamp it is getting worse.
Noise is very loud - probably because of the poor quality fans.
With the light power there is no issue - actually it is very strong (measured with PAR Meter). Corals need time to adopt to it, so be very cautious at the beginning. 30% is perfect to start with and raise it very slowly.

All together they sell for around 650 EUR at my place in the LFS. For that price it did not seem a good deal for me. I had the 80 cm unit what could cover around 90 x 60 cm area with loads of shadows.

One of our LFS uses them, corals quite enjoy the light, so luckily there is not a major issue with that. Only those I mentioned above.

Before this unit I used an ATI powermodule.
Now I am using Philips Coralcare LED units.

Thanks for that, the CoralCare lights do look good... way out of my price range though!

sasa · Aug 4, 2017

Yes, it is a nother level ( in price as well)

Velcro · Aug 7, 2017

sasa said:
The spectrum was kinda OK, corals enjoyed it. However from experience I feel that leaving for the user to adjust ever spectrum manually is a very VERY bad idea. What looks good and what is good for the corals is 2 completely different thing Very very risky.
Controlability was a nightmare with that remote controller. Setting up every channel 24x, could only adjust hours, etc.. Controller loosing batter in about a week from full to zero.
Disco effect was hideous. Even when I raised the lamp 30 cm above the water you could see different colors at the bottom of your tank. And as you increase the power of the lamp it is getting worse.
Noise is very loud - probably because of the poor quality fans.
With the light power there is no issue - actually it is very strong (measured with PAR Meter). Corals need time to adopt to it, so be very cautious at the beginning. 30% is perfect to start with and raise it very slowly.

All together they sell for around 650 EUR at my place in the LFS. For that price it did not seem a good deal for me. I had the 80 cm unit what could cover around 90 x 60 cm area with loads of shadows.

One of our LFS uses them, corals quite enjoy the light, so luckily there is not a major issue with that. Only those I mentioned above.

Before this unit I used an ATI powermodule.
Now I am using Philips Coralcare LED units.

I've had these light 2 months and never had to charge the remote since the first time. The spectrum adjustment is very easy IMO: 4:1 blue to white at a power that it's the much more then 300-350 par where SPS is. Adjust warm whites to your liking. Mine are 22" above the tank and I have absolute no disco at all. zero. Mines also silent at 100% on blues and 25% whites.

Maybe the reefbreeders are just better than the evergrow, but I was under the assumption that they are the same.

sasa · Aug 7, 2017

Are you sure it is the same? Evergrow had 6 channels to adjust, not just blue and white.

Velcro · Aug 7, 2017

sasa said:
Are you sure it is the same? Evergrow had 6 channels to adjust, not just blue and white.

When I say blues I mean royal blue, blue and violet. Whites I mean warm white, red and green.

Gweeds1980 · Aug 7, 2017

I have to say the fans must have been improved, mine have only kicked in once so far, for about 30 mins and I could just make out this odd whir noise whilst I was feeding... once I was 5 feet from the tank I couldn't hear it any longer...

Coverage and power is excellent and ability to control each of the 6 channels individually is great, so long as you know what you're doing lol.

Cons so far... the 1hr intervals and inability to ramp during those periods... just a '10% to 20%' jump isn't great.

Disco effect at lower heights is pretty awful, but mounted a bit higher it's barely noticable.

george buena · Mar 21, 2018

I have the IT5080 for about 1yr, for my 55gal. Bought them from Lisa the sales rep at Reefapaloza NYC 2016. My only small complain is the small learning curve to the systems remote. But the lights are extremely well build, The fans are quite (when they are on). Now, that I have a Par reader (Neptune) and a deeper tank (25.5 inches) I could appreciate the well built quality. I want to sell my IT5080 to upgrade to your IT5012. Even though my lights are only 32inch long they still cover my 48inch wide tank.

TexasTodd · Mar 25, 2018

Hows your growth? What intensity and color etc are you running?

Shooter6 · Apr 22, 2018

Gweeds1980 said:
And they're on... bit of a hash up atm as it's late, but on 1% blues for the night... Will get them up on the mounting legs tomorrow and hopefully get the schedule sorted :/

How did they work long term?

Gweeds1980 · Apr 22, 2018

Shooter6 said:
How did they work long term?

Really pleased with them. Look sleek and growing anything I throw at them atm. The remote is a bit flimsy and a pain to programme but one remote will control multiple units so at least you only have to do it once!

Here's a FTS as of last week... excuse the algae on the glass lol.

Shooter6 · Apr 22, 2018

Gweeds1980 said:
Really pleased with them. Look sleek and growing anything I throw at them atm. The remote is a bit flimsy and a pain to programme but one remote will control multiple units so at least you only have to do it once!

Here's a FTS as of last week... excuse the algae on the glass lol.

Thats good to know. I have 4 of their 165w wifi lights over my 180gal. I was planning to get 3 more and change them to all blues of different wave lenths to put between each u already have, but only one will connect to the wifi app. That has turneed me off of ordering the other 3. The company sent me 4 new wifi boards for free but i think its the app. I saw these come with a controller so at least your not stuck with a bad app.
If you lose power, do they lose the programing? The 165w one does. That is a weak spot to me as they could cause the corals to get burned when the power comes back on and your not there to catch that the lights on max output.

Gweeds1980 · Apr 22, 2018

Shooter6 said:
Thats good to know. I have 4 of their 165w wifi lights over my 180gal. I was planning to get 3 more and change them to all blues of different wave lenths to put between each u already have, but only one will connect to the wifi app. That has turneed me off of ordering the other 3. The company sent me 4 new wifi boards for free but i think its the app. I saw these come with a controller so at least your not stuck with a bad app.
If you lose power, do they lose the programing? The 165w one does. That is a weak spot to me as they could cause the corals to get burned when the power comes back on and your not there to catch that the lights on max output.

Nope, either lights or remote can lose power and the programme is saved. I've only charged the remote twice since I've had it, charge lasts for ages anyway.