lazypeeter
New Member
what do you guys think about these leds? HYDRA Series « FathomLED I am trying to upgrade my lighting and are stuck between AI hydra, Fathomled Hydra, and the full spectrum china led? any suggestions?
fathomleds???
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greg 45
Active Member
I own 18 of them if this helps, they replaced my pacific sun metis hyperions , who have done nothing for help with advice on keeping anemones and fixing broken lamps. Fathom stands by there work and local if you need help or advice. My system is all anemones rbta , hadoni , gigante , mertens all are doing well .
Ron Reefman
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I'm wondering what you see in the Fathom that makes it worth so much more than an EverGrow fixture from OceanRevive? Less than half as many leds per fixture? Less coverage? Same basic controls? I don't get it.
Without knowing your specifics, it's hard to judge. But to my eye, I see these as being a bit better than half an EverGrow IT2040 or IT2060 with 51 3W Bridgelux leds. And the IT2040 is 35% less expensive!
How big is your tank? And how many of these Fathom fixtures will you need?
Without knowing your specifics, it's hard to judge. But to my eye, I see these as being a bit better than half an EverGrow IT2040 or IT2060 with 51 3W Bridgelux leds. And the IT2040 is 35% less expensive!
How big is your tank? And how many of these Fathom fixtures will you need?
Marklugo23
Active Member
This obviously is a thread on someone that needs help deciding on lights. So relax ron. Everyone is opinionated. I actually have 2 Fathoms on my tank and my tank couldnt be better. Also my corals look amazing. My tank is 48" 24" 16" . If I had to choose lights again, my choice will still be fathoms. Back to subject. Fathom customer service is also phenomenal. Never had any problems with my lights and they answered all the questions I had to ask. Another great thing is that they are always researching to see what makes corals healthy and grow. They dont just put red and green in the led. Hence the vega came out after the radion 2 with the red and green to follow the trend. Hope this helps lazypeeter. If you want to see pics of my tank or any questions pm me your email.
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ReefLEDLights
Valuable Member
With everything on full what colour temp are they?
I noticed that they use 2 XP-G Warm and 6 Nuetral instead of Cool White. My experience with the Nuetral is they have a yellow look.
Bill
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Marklugo23
Active Member
NOT at all yellowish. The array is done to avoid the spectrum shift that is bleaching corals. Instead of an individual reds. They use combinations of white to enhance the red spectrum. Being that red is refracted at 1 meter of water anyway ( Dana Riddle study ). Individual reds are useless. Cool white intensifies blue. But there are two channels per board already, so how much blue do you want. If you want to raise the kelvin you can do that with the controller ratio settings. Very close spectrum output to ushio 14k, if you want but you can raise to 20k as well, without shifting individuals red, green, orange etc. Very harsh spectrum shifts ie coral killers. Last year I know the owner was doing readings in Aruba on reefs. This year I think it was or will be Bahamas. I dont think evergrow or most manufactureres are doing that research except for following market trends. Just my two cents.
If you have time out of your busy schedule. Fly to New York, and I would be glad to teach you and your company about spectrums and what colors go right with one another.
If you have time out of your busy schedule. Fly to New York, and I would be glad to teach you and your company about spectrums and what colors go right with one another.
c_healy
Valuable Member
Wouldn't the red from the white leds be refracted the same as using individual red leds?
And most tanks aren't more than a meter deep anyways.
Now I could definetly be wrong as I'm not an expert but that's my .02 cents
And most tanks aren't more than a meter deep anyways.
Now I could definetly be wrong as I'm not an expert but that's my .02 cents
Marklugo23
Active Member
@c_healy
True but are the corals we are keeping coming from 1 meter in depth?
The majority are 10 to 30 meters about.
Therefore there is no usefulness to the coral with a direct beam of red. Zooanthallae excites abd reaches to the surface of the corals and realeases bleaching the coral. A slight hint is fine for our higher corals like staghorn etc. Thats why the Fathom team does there own research and doesnt follow the gimmicks.
True but are the corals we are keeping coming from 1 meter in depth?
The majority are 10 to 30 meters about.
Therefore there is no usefulness to the coral with a direct beam of red. Zooanthallae excites abd reaches to the surface of the corals and realeases bleaching the coral. A slight hint is fine for our higher corals like staghorn etc. Thats why the Fathom team does there own research and doesnt follow the gimmicks.
