Introducing the Photon V2!

fernalfer · Dec 1, 2016

Joel Franco said:
I would increase slowly. At 30 percent on all channels at a depth of 20 inches I was only getting between 150 par to 80 top to bottom. I used a par meter get the amount I of par I needed fir my mixed reef. I am getting 250 mid tank and 170 at the bottom.

srry for all the questions but what size is your tank and how high are your lights above tank. I have the photon 48 V2 and it is 12 inches above water line and my tank is 24 inches deep.

Joel Franco · Dec 1, 2016

No worries. 48" tank and 21"deep. I am using both the hanging kit and tank mount legs. I have the legs set to the highest setting which I think is 10".

fernalfer · Dec 1, 2016

Joel Franco said:
No worries. 48" tank and 21"deep. I am using both the hanging kit and tank mount legs. I have the legs set to the highest setting which I think is 10".

ok well if that is the case my tank is 3 inches deeper so i'm sure i'm not getting much par down below with my max setting on channel 3 being 53 and thats only for 2 hours of the day it ramps up and down from that high point

fernalfer · Dec 1, 2016

Is the values of Par on the Reef breeders site with all channels set to 100%?

https://www.reefbreeders.com/shop/photon-48-v2/#

Joel Franco · Dec 1, 2016

I believe so. I am sure that is also with no surface agitation. Par varies per tank and I would not go by picture on the site. I would try to borrow a meter or purchase one so your not guessing what you are getting.

fernalfer · Dec 1, 2016

Joel Franco said:
I believe so. I am sure that is also with no surface agitation. Par varies per tank and I would not go by picture on the site. I would try to borrow a meter or purchase one so your not guessing what you are getting.

any suggestion on a good trustworthy Par Meter that is a reasonable price?

Joel Franco · Dec 1, 2016

Here are a few shots of my tank.

Joel Franco · Dec 1, 2016

I borrowed one from my reef club. I used an Apogee meter.

Reef Breeders · Dec 1, 2016

Joel Franco said:
I believe so. I am sure that is also with no surface agitation. Par varies per tank and I would not go by picture on the site. I would try to borrow a meter or purchase one so your not guessing what you are getting.

Hi, the readings were taken in a running reef tank, I have found that surface agitation doesn't have a noticeable effect on PAR readings and have taken readings under these conditions in the past. The lights are at 100% on all channels, of course since we are trying to show the full potential of our products

Reef Breeders · Dec 1, 2016

Joel Franco said:
Here are a few shots of my tank.

Your tank looks great by the way! Let me know when you have some PAR readings, and I would love to see some growth updates in the near future!

Joel Franco · Dec 1, 2016

Thanks. I had a question for you. I'm still trying to figure out the color spectrums. How would I go about making the lights have a 20k look?

Acroporaaddict · Dec 1, 2016

Im going to start off with:
5 5 30 10 15 15
I think it looks pretty good

Joel Franco · Dec 1, 2016

That's a good starting point. The tank looks great. What type of lighting did you switch from?

Acroporaaddict · Dec 1, 2016

Joel Franco said:
That's a good starting point. The tank looks great. What type of lighting did you switch from?

Thanks. I was running a Pacific Sun Pandora T5/ LED hybrid. The LED clusters went out so I've been running 4x 39w t5s for the last month while I tried to troubleshoot with the manufacturer. I started to notice a decline in the health of my acros and I contribute that to lack of light. I purchased the Photon as a temporary light to use while my main fixture is down. Who knows, if the Photon works out well maybe I'll move the pandora to a frag tank or something

Joel Franco · Dec 1, 2016

That's awesome. I switched from T5 myself and this fixture has made it easier for me to get used to the full look that I got from t5. I'm getting plenty of light but who knows. I may add t5 down the road to supplement the LEDs.

Paul87 · Dec 5, 2016

@Bokeron_84, here is a shot of the tank the other evening. I still need to get around to posting up my current schedule, which isn't far off from the last one, but is a tad lower.

Late evening-

Blues only-

Bokeron_84 · Dec 8, 2016

Wow @ paul87 is awesome !! Your reef has an amazing color !! What do you add to the tank Mine is in the process of putting sps and right now does not look very good, I have had problems with the kh and I have some white coral. Now it is stable and the new corals are very good. When you can place the lightingh schedule yours to adapt mine to yours. Thank you

Paul87 · Dec 8, 2016

Bokeron_84 said:
Wow @ paul87 is awesome !! Your reef has an amazing color !! What do you add to the tank Mine is in the process of putting sps and right now does not look very good, I have had problems with the kh and I have some white coral. Now it is stable and the new corals are very good. When you can place the lightingh schedule yours to adapt mine to yours. Thank you

Thanks! I don't add anything really, I'm a water change guy. I do occasionally use fuel (aminos) which the zooanthids seem to love, and I recently started using Vibrant from UWC to clear up a tad of algae. As soon as I find the time I'll make up a chart of my schedule that I've been running a while and happy with it.

Reef Breeders · Dec 12, 2016

Joel Franco said:
Thanks. I had a question for you. I'm still trying to figure out the color spectrums. How would I go about making the lights have a 20k look?

That is mostly subjective- everyone feels 20K is a different look to them. Personally, I think that a ratio of about
30 | 30 | 100 | 55 | 100 | 100 is about 20K.

Reef Breeders · Dec 12, 2016

Acroporaaddict said:
Im going to start off with:
5 5 30 10 15 15
I think it looks pretty good

Paul87 said:
@Bokeron_84, here is a shot of the tank the other evening. I still need to get around to posting up my current schedule, which isn't far off from the last one, but is a tad lower.

Late evening-

Blues only-