Lighting upgrade

[Brew12]

I've decided to change my lighting around. Currently using 2 LX7206's with supplemental T5's. The T5's are going to go away and I have ordered a 3rd LX7206.

Since my fixture is set up to hang I have purchased a bunch of 80/20 stuff to build a frame. Has anyone found an easy way to connect the Mitras to the 80/20? I've got some ideas but if there is something obvious I'm all ears.

 

[Davy Jones]

Out of curiousity why did you decide to ditch the t5's?

 

[Brew12]

Out of curiousity why did you decide to ditch the t5's?

There are 2 big drivers in this for me. The first is that I want to be able to raise my light fixture higher, but the T5's don't give enough PAR to be useful if I do. The other issue is that I find the light too "flat" for lack of a better term.

Much less important is that I have a maintenance mode programmed into my Mitras for changing the spectrum for picture taking. Right now, that means turning off the T5's so the tank is a little dark, especially from the front. It will also give me a chance to play with the "cloud" feature on the Mitras. I think it will be nice to have clouds pass between the 3 fixtures.

 

[Davy Jones]

I love the 2 I have, and putting them both over the new tank should provide more than enough light.

I bought the flex mount from them (which is essentially 80/20 as far as i can tell) and have it set to as high up as possible for my stand configuration and mounting options (likely ~12 or so inches from the water if i had to guess)

I am still not entirelly happy with my spectrum and lighting profile however.. I know my corals/anemones have had much better color than they do now. Not sure if its a water thing or a spectrum thing but Im gonna give it a bit of a change when i fully move over to the new setup i think.

 

[Brew12]

I love the 2 I have, and putting them both over the new tank should provide more than enough light.

I bought the flex mount from them (which is essentially 80/20 as far as i can tell) and have it set to as high up as possible for my stand configuration and mounting options (likely ~12 or so inches from the water if i had to guess)

I am still not entirelly happy with my spectrum and lighting profile however.. I know my corals/anemones have had much better color than they do now. Not sure if its a water thing or a spectrum thing but Im gonna give it a bit of a change when i fully move over to the new setup i think.

The 60"x30" footprint of my tank have created more lighting challenges than I had expected. There is no way the flex mount would have worked for me since I want the lighting offset to the front of the tank.

I understand where you are coming from the with lighting spectrum. There are just so many options on how to set them up it's a challenge to dial it in. I also feel the documentation could be better on what the settings do.

What is the difference between the energy efficient mode and high output? What does changing the maximum output on each channel within the fixture do? As an example, let's say I raise the power of Channel 1 to 120% and lower Channel 2 to 80% to compensate. In my lighting program I have both channels set to 100%. Does this mean even though both channels are set to 100% that Channel 1 will actually be at 120% and Channel 2 at 80%? What happens if I leave both of those where they are and change the light fixture to the high output mode?

I haven't seen how this works in the documentation.

 

[Davy Jones]

The 60"x30" footprint of my tank have created more lighting challenges than I had expected. There is no way the flex mount would have worked for me since I want the lighting offset to the front of the tank.

I understand where you are coming from the with lighting spectrum. There are just so many options on how to set them up it's a challenge to dial it in. I also feel the documentation could be better on what the settings do.

What is the difference between the energy efficient mode and high output? What does changing the maximum output on each channel within the fixture do? As an example, let's say I raise the power of Channel 1 to 120% and lower Channel 2 to 80% to compensate. In my lighting program I have both channels set to 100%. Does this mean even though both channels are set to 100% that Channel 1 will actually be at 120% and Channel 2 at 80%? What happens if I leave both of those where they are and change the light fixture to the high output mode?

I haven't seen how this works in the documentation.

Agreed 100%. The build and quality of the unit is top notch. The software is confusing to most who are not super tech savvy and the information on what to try out is even less available.

Honestly Ecotech had the right idea with the coral labs program where they gathered and shared the info for the sps ab+ settings and so on. Giving users a start point with a proven track record to either use exactly or adjust slightly for color preference was huge. I love the idea of the lighting project sharing on their website but unfortunately the lights just arent mainstream enough to have enough projects tested and vetted.

EDIT: wanted to add that I am very happy with the lights, and would absolutely recommend them to others, just with the caveat it wont be as easy as plugging in a couple of radions, hitting sps ab+ and walking away

 

[Scdell]

I have two lx7. Had kessils and t/5 before that. I agree, I couldn't stand the t/5 look! Bought the lx 7's and I'm happy! There are a lot of programs out there that people share. Just read the forums and check out the ghl website. People have the programs on there. And they share! Love these lights!!!!!!!