The Reefbreeder distributor here in the US said they are working on a retrofit kit that would add app support. Assuming it would be compatible between models. I have my light ready to go once I get my 5ft tank set up. Can't wait!
@@ReefDork Direct from Reef Breeders "My light has been running the new app for the past month or so and it's going very well! We are working on building more boards and working out a couple minor things with the time zone, etc. After that it's on to Beta testing. The cool thing is it's cloud based- I can control the light anywhere I have internet. We teamed up with a developer on the west coast who already has an app purpose built for aquarium control, so the app is already available and there is no hurdle on that end. Some things I can address- 1- Yes, this will be available as an upgrade kit, much like the apex VDM kit we released last month. 2- Any Photon V2, or V2+ can be upgraded. 3- We will still be carrying the V2+ default controller, the plan is to offer multiple control methods, based on your personal preference. You can of course switch them at any time with a relatively simple hardware swap. Est pricing around $99 US"
I have a ReefBreeder on my 120 gallons tank together with 2 T5 retrofits BRS kits. My SPS coral grows very well and there is no dead spot anywhere in the tank. I am glad that I did not blow all of my money on Radion or Kessil and still get the same or better result.
I've had mine just over a week and I can honestly say they're great so far! I didn't know about the AB+ schedule so I'll be implementing that soon, thanks! Very good lights in comparison to the 'big dogs'
Nice Review, interesting to know that its as good as some of the more expensive options, I have the IT5012 for 18 months now and it's really good, only if you make a big step change in setting will u notice the change in output. it does tend to sequence the step over the hour from one setting to the next so really hard to notice.
I like the look of the fixtures, but the spectrum is very thin. It also is short on overall leds that could be beneficial. It would be nice to see more of the white as 400 to 420 UV and violet. They obviously still grow coral and I will be interested to see how yours do longer term.
Hi Alex my light arrived today and im going to copy your schedule.... Just one question, Would you lower all the % if a fresh cycled tank? Then maybe add to it weekly untill at desired % intensity so basically acclimating the light? Or is this not required
My ever grow pro lights ramp up every half an hour or you can choose hourly and I only have two channels white and blue red and green 240 Watts the tank is 5-ft by 2-ft by 2-ft and I only use 40% of the white 80% of the Blue the light is about 4 years old and still going fine and does a brilliant job but my ballast is built in it's one of the early ones but would recommend them to anyone they are very good like especially for the price
Hey there! I have just bought this LED. It was all good for 3 days, now polyps on my SPS and LPS are not fully extended. Do you think it is because of the light, or because the light is causing corals to grow faster, therefore using up PO4 and NO3? ATM PO4 and NO3 are undetectable.
Hi, @reef dork I am thinking of getting these light, but my only concern is that my new tank is going to be located in the living room. Will these lights blind me when for example seating on the sofa watching t.v, is it worth creating perhaps a canopy or some form of shaders for them?
I have a Stellar 60 " and purchased 2 ap700. However because of the nipple coming out of the light there is an issue installing. It is too wide for 7.2 inch opening. Also what do you put on end to have all wires coming out of white tube on end. I currently have a Geismann Aurora with very low par output that is why I was changing. I have beautiful hanging brackets custom painted by Geissman. That is why I want a hanging unit but I need more par and less white color. Any thoughts. Was considering ATI powermodule hybrid.
Not convinced it's a good move for me Alex. At 699usd converted and shipped to me in Canada I think it will cost more than an ap700. With a replacement for the ap700 weeks away i will wait to see how the market responds. The tank i would be lighting is a 48*24*16 reef ready frag tank.
Looks like there's a big difference in pricing around the world - the IT5012 is half the price of an AP700 with a mounting bracket over here! Kessils are always more expensive in the UK - i'm not really sure why. There are still benefits of the IT5012, but if it's the same price as a Kessil, i'd go Kessil too.
Great review, I'm looking for a new light for my 100 cm 300 litre tank which is 70 cm deep. Should I go with the IT5080 or the smaller IT5060? I don't have any wish to grow SPS just softies and LPS, thanks for any advice! :-)
Hi Alex,I have the same evergrow and would like to add the stellar,the problem I have is that I cannot use the hanging kit,so in your opinion would it be possible to drill holes in the end plates to take the evergrow tank mounts,thought I would ask before purchasing,thankyou in advance.
