Reef breeder photon v2

[Jay Norris]

To be clear, I think if you are looking for an led fixture that has more than 2 channels of color control (the Photon V2 has 6), sunrise/sunset control, and a thin, cool, modern looking fixture, the Photon V2+ is by far the best value available. It also has quality leds (Cree and others) and it comes with both a hanging kit and legs.

The SBReef is a good fixture, but it is still the old school black box look that is rapidly starting to look very dated. Even the Radion looks old next to a Photon fixture and it costs way more!

Now if you are looking for something less expensive and don't care about 6 channels of color control, or the black box look will be hidden in a canopy, then there are several good fixtures that are less expensive.

Hi Ron, I agree with you 100%, I just purchased a used Photon V32+ on RC for half the price of a new one about a month ago, what an incredible light, very sleek modern aluminum fixture, easy to program all six channels, it's a powerful light, and compared to the Radions for about 1/2 the price it was a no brainer. It has a larger coverage area, then the Radions and no disco effect at all. Now if Logan can only figure out a software update for a smoother ramp up and down on large percentage jumps over an hour time frame it would really be the perfect light for the price range.

 

[Dburr1014]

Hi Ron, I agree with you 100%, I just purchased a used Photon V32+ on RC for half the price of a new one about a month ago, what an incredible light, very sleek modern aluminum fixture, easy to program all six channels, it's a powerful light, and compared to the Radions for about 1/2 the price it was a no brainer. It has a larger coverage area, then the Radions and no disco effect at all. Now if Logan can only figure out a software update for a smoother ramp up and down on large percentage jumps over an hour time frame it would really be the perfect light for the price range.

The new remote has that. I think it does 6 ramp ups each hour. Smoothed it right out.

 

[Jay Norris]

The new remote has that. I think it does 6 ramp ups each hour. Smoothed it right out.

I believe it ramps up every 6 minutes, which is 10 times an hour. If you do a big ramp up or down, ex. 0% to 60% you will see the steps if you are looking at the lights when it changes.

 

[Ron Reefman]

I never cared about the once per hour light change. I rarely see it happen and even when I do, I just think, "Oh, it's the top of the hour!" It's like having a visual grandfather clock in the house. But yes, the new Photon V2+ does a smoother ramp (every 6 or 10 minutes, I forget which). And if you have the older V2 rather than the V2+, you can buy a new remote and a new circuit board and make your V2 into a V2+. I understand it's quite easy as a friend of mine did it.

 

[biecacka]

Hey Ron, good to see you buddy!
I too been looking slightly into the v2

Corey

 

[Porpoise Hork]

I never cared about the once per hour light change. I rarely see it happen and even when I do, I just think, "Oh, it's the top of the hour!" It's like having a visual grandfather clock in the house. But yes, the new Photon V2+ does a smoother ramp (every 6 or 10 minutes, I forget which). And if you have the older V2 rather than the V2+, you can buy a new remote and a new circuit board and make your V2 into a V2+. I understand it's quite easy as a friend of mine did it.

The V2+ upgrade only takes about 10 minutes do swap out on a 48" light. So many screws.... Then another 5 or so to setup the lighting schedule which is muuuuuuch easier on the V2+ than the older V2 remote.

 

[Ron Reefman]

Hey Ron, good to see you buddy!
I too been looking slightly into the v2
Corey

Hi Corey, I bet it's happy days in good old 'O Town' after the schelacking OSU gave UofM last Saturday! Glad to see you are over here as well. I've kind of gave up on RC as there is better 'expert' help and more vendor forums here.

Don't brush off the Photon V2+, I'm a firm believer that it's absolutely the best led fixture value in the market if you want lots of control and a quality build. You'd pay twice as much for the same amount of light if you went with an Eco Tech.

The V2+ upgrade only takes about 10 minutes do swap out on a 48" light. So many screws.... Then another 5 or so to setup the lighting schedule which is muuuuuuch easier on the V2+ than the older V2 remote.

Why is programming the V2+ so much easier on the V2+ compared to the old V2?

 

[Jay Norris]

Hi Corey, I bet it's happy days in good old 'O Town' after the schelacking OSU gave UofM last Saturday! Glad to see you are over here as well. I've kind of gave up on RC as there is better 'expert' help and more vendor forums here.

Don't brush off the Photon V2+, I'm a firm believer that it's absolutely the best led fixture value in the market if you want lots of control and a quality build. You'd pay twice as much for the same amount of light if you went with an Eco Tech.



Why is programming the V2+ so much easier on the V2+ compared to the old V2?

I have the V2+ only, but I believe the only difference is, the V2+ lights ramp up and down 10 times an hour, compared to the V2 ramps up and down once every hour, or half hour.

 

[Samuel Diaz]

I have the V2+ only, but I believe the only difference is, the V2+ lights ramp up and down 10 times an hour, compared to the V2 ramps up and down once every hour, or half hour.

How do you like the lights ?

 

[Jay Norris]

How do you like the lights ?

