bmbrad
Community Member
Hello,
I'm new to R2R, but it looks like a great place for fellow saltwater enthusiasts. I have had decent experience in this hobby about 10 years ago. It seems that there has been some changes in every aspect as far as equipment and especially in the lighting area. There are a few questions I need some input on.
First questions are regarding tanks. Are the tanks with the built in sumps in the back worth it over the standard tank with a sump in the stand? Will the tank with a built in sump limit me as far as a good skimmer or filtration because of clearance and so on? Sumps seemed to always be the best way to go because you're adding volume. More water tends to be more stable. The brands of tanks I've been looking at are the cad light and red sea tanks with the stand and sump setups. I'm not familiar with either of these brands. The other would be the Innovative Marine Fusion Lagoon 50 tank with the built in sump in the back of the tank. If anyone could share their experiences with these tanks I'd love some feed back.
Back to the lighting. I left the hobby when MH and VHO/T5 were popular. I haven't tried LED though. Due to the work I do I have seen LED lights come a long way in the last 5 years and they continue to be refined more and more each year. That being said MH and T5 lighting was the best growth and color I had for my SPS dominate tank. So where does LED fall in right now? I'm currently interested in the Radion XR30W Gen 4 pro and the Kessil AP700. To my surprise I have yet to see anyone do study on these to fixtures side by side. I have read a lot of comments on the Kessil light being very buggy with the software that controls it and it only has control with an Ipad??? Ecotech on the other hand seems to be a very clean and simple control system. Does anyone have a Kessil AP700 and a XR30w Gen 4 Pro that can shed some light ? Does one do a better job at growing coral than the other? I would be doing a tank that's SPS dominant with some mixed items towards the bottom of the tank. I've seen plenty of videos on both fixtures yet no one has done a head to head. Probably opening up a can of worms asking this because both of these lights seem to be very highly rated.
I'm new to R2R, but it looks like a great place for fellow saltwater enthusiasts. I have had decent experience in this hobby about 10 years ago. It seems that there has been some changes in every aspect as far as equipment and especially in the lighting area. There are a few questions I need some input on.
First questions are regarding tanks. Are the tanks with the built in sumps in the back worth it over the standard tank with a sump in the stand? Will the tank with a built in sump limit me as far as a good skimmer or filtration because of clearance and so on? Sumps seemed to always be the best way to go because you're adding volume. More water tends to be more stable. The brands of tanks I've been looking at are the cad light and red sea tanks with the stand and sump setups. I'm not familiar with either of these brands. The other would be the Innovative Marine Fusion Lagoon 50 tank with the built in sump in the back of the tank. If anyone could share their experiences with these tanks I'd love some feed back.
Back to the lighting. I left the hobby when MH and VHO/T5 were popular. I haven't tried LED though. Due to the work I do I have seen LED lights come a long way in the last 5 years and they continue to be refined more and more each year. That being said MH and T5 lighting was the best growth and color I had for my SPS dominate tank. So where does LED fall in right now? I'm currently interested in the Radion XR30W Gen 4 pro and the Kessil AP700. To my surprise I have yet to see anyone do study on these to fixtures side by side. I have read a lot of comments on the Kessil light being very buggy with the software that controls it and it only has control with an Ipad??? Ecotech on the other hand seems to be a very clean and simple control system. Does anyone have a Kessil AP700 and a XR30w Gen 4 Pro that can shed some light ? Does one do a better job at growing coral than the other? I would be doing a tank that's SPS dominant with some mixed items towards the bottom of the tank. I've seen plenty of videos on both fixtures yet no one has done a head to head. Probably opening up a can of worms asking this because both of these lights seem to be very highly rated.