Full video tomorrow explaining! But in short, I wanted better coverage and a deeper blue in the evening. I thought about getting another AP700 and two Orphek bars instead of the T5s. But that was too expensive, and I've heard a lot of good things about these.
Hey Great Video thanks - I have the Giessmann Stellar 4 foot unit with 4 x Hydra26HDs, 1 Coral+, 2 Blue+ & 1 Purple+. Interested to know how easy it was to fit the 5012 into the Stellar as I looked into this a couple of months back and decided it was too long for Stellar ? Great Videos by the way - all the best
Piece of cake - it fits perfectly. You have to drill a hole in one of the brackets to pass the Evergrow's power cable through. And you need to turn the Stellar brackets upside down because there's no spare space once the Evergrows are in.
Hello again friend... is there any way you could post or share the lighting program that you use? you mentioned you use Radion settings. I just picked up the light and any help with settings would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
@@ReefDork could I trouble you to send me the spreadsheet or a JPEG of it to my email so I could get a head start? would greatly appreciate it. coralcrazed@optimum.net I will keep an eye out for the vid as well.
Was thinking the same thing! Lights are getting crazy expensive if your looking for more than one. I’m going to look into ReefBreeders when my Kessils a360’s go. Thanks for the review. How do they look without the fluorescent turned on?
Early days at the moment. The look very good, but i'd prefer the to look a little more blue during the day. But i'll be playing with the colours until I get it right so i'll feed back when i've had the light a bit longer.
can you kindly tell me what settings do you have set to get that really deep dark blue and coral pop you showed in the vid? specifically at 3:10 in the video. thanks so much in advance.
Something like 3-4 months now - I actually bought a 2nd one recently and ditched my T5s. They grow SPS just fine - my alk is consumption has marginally increased since I added the 2nd. I find the spread isn't great (which is why I got the 2nd) and the whiter day time colour isn't quite how I like it, but overall I'm really impressed.
@@ReefDork unfortunately I have 18 inch canopy. And best I could think is it5080 pr2 or reef builders photon v2 32 inch. But I am not sure I should make a bad decision like getting a 42 inch tank rather than 48 inch.. 😂 So i wanted to make sure i buy best. I am new into the saltwater and want to have atleast settle for a middle range led ao I could grow softies and maybe some sps..
Thinking of getting the photon. Great deal really! is that color pop for real with the blues? Looks like a special lense . I also dont see much pop at all untul you used all blue so kind of discouraging because I like the fact of cree and oslam lenses as well. I dont think radion uses them but pretty sure AI does. I can get two used gen 4s for about the same price but than I have to buy mounts at 200 more and they are 2 1/2 years old. Tis is for 2 versus a 24 inch photon. Its for my 36 gallon bowfront! I might turn it into a hybrid later as well. I am going crazy trying to buy lights. Also looking at some lomine brand that uses cree and pop bloom or dsunny. Qite a bit cheaper than all and programable with lunar and all. Does photon have lunar or moonlight. Plus I love the look of the lominee because they look like kessil 350's. Not real crazy about the brakets on these! Also a real cheap used ocean revive for 100 but not programmable. Lots of youtubes and refers like eat,sleep, reef and cj that used them. Just to many options! lol then theres a noopscyche that has the puks. A geize man aurora for 400.00 used as well! GEEZ how does one decide? LOL But really leaning towards these because of the spread plus like the 2 year warranty and middle of the road pricing plus brand new! Oh one more question. Have you been ahappy with these versus the kessil and how has growth and coral coloration been?
The blues shot was with an orange lens - it does exaggerate the effect but the effect to the eye is awesome and much better fluorescence than my Kessils or Radions. It does have a moonlight mode, but i've never used it so I can't tell you what it's like. I'm definitely happy with them - i've had a 2nd one arrive today that i'm going to install instead of my T5s. I can't say if growth is any better though - my phosphate is ridiculously high at the moment (0.6) so that's inhibiting growth.
@@ReefDork So are you just that happy with these that you bought one more or are you unhappy with the t5? Very curious to see how that goes. I didnt realize that you would need 2 of these though and one isint enough is the front and back i suppose not getting enough light? I know with radions you supposedly get 24 x 24. you cant get that kind of coverage out of these? If I need 2 than rather not get this then. Radions wouldnt be much more. Not anymore If i make my own mount and I want something that will give fast growth for sure starting with frags. Some of the others brands I mentioned are promising but cheap names but using cree lenses. If it werent for my darn crash I would be getting the radions, they have been my dream lights since i saw them at my lfs! Good luck with the new light cant wait to se it up and running!
