red sea 90's

[becon776]

hey there reefers, so i am considering the 90's for my rsr 450. i would be running 3 of them.
Its been 8 mos since launch so i am looking for some real life thoughts and experience. pros cons? is it enough light? are you happy with growth?

currently running a reefbreeders 50 photon v2+

 

[Bpb]

What don’t you like about the reef breeders. I would think having more of a blanket of diodes would be preferable than 3 pinpoints

 

[becon776]

I just switched from halide. i was the last holdout. i DONT like having all the options. i wamt to set the lights up and they will jist grow coral and look awesome. I HATE HAVING LIGHT SPILL. and the sans a floating canopy there is plenty. while there is no disco ball effect in tank it surely looks like i have one hanging from the ceiling. i have burnt hundreds of dollars of frags. i did rent a PAR meter. i did adjust settings. doesnt matter. The biggest attration to the 90's? light spill and PnP nature of them.
dont get me wrong these things are like the HIGH OCTANE and have plenty of power over my tank. Maybe too much. i have a pretty high stack so maybe 6-8" to corals.

 

[Bender]

They do have a lot of light spill & they get hot (power packs). I cannot comment on how they grow coral yet as they are over a brand new build that is currently cycling. If you click on my build thread there is some pictures and comments about them on a new setup.

I am also curious how they will do long term on coral growth. They are very "simple" lights when comparing to other LEDS, basically can only adjust intensity on three channels (white, blue, UV).

 

[becon776]

@Bender i thought with the recessed nature of the fixture there was ALOT LESS light spill? i has to be less than the reefbreeders.

 

[Porpoise Hork]

I ran them but was not happy with the significant shift in color. As mentioned by BRS when they tested the light the red's and orange colors just lacked pop and were very washed out when compared to the Reef Breeder's or AI Hydra 26 (they use the exact same LED chips). The color blending is phenomenal with the Red Sea light, and light pill was somewhat reduced compared to the Photon, but I just couldn't get past the lack of color when running them so I ultimately swapped to the Hydras with 3dReefing diffusers and have not regretted it.

 

[Bender]

@Bender i thought with the recessed nature of the fixture there was ALOT LESS light spill? i has to be less than the reefbreeders.

The recessed nature of the unit definitely aids it compared to Reefbreeders or other spread LEDS. It does have awesome color blending, there is no disco effect whatsoever.

I am sure some of the spillage has to do with brand new substrate and rock. There is a lot of reflection happening.

 

[saturn13]

I have the 50, and have to say very easy to use, but like @Porpoise Hork said you can only adjust limited or lack of certain color. They seem to grow coral fine as many of my zoa's and encrusters are overgrown in a few months. The app is very easy and can connect anywhere through your wifi to get a status.

 

[ScottB]

There is another thread around here discussing some issues with the ReefLEDs.

Pros:
Compact form factor
Kessil like single lens
Light spill is less versus radions and hydras IMO
Simple
Reasonably priced

Cons:
RS needs to update the software/firmware as they need to be MUCH more robust in their ability to reconnect after power cuts and/or bouncing WiFi connections. I have had to cycle or do a hard reset on three different occasions. Each time, either one or two lights were affected. Kinda weird.
Also, you cannot have more than 1 email/password access the same set of lights. For a servicer, that model won't work very well.