Nano Lighting

[ReefKeeper09]

Alright, So lighting is so hard to choose. . . I'm curious, what are you all using for lighting over your nano tank? T5, Metal Halide, LED(Probably the most common anymore)? If it's LED what fixture are you using? I'm in process of setting up a Innovative Marine Abyss Drop-Off tank. I am on the fence as far as what LED fixture to go with. I love the Kessil A160WE. The shimmer is remarkable & it's pretty user friendly as far as spectrum. I have also been intrigued by the Ecotech Radion XR15W G4 Pro & AI Hydra Prime HD. My issue with them is spectrum. What amount of green, red, blue, UV... etc do I set it to for a healthy reef? What do you guys have yours set to if you have any of these fixtures over your nano tank? How high did you mount yours above your nano tank? Pictures & or Video would be greatly appreciated.

 

[SashimiTurtle]

IM 14g peninsula, SPS dominant, Kessil A160WE.

 

[ReefKeeper09]

That looks great Robin! How long have you had that light running with that setup? How do you like the Kessil?

 

[SashimiTurtle]

Tank has been set up since the end of May... I've had a few ups and downs, but nothing to do with the Kessil. I love the light, it's simple and it grows coral. Spectral controller adds a bit of "techiness" to it if you just have to tweak with something, I'd rather "set it and forget it." Hmm... I'm wanting rotisserie chicken now. Check out my build thread for more pictures, but here's three months of growth on my stylo...

Here's a pic from a few minutes ago

 

[jaegers_reef]

Been thinking about upgrading the lighting on my Evo 13.5. I'm looking forward to hearing what people say on this thread. Subscribed!

 

[ReefKeeper09]

Not to get off topic or anything, but Jager... How do you like your Evo 13.5? I was considering picking one up for myself here soon.

I was hesitant to do so because I've heard some goods & bads about the light fixture that is supplied with it.

 

[jaegers_reef]

Not to get off topic or anything, but Jager... How do you like your Evo 13.5? I was considering picking one up for myself here soon.

I was hesitant to do so because I've heard some goods & bads about the light fixture that is supplied with it.

I like it but I have a few issues with it. So here is my pro and cons list.

Pros:
I like the design
All in one system

Cons:
Difficult to maintain water temps due to the closed hood as it gets very hot- this is my biggest issue with the tank
Lighting not adjustable(from what I understand)
Can't really upgrade the lighting because of the hood unless modifications are made
Sump design flawed according to most people(I added the intank media 2nd chamber basket to help)


Would I purchase the evo 13.5 again knowing what I know now? Probably not. Only reason I say that is that I like to tinker with my hobbies and I didn't realize how much I would want to upgrade components of the system. Personally I would have gone with an Innovative marine tank only and purchased the lighting and everything else separately.

Bottom line is If you like the look, don't really want to upgrade much and don't care about the temperature issues then go for it.

 

[ReefKeeper09]

Everything you mentioned in your cons lost is the reasons I didn't buy one. I was afraid of all those things you listed.

It's hard to beat the price of it for the initial appearance.

 

[jaegers_reef]

I agree only reason I got it was cause my friend had a 5gal evo and I thought it looked cool.

 

[ReefKeeper09]

Anyone else wanna weigh in? I'm still on the fence as far as which light I wanna do.

 

[3lusive]

Have you looked in nano box?

http://nanoboxreef.com

 

[Nebnano]

I went with the kessil 160we over my 18x18x 10 shallow cube. More than enough light for it. I was on the fence for a while between it, the ai prime, and the nano box. I ended up going with the kessil for the simple reason it didn't have to connect to WiFi or other crap to work. I do have the spectral controller now and it works great also not having to connect to WiFi.

 

[Justin Swinney]

I have a Nanobox reef tide on my 10g reef. I love it. Wifi controller built in with app controllability. Hand Built and great customer services you don't have to buy any extra pieces. Everything you need is comes with the light except your smart device. Also Dave gave me great advice on settings to use.

 

[chuckfu5]

I like it but I have a few issues with it. So here is my pro and cons list.

Pros:
I like the design
All in one system

Cons:
Difficult to maintain water temps due to the closed hood as it gets very hot- this is my biggest issue with the tank
Lighting not adjustable(from what I understand)
Can't really upgrade the lighting because of the hood unless modifications are made
Sump design flawed according to most people(I added the intank media 2nd chamber basket to help)


Would I purchase the evo 13.5 again knowing what I know now? Probably not. Only reason I say that is that I like to tinker with my hobbies and I didn't realize how much I would want to upgrade components of the system. Personally I would have gone with an Innovative marine tank only and purchased the lighting and everything else separately.

Bottom line is If you like the look, don't really want to upgrade much and don't care about the temperature issues then go for it.