Love the T5 but I want more LEDs. I'm a little reluctant as the T5s make the tank look bright which is cool. One is probably OK, but I find it doesn't give much light away from directly under the pucks and I want higher par than BRS usually recommend. For a mixed reef, one will be fine.
@@ReefDork Yeah, I think these are different type of lens covers, sort of remind me of black boxes I hate to say. The lens cover not the lens itself because I know they are cree. I know the kind that give that crazy spread have the rounded cover over it.. One thing that concerns me is on the brs video they recomend 13 inches height for a 24 inch cube. I only have 11 inches on the end and 15 in middle(bowfront) so I may end up with so much over spill and I dont want to lift any higher than 13! I am wanting to order these but they are out of stock so I keep looking and now I am getting confused on what to get the more I look.
@@ReefDork Im trynna decide whether to take this one or the jebao al150(copy of radion). i guess the spread and shadowing prevention is more important for me
OMG! That pop is insane. It reminds me of people that use the special lense! Eat , sleep reef tanks look like this and all the ones he spotlights so he must be using lense because I am prety sure he has radions! Wish I wasnt up grading, but If I do a hybrid on my bigger tank I could always add 2 small Ones. My tank now is only 30 wide. Its a 36 bowfront and I am in the market for lights. I plan to move up' when my corals get bigger But Its making it very complicated. I would prefer these and save the money from Radions!. How does it look on a daylight setting with whites? Still a lot of pop? I have a 75 gallon in my garage, but it wasnt plumbed and I had this one ready o go so just went with it but after my 10 gallon crashed from low salinity that started it. It makes me scared to upgrade! Afraid of losing bacteria or something and throwing me into a cycle which was the icing on the cake on my 10 gallon ! They might have recoved but that definitely threw it over the edge and I iwll be lucky if any of the softies make it!
Most of my daylight colour comes from my T5s so I don't pay much attention to the LED colour. But when i've had the T5s off during the day, the Evergrows aren't as nice as the Kessils were for 'white' light.
@@ReefDork Oh, I would be using it alone and not hybrid, until later on. They also seem to be out of stock everywhere as well. I called brs and they said not until august. I may just keep this tank and later on go with this and a hybrid.I really have no way to mount either for now. Dont like the legs and hanging plus out of stcok so may have made my desision easier! I am ransacking my brain and my head hurts from a ll this...lol I am also thinking of cheap; ocean revive because my small tank crashed and now I am paraoid so might get an apex. How important are they if you have a hanna salinity check(salinity caused it) also a temp controler? I know they have upgrades like dosing pumps and all but I am sure much cheaper to buy dosing stuff separate. The ocean revieve light dosnt have a ramp; up down. Do you know if apex can schedule that for the lights? I know I saw that it controlled lights and I wouldnt need it for radions or these. Thats if I even go with Ocean revive. Thanks for any help or advice. Ireally appreciate it!
I used to run Reefbreeder lights years ago. Solid units, but ugly, and the programming SUCKED, even compared to the newer ones. I decided on used AI Hydras instead when I upgraded my tank.
I’ve been reefing for 12 years and have used all these lights, believe me this light is no where near the quality or ease of use to most high end lighting choices, in my opinion it’s one of the worst choices for a beginner or intermediate reefer, I’m not saying they cannot grow corals, but maybe compare it with budget zet lights or d sunny lighting and explain that you get what you pay for abit more in depth, you don’t just pay for name tags there is a lot more under the hood in more expensive mainstream lighting choices than this brand and model. But each to their own. Kessil lighting are definitely light years ahead of this unit. Try opening it too and explain it’s build quality and internal electrical components and led choice and lense etc.
@@bopeep7806 Well 22 years or reefing experience and running two high end marine retail stores tells me different. They run the exact same binned chips that the gen 4 radion standard runs if you actually take one apart you'll clearly see the internals and build quality are far superior to dsunny and zet lights which aren't even in the same league as these. Anybody that knows there stuff will tell you these are right up there with all the top manufacturers with regards to build quality but are without all the fancy software and huge sponsorship and advertising budget which is the only reason these don't sell more. Would love to see a video of your reef sometime to see what lights you are using and what results you e had. The results I've had with these lights over the past 4 years have been superb as they have been for many other top level reefers that have gone over to them.
