Reef Breeder's mounted in canopy with PICS :)

I finally got my canopy stained and modded to fit my 2 new 16" Reef Breeders controllable fixtures. The tank is 90 gallon and I had 6x T5s prior to this evening. The top of my canopy was just thin plywood, so I was not comfortable hanging these lights from it. Hanging from the ceiling was no appealing to me either. FYI my canopy is about 14" from the top of the tank to the top of the canopy. Once installed, the lights are about 10" off the water.

I got 2x 48" perforated metal "L" shaped poles and mounted them at the ends of my canopy, to transfer the weight directly down onto the tank. I cut 2 rectangles out of the top of my canopy to assure good air flow for the fixtures fans. I then got some eye bolts and mounted them horizontally from the metal. From here I used the hanging kit provided with the fixtures, but did not use them exactly how they were meant to be used.

 

I am very happy with these lights so far. We will see how they do long term but the quality is good. I got one fixture with 90 degree optics and one with 120 degree. I then took the fixtures apart and put the 90 degree around the edge of both to contain light spill. I have some pretty high shelves in my aqua scape so I didn't want to go with all 90 degree and fry everything on the high shelves. I will have some better pics after I do a long overdue waterchange. My daughter is 10 months old and it's been almost that long since I've been able to do a water change. I know, bad bad bad....

The shimmer is AMAZING with these lights, although coming from T5s, any shimmer would be amazing for me. So far, the highest setting I have these set at is B/V=13% and wht/r/grn= 15%. Coming from my t5s with old(2 years) ATI bulbs, does this sound about right to start?

 

Looks good congrats.. just ramp up the % slowly over the corse of a few weeks maybe even cutting back on the photo period and raise that slow also,people dont realize the power of leds..im not to familiar with the reef breeders leds so maybe someone who has them can give you a better idea..

 

Nice build. Love the adjustable hangers

J

 

Sweet! Looking forward to seeing some FTS!

 

man really makes me wonder if i should just go with a reefbreeders instead of a gen 2 radion for my 45 cube

 

Now I know what my next project will be!

 

So the light has been on my tank for over a day now, and I still need to work to get the color right where I want it. The biggest change I have noticed so far is the temp of my tank. It has stayed constant with no slow raising throughout the day. Attached is a screenshot from my apex, before was t5s (fan not on since I was working on my hood). I really like this light!

 

nice job! looking good

 

Very cool temp graph; should help keep the tank stable and save energy and $$!