I love the light, it is hanging above my fuge on a light rack. It grows any type of coral that I put in their, and it is really easy to program, also looks really nice. This light replaced two 250 watt MH fixtures I had on my fuge, as I wanted to get rid of the heat from the halides and use the dawn/dusk cycles on it. I will be adding another one, to my sump when I can find another great deal on a used one. The light spread is really incredible, and there is no disco effect at all. The light is 24" above the waterline, and the fuge is 27" deep.

 

[Porpoise Hork]

Why is programming the V2+ so much easier on the V2+ compared to the old V2?

The layout of the channels, intensity settings by the hour are organized much better. Once you get the hang of it you can fly through making changes to an individual channel for your entire schedule in under a minute, depending on how you have your schedule set of course. The old controller was a nightmare to figure out and adjust on the fly by comparison.

 

[Ron Reefman]

How do you like the lights ?

Samuel, I'll second that! I may have the older Photon V2 not the V2+, but it's the same led fixture with an older remote that only does hourly rampping. But the light is awesome. I had a 120g tank full to overgrowing with acro sps corals before my chiller locked on and froze out all the stony corals in the tank!

The layout of the channels, intensity settings by the hour are organized much better. Once you get the hang of it you can fly through making changes to an individual channel for your entire schedule in under a minute, depending on how you have your schedule set of course. The old controller was a nightmare to figure out and adjust on the fly by comparison.

I don't think I'd call it a "nightmare", but it sounds like the V2+ might be worth getting even if I don't really care that much about rampping 10 times per hour rather than once per hour. Thanks for the info!

 

[Porpoise Hork]

If you haven't seen the video on programming the new V2+ remote yet, it's worth taking a look at. Plus RB offers a $20 core refund when you send the old remote and board back to them.

 

[biecacka]

I wasn’t thinking Radion, but orpheks because of the panel of leds instead of clusters.
What sort of spread can I expect from the 32in v2+?

In case I decide to try something other than halides

Corey

 

[Jay Norris]

I wasn’t thinking Radion, but orpheks because of the panel of leds instead of clusters.
What sort of spread can I expect from the 32in v2+?

In case I decide to try something other than halides

Corey

I have a Photon 32+ 24" above my fuge, which is 27" deep, and I am getting a PAR reading of 130 or so on the ends of a 48" x 30" x 27" section of my fuge which currently hold LR and hard and soft corals. The setting on the lights are as follows, at there highest settings, the Blue Channels are set to 90% the White Channel is set to 24% the red and Green Channels 8% and the Violet Channel is set to 80%. Very nice color, and all the corals are doing really well.

 

[biecacka]

33/24/24 a fair guess on good spread then?

Corey

 

[Porpoise Hork]

The light spread on the V2's is very good. It's not like the tighter puck designs like the radions of hydras that are only good for say a 24x24 like that of say a Prime HD. The 32" V2 will easily handle a 40B or 60g long which uses the same footprint. You can compare it to a pair of Hydra 26's as far as coverage.

Mine at 13" above the waterline on my 75g with the blues at 70%, white 27%, red 21%, and green at 17% produces 125 par on the sand bed directly under the light and only falls to 90-95 in the front corners and falls to 80 in the back where the back glass is pained black. The par levels remain fairly consistent across the entire tank at the different depths I took samples from. These numbers were fairly similar when I had it at 8" but was running the power at 45% for the blues etc. But I didn't like the excessive disco effect it was giving, so I raised it up to 13" and the difference was amazing. Still plenty of shimmer, but significantly improved color blending and all but eliminated the hot spot effect I had at 8".

 

[Dburr1014]

The light spread on the V2's is very good. It's not like the tighter puck designs like the radions of hydras that are only good for say a 24x24 like that of say a Prime HD. The 32" V2 will easily handle a 40B or 60g long which uses the same footprint. You can compare it to a pair of Hydra 26's as far as coverage.

Mine at 13" above the waterline on my 75g with the blues at 70%, white 27%, red 21%, and green at 17% produces 125 par on the sand bed directly under the light and only falls to 90-95 in the front corners and falls to 80 in the back where the back glass is pained black. The par levels remain fairly consistent across the entire tank at the different depths I took samples from. These numbers were fairly similar when I had it at 8" but was running the power at 45% for the blues etc. But I didn't like the excessive disco effect it was giving, so I raised it up to 13" and the difference was amazing. Still plenty of shimmer, but significantly improved color blending and all but eliminated the hot spot effect I had at 8".

You could always call Logan and he will give you the 120 degree lenses. That may give you the spread you need without raising it up. I think they come with 90 degree new. For me, I have a short hood so I took out the lenses completely. I just covered the tank with plexi to avoid water splash to the fixture. I don't have any disco affect at all.

 

[Porpoise Hork]

Hmm.. I wasn't aware that they had the 120's. I'm curious what stitching to those would do for the color blending and shimmer. Thank you, I'll have to reach out to him about the lenses.

 

[Dburr1014]

Hmm.. I wasn't aware that they had the 120's. I'm curious what stitching to those would do for the color blending and shimmer. Thank you, I'll have to reach out to him about the lenses.

Sure thing, there are a lot of screws to take out of the cover but easy to switch out otherwise.