My Official 120 Rebuild New Pics on 9/18

Hey Daniel...Robman here...good to see you back!!! I just did the same thing to my 150. I re-started it Jan 1. I am not near as far as you though. But things are going great so far. Just added my first new fish Kole Tang. Just went through your whole thread. Here is mine.
http://www.3reef.com/forums/general-reef-topics/total-tank-re-start-after-4-years-142680.html

 

Good to see you are back at it. The only thing I really had on you was the fact that I had freshwater running in my system for such a long time. Plenty of time for the phosphates to leach out of the rock. All I really had to do to get things back up and going was scrub my rock off and refill. I have added a ton of equipment though.

 

So here's the official review on my LED's. I purchased the Evergrow it2080, which is the same one that reefbreeders sells. They sell it as the Photon 32 I believe. So here goes nothing. I started out with 2 x 175 watt MH SE with LumenMax Reflectors. The growth was great but the color isn't quite what I was looking for. (plus leds are so freaking cool)

1. Unboxing - They did a great job with the packaging. The fixture is well protected in the box and you can tell the company has pride in their product by the way it is packed.

2. Initial Impression - I did a local pickup on mine from the local distrubutor which is the ONLY reason I didn't purchase from reefbreeders. I really liked having the option of being able to say "ehhh no" if I didn't like what I saw. As I lifted the fixture out of the box, I could honestly tell it was a solidly built unit. It was heavy, but not too heavy. I believe it is 18 lbs.

3. Hanging the unit - This was a breeze. It comes with a great, well made hanging kit and it works pretty well.

4. Programming - This fixture came with instructions but they were very "vague" to say the least. If I were going to say the unit has a drawback, it would be the documentation provided. With this being said, programming the unit is pretty self explanatory. You just set the date and time, go to custom and choose the intensity for each hour or 1/2 hour interval. I currently have mine at 1/2 hour intervals.

Coverage - This was an inital concern because I didn't think the light was going to be able to cover my 48" tank because it is only 32" long. I was wrong. Even with 90 degree optics, hung at 10" off the water, I got pretty good coverage. The corners were a bit dark though. I removed the optics from the fixture and now have very good coverage. (fixture is in a canopy so really no light spill)

Color - The colors are great and my corals are actually responding pretty well after only having the lights over the tank for 5 days. I have seen growth and great coloration. The secret is keeping the intensity down for a while I think. Without the optics, my lights peak at 80% on the blue and 70% on the whites. They peak for 4 hours per day. The rest of the day it is a gradual build up and decline in 1/2 hour increments.

All in all, I would say this fixture is a great fixture, not only at the price point, but in general. I would have thought this fixture would have cost 100's more. For $449, it is a bargain and you don't have to sacrifice quality. If anyone has questions about the fixture, please feel free to ask. If you have been considering getting LED's but have questions about them, please ask. I will give you an honest, unbiased answer. Otherwise, go order one from reefbreeders. You will be happy with the purchase.

Pre LED


Post LED

 

Wow! That's a huge change in color!

Looks great.

 

"So freaking cool", LOL Daniel.

Congrats, nice to hear you're very happy with the results.

It is a huge difference in appearance.

 

Did ya get the joke? LOL

 

Yeah a lot cooler than MH, but not awesome.

 

LOL.....should I go take pics of my Coralline population? Wait....it was all done under MH. Carry on!

 

You will get no argument from me regarding MH vs LED, because I have never had a true LED fixture.

The tank looks great and you like them, that is all that is important.

 

Just messin with ya. I like my LED but only time will tell if it performs as well as my MH. I was getting some impressive growth under my little 175's