For All The New Reefbreeder Photon V2 Owners

[FormulaNone]

I wanted to share my experience of setting up a tank featuring the Photon V2s as it was admittedly one of the more challenging aspects of getting the tank happy. Also, there are countless posts asking for specific numbers so here's my response for all new Photon owners.

• Get a PAR meter. No one can give you the exact settings, schedule, etc. Some people put their lights at 100% everything but then mount them 2 ft off their 210g SPS tank. If you set yours to their values 8" off a 50 gallon LPS tank you won't get the same results. The Reefbreeder's FAQ is a good starting place, but I found that their suggestions were on the high side and I ended up burning a lot of my SPS in year one. I forked over the money for the PMK because I was fed up trying to set them blindly. BRS has PAR meter rental or the Seneye is more affordable - you just need to be in the ballpark not spot on (i.e. 300 PAR is anywhere between 290 and 310).
  
  
• Find a schedule and color temp you like. Write down the ratio of blue:white. I have mine at 4:1 to mimic the Ecotech\Reef Wholesale AB+ schedule. Read the whole thing but if you're aiming for SPS specifically check out page 7 and for LPS tanks read page 9. However, remember that the Whites are 5W LEDs and the Blues are a mix of 5 and 3W LEDs so they don't scale exactly linearly.
  
  
• Once you have that ratio for color temp, adjust everything in your schedule to the PAR level you want. For instance, to replicate the AB+ schedule in a 4:1 ratio with the lights mounted 10" off a 75 gallon tank I do:
  • 9am - Channels 1,2,4 at 9, Channels 3,5,6 at 36
  • 10am-6pm - Channels 1,2,4 at 18, Channels 3,5,6 at 72
  • 7pm - Channels 1,2,4 at 9 Channels 3,5,6 at 36.

This gets me a PAR of 150 at 9am and 7pm and 300 during the rest of the day.​

• Don't touch your controller again for at least month. Don't move things (assuming everything is where you want it in the tank to start with). Just leave it alone and observe for burning, polyp extension, growth, etc. Figure out where your corals want to be. It's easier to move one coral rather than adjust the lights and try to keep everything else happy. I played with my lights for the first 3 months because it was fun and I couldn't decide how blue or white I wanted the tank during viewing hours. While it was amusing to change the settings, the corals weren't happy.
  
  
• Don't read what everyone else is doing with their lights. I read every forum post about what to set my lights at. You have to be the one to make judgement calls on what works for your tank because some people will tell you to run whites at 50% and some will tell you to run only blues at 100%.

 

[Ron Reefman]

Good advise. BTW, I run mine about 3:1. And 2 to 3 hours of all channels 3,5 &6 at sunrise and sunset. But all my corals and anemones fluoresce like crazy, so I love the all blue lighting!

I have both a Photon and a Photon V2. They are great fixtures if you want the sunrise/sunset feature and the control of all 6 colors separately. Mine have run flawlessly since I got them and the first was shortly after they were introduced several years ago.

 

[Rybren]

@Ron Reefman As I understand it, the Photon V2 (not the plus) is essentially the same as the Evergrow IT5012. It seems as though the Plus just has an upgraded controller and related chip.

Because the exchange rate between the Canadian and US dollar is so terrible these days, the reefbreeders V2+ is close to $300 more than what the IT5012 would cost me. In your opinion, is it worth spending the extra money on the V2+? One local reefer has the IT5012 and hates the controller. It has given him nothing but problems since day one; but, it's hard to know if his is an isolated case or the norm.

Sorry for rambling and derailing the thread.

 

[Ron Reefman]

@Ron Reefman As I understand it, the Photon V2 (not the plus) is essentially the same as the Evergrow IT5012. It seems as though the Plus just has an upgraded controller and related chip.

Because the exchange rate between the Canadian and US dollar is so terrible these days, the reefbreeders V2+ is close to $300 more than what the IT5012 would cost me. In your opinion, is it worth spending the extra money on the V2+? One local reefer has the IT5012 and hates the controller. It has given him nothing but problems since day one; but, it's hard to know if his is an isolated case or the norm.

Sorry for rambling and derailing the thread.