New to Reef2Reef I have had a Fluval Evo set up since January. I used old dead rock so it took forever to cycle ( 2 months ). Than I decided to use a old crappy API test kit and nuked almost everything with high ALK. Fast forward to now and this is probably one of my favorite tanks I've ever owned.

I have not experienced the high temps as stated.

The light...ehhh what do you expect for a $200 AIO. I'm growing softies, LPS and some SPS with good color at the top of the tank.

I bought the skimmer that was designed for it. Do a monthly 5 gallon water change and dose alk/ cal / mag daily.

I added a Jebao 20 and love it with the random current. The stock return pump definitely is not strong enough.

The light is controllable sort of with the fluval dimmer. You can ramp up ramp down and fully off. Only bad thing is you can't control white vs blues.

Had to do it again...absolutely!

 

[Kyl]

I run 2x Kessil A160WE (Apex controlled) over my IM fusion 20, very happy with the performance and visual appeal inside the tank. The lights are currently 6" off the water line (5" from tank rim), and intensity only peaks at 60%, but run heavier on the actinic side (15-30%). They're pretty powerful, albeit not the most compact form-factor. Tried the Nanobox tide mini when it was just an IM fusion 10g, and lets just say that given I'm on the wrong side of the border it ultimately didn't work out.

I hate the flexible Kessil goose neck, so these are on the AP700 focused arm mounts instead. Looks like fixture pictures are still stuck on photobucket, but you can see the bottoms of the lights on this top down shot from a bit ago. I'll try and add them to flickr after work, which has more examples of lighting if you're curious (now added).

Top-Down Spacing

Spoiler

TDS by Kyl Aquaria, on Flickr

Mounting

Spoiler

lighting by Kyl S, on Flickr

I'm planning on getting a 48"L x 16"-18"W x 16"H rimless tank built this winter to replace this fusion 20, and it will be running with 3x A160WE's since I already have another one. Have never taken PAR readings, lighting has been the least of the worries.

 

[SashimiTurtle]

I run 2x Kessil A160WE (Apex controlled) over my IM fusion 20, very happy with the performance and visual appeal inside the tank. The lights are currently 6" off the water line (5" from tank rim), and intensity only peaks at 60%, but run heavier on the actinic side (15-30%). They're pretty powerful, albeit not the most compact form-factor. Tried the Nanobox tide mini when it was just an IM fusion 10g, and lets just say that given I'm on the wrong side of the border it ultimately didn't work out.

I hate the flexible Kessil goose neck, so these are on the AP700 focused arm mounts instead. Looks like fixture pictures are still stuck on photobucket, but you can see the bottoms of the lights on this top down shot from a bit ago. I'll try and add them to flickr after work, which has more examples of lighting if you're curious.


TDS by Kyl Aquaria, on Flickr

I'm planning on getting a 48"L x 16"-18"W x 16"H rimless tank built this winter to replace this fusion 20, and it will be running with 3x A160WE's since I already have another one. Have never taken PAR readings, lighting has been the least of the worries.

I'm running one over my IM 14g(see post #2) at the same height and same intensity for 4 hours with a 4 hour ramp on either side. Color starts at 0% and peaks at I think 35%... I can't remember what I set the peak color at, but it's just slightly blue. I don't like the full white look. My SPS are happy. I've never taken a PAR reading either, but I'm getting good growth. When I run out of room in the 14g, I'm probably going to upgrade to a 30 rimless or so with another A160.

Off subject, your spin streams.... do they make a very loud clacking sound?

 

[Kyl]

Off subject, your spin streams.... do they make a very loud clacking sound?

When new they did for about 4-5 days till they slimed up. Since then, completely silent on three return nozzles (2x 20, 1x 10). I did upgrade the return on the 20 to I believe a cobalt MJ 900, they spin quite fast after being cleaned for a few weeks then start to slow down, but not noisy at all post-cleaning.

 

[ZachsZoo]

I run a rapidled onyx fixture on my 10 gallon. My LFS was selling them used for 100$, so I tried it. If I run whites and blues it is much too strong and causes lots of unwanted algae growth so I run only blues and they alone are capeable of growing sps. So far, I am very happy with them.

 

[PopaSmurph]

I run a kessil a80 tuna blue on my 5g pico and my bounce shrooms an toadstool love it. the max spread on the light is 24x24 its reasonably priced at $159 with the gooseneck mount from BRS

 

[T2LEE]

Anyone else wanna weigh in? I'm still on the fence as far as which light I wanna do.

I kept the stock lighting on mine but added two 12" blue 5050 LED strips to the lid, one on each side of the lighting strip. The LEDs add a nice blue tint to everything and the LEDs are dimmable. I have a BTA that I rescued from an active duty Army guy and it is doing great. My tank fluctuates between 74 and 78 degrees and have not had any temp problems. I wanted to keep the overall look with the lid and the hidden lighting and so far I'm happy with it. I hope this helps!