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FathomLED
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Without getting too involved in this and purely to answer a question from chealy. The documentation I believe being referred to is authored by Dana Riddle. There is a study done where loss of certain spectrums occur and at what depths. Now according to what I have seen which coincides with the study. At 1 meter there is significant loss of red 600-700nm range of the spectrum. The spectrum drops considerably from 80-100% at the surface to 50% at 1 meter. At 10 meters the percentages drop to 3-1 %. Which is about where we begin to collect specimens. This is for type 3 coastal water and type 1 coastal. Type 2 oceanic water is roughly the same. So a slight hint or red to replicate the natural transmittance is ok. A full beam of intentional is not. I don't want to be out of line here but merely share. I am going on 3 PADI charters and will be bringing spectalradiometers , irradiance and reflectance equipment along with me. Red is also used to enhance PAR as although PAR meters are useful to us they are intended for plant growth. So if you ever saw a grow light you will notice the red and blue dominate it for chlorophyll production. That can only equal one thing in our systems...algae. Not to dumb down the subject but there is a reason the ocean is blue and not red. That is because that is the penetrating spectrum and naturally white is full spectrum anyway but not nearly like an individual bulb of red. More in depth info I have to refrain from the saying as I take it to my grave. But I think you see the point. The facts can be found now and as interest grows more and more it will be everywhere that's where each of us play a huge role by enjoying the hobby and science of it. With 35 tanks here I can tell you a lot has died playing the spectrum game. Its not something to be messed with for selling points that's why we religiously change t5 and halides correct? Ok enough rambling. Enjoy the hobby. Oh and no Mark is not paid but u will find a lot of users get very adamant about the product. I hope no lines were crossed with the post it was I tended to be Infomative only. Thanks.
Daniel@R2R
Living the Reef Life
Thanks guys, for this very informative and professional post. I absolutely appreciate the information and the tone and spirit with which it was given. Very cool of you!
OceanRevive
Well-Known Member
wrong thread...
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lazypeeter
New Member
Well my tank is 36x24x20 and I think I would need to run two of these to cover my tank. I am just unsure in which leds will be a good upgrade, since I am a broke college student. Right now, I am running the 120w china led with dimmable blue and whites and aren't very happy with them. It makes me think twice before buying another china product.
lazypeeter
New Member
Thanks for your opinion. Ill pm you to see pictures of your tank and hopefully will help me decide in the right LED for me.
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ReefLEDLights
Valuable Member
I prefer to do my research at Cancun...Amazing Diving...
You're welcome to come out to Chicago and I'll show you better Pizza (5LB Deep Dish) and and we can talk about spectrum...
I only ask because my practicable experience experimenting with Cree Warms and Neutrals has shown the Neutrals a bit yellow. Here is a pic of my tank with two different Cool White Bins. One is a notch above the coolest neutral.
I will admit and agree that if your looking for that "full spectrum", replacing a couple Cool for Warm has merit.
Personally I prefer the 15-20K look over the 6.5-12K look.
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Ron Reefman
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I understand your concern about Chinese led fixtures. I really debated the issue myself back in Dec 2012. But me and 9 other people in my local club did a group buy of EverGrow direct from them in China (now distributed by OceanRevive here in the US). They were very helpful and 9 out of 10 people who bought, love the lights. There are a few really good Chinese brands like EverGrow, Reef Breeders, Twilight and even TaoTronics is getting better. But there is way too much junk out there as well. And the Chinese aren't the only ones making and selling junk.
As a broke college student with a 36" long tank, I'd look at two EG D120's (dimmers only, full spectrum, for $160 each) or two OR Arctic S026 (dimmers only, full spectrum, at $175 each) or one EG IT2080 (32" long, 99 3w leds, full spectrum, and a built-in controller for $450). I have two IT2080's over my 180g mixed reef for 8 months now and have had zero problems.
And don't get me wrong (like Marklugo23 did). I'm not saying anything bad about the Fathom fixture itself. It may be a great product. I just think for what you get, it's over priced! Especially for a broke college student! :wink:
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greg 45
Active Member
Ron most reefers have bought and have had bad experience with led lamps. We all come off stating what is better or bet. I know mark and Fathom. My grief started with the over priced pacific sun , they always blamed me for the failure on my tank to being me. I have all anemones you and I spoke about lighting and par by pm. Pacific sun was my worst investment , leds burnt out them knowing nothing about anemones. Always a excuse on there end to blame me . I have 10 k sitting in closet. Fathom sat down with me to resolve my issues . Trying different leds to make make me aand my system that much better .The led debate is going to go on forever . I also almost purchased plazma before this and all the company want to do is sell product.Fathom has done plenty of research in his leds and will continue to do so . He stops by always calls checking on progress on what my system is doing ,is there anything that I do or dont like . Yes I will as mark stand behind this product because he was the one who helped and guided us before purchasing. I have lost all respect for pacific sun as they have done nothing for me to try and repare laps or to see if there was a issue on there end.
Sorry for long read
Sorry for long read
c_healy
Valuable Member
I wasn't trying to knock anyone or any company, its just you see a lot of people coming on and making statements and saying they have research to back it up. Very rarely does anyone actually post the facts and research to back up what they're saying.
Thank you fathom for coming on and posting.
Thank you fathom for coming on and posting.
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