No, I don't think the Photon V2 is worth $300 more than an IT5012.

BTW, I used old EverGrow IT2080's for about 5 or 6 years before I got a new tank and switched to Photons from Reef Breeders. I dealt with several people at EverGrow as I did some internet customer service for a company that also had fixtures made by EverGrow.

The RB Photons (all of them using this name) are made by EverGrow and for Chinese built, they are quite good quality. I believe they use the same remote control and it's not the simplest system I've ever seen. The V2+ remote is a bit simpler and it does adjust the light every 6 minutes rather than once per hour. But it saves a pot full of money compared to any equivalent fixture. And once you get the schedule set up, you almost never use it except to go full daylight or full blue and those are simple to do. And always keep the remote plugged into a USB charger or in a few days the battery will be dead when you go to use it.

 

[Rybren]

Thanks for the insight. Have you had any issues with the controller not working?

 

[jtl]

I wanted to share my experience of setting up a tank featuring the Photon V2s as it was admittedly one of the more challenging aspects of getting the tank happy. Also, there are countless posts asking for specific numbers so here's my response for all new Photon owners.

• Get a PAR meter. No one can give you the exact settings, schedule, etc. Some people put their lights at 100% everything but then mount them 2 ft off their 210g SPS tank. If you set yours to their values 8" off a 50 gallon LPS tank you won't get the same results. The Reefbreeder's FAQ is a good starting place, but I found that their suggestions were on the high side and I ended up burning a lot of my SPS in year one. I forked over the money for the PMK because I was fed up trying to set them blindly. BRS has PAR meter rental or the Seneye is more affordable - you just need to be in the ballpark not spot on (i.e. 300 PAR is anywhere between 290 and 310).
  
  
• Find a schedule and color temp you like. Write down the ratio of blue:white. I have mine at 4:1 to mimic the Ecotech\Reef Wholesale AB+ schedule. Read the whole thing but if you're aiming for SPS specifically check out page 7 and for LPS tanks read page 9. However, remember that the Whites are 5W LEDs and the Blues are a mix of 5 and 3W LEDs so they don't scale exactly linearly.
  
  
• Once you have that ratio for color temp, adjust everything in your schedule to the PAR level you want. For instance, to replicate the AB+ schedule in a 4:1 ratio with the lights mounted 10" off a 75 gallon tank I do:
  • 9am - Channels 1,2,4 at 9, Channels 3,5,6 at 36
  • 10am-6pm - Channels 1,2,4 at 18, Channels 3,5,6 at 72
  • 7pm - Channels 1,2,4 at 9 Channels 3,5,6 at 36.

This gets me a PAR of 150 at 9am and 7pm and 300 during the rest of the day.​

• Don't touch your controller again for at least month. Don't move things (assuming everything is where you want it in the tank to start with). Just leave it alone and observe for burning, polyp extension, growth, etc. Figure out where your corals want to be. It's easier to move one coral rather than adjust the lights and try to keep everything else happy. I played with my lights for the first 3 months because it was fun and I couldn't decide how blue or white I wanted the tank during viewing hours. While it was amusing to change the settings, the corals weren't happy.
  
  
• Don't read what everyone else is doing with their lights. I read every forum post about what to set my lights at. You have to be the one to make judgement calls on what works for your tank because some people will tell you to run whites at 50% and some will tell you to run only blues at 100%.

How deep is your tank and at what depth are you measuring PAR? My tank is 18" from the water line to the sand and the Par is 3x higher at the water line compared to the sand bed.

 

[FormulaNone]

How deep is your tank and at what depth are you measuring PAR? My tank is 18" from the water line to the sand and the Par is 3x higher at the water line compared to the sand bed.

Mine is 18" as well and the PAR falloff is about the same. I'd say it's 600ish at the water line itself, 300 in my SPS region and about 120-150 on the sand bed.

 

[FormulaNone]

Thanks for the insight. Have you had any issues with the controller not working?

The only issue with the controller I've experienced is when I charge it, occasionally the program is lost and I have to reprogram the schedule. I saved it in Excel so it's a 10 minute inconvenience more than anything.