Can we start talking about Glowrium Reef Lights for Budget Nano Reef tank?

[WvAquatics]

Following along still great info. Im in between this for my refugium light! I am torn between this light,noopshyce,or 2-4bulb t5. I know you can use more basic lights for a refugium. But i cannot imagine if i do 2 Quanta Atlas and 4 bars a basic bulb will not be powerful enough to hold agea in simp not display!

 

[whammack]

I am under the understanding that you want your fug light to be as powerful as your other lights. This may be bad info, but it makes sense to me. It will help your macroalage out perform nuisance alage.

 

[WvAquatics]

I am under the understanding that you want your fug light to be as powerful as your other lights. This may be bad info, but it makes sense to me. It will help your macroalage out perform nuisance alage.

Yes from my research if you refugium light isnt close to the power of main disply the algea will choose display where more lights avalible. I might be wrong. But it makes sense.

 

[Tamberav]

Bump, I'm buying my first light soon. I was going to go with T5. This is looking very interesting for my 75 gallon LPS, softy. I was also looking at smatfarm, nicrew and noopsyche

I would not trust this on a 75g. That tank is 21 inches deep. There is no optics on this to penetrate the water and it’s slim no fan form factor means the leds can only be so powerful before they would burn up.

Also best to have a more powerful light ran on lower settings than a weak one ran closer to max. Less wear and tear.

This is a nano tank light imo. Suitable for long shallow tanks.

While soft corals and live under low light, most will certainly appreciate higher lights and you will get less stretching of Zoas and toadstools.

This would be an extreme downgrade from t5s. T5s perform amazing. They just have bulb changes and heat.

 

[whammack]

I would not trust this on a 75g. That tank is 21 inches deep. There is no optics on this to penetrate the water and it’s slim no fan form factor means the leds can only be so powerful before they would burn up.

Also best to have a more powerful light ran on lower settings than a weak one ran closer to max. Less wear and tear.

This is a nano tank light imo. Suitable for long shallow tanks.

While soft corals and live under low light, most will certainly appreciate higher lights and you will get less stretching of Zoas and toadstools.

This would be an extreme downgrade from t5s. T5s perform amazing. They just have bulb changes and heat.

I agree with you. I should have been mire clear on my Ideas( I expect people to live in my head sometimes lol) I was thinking of using this along a 2 bulb t5 set up. I'm building my own t5 lights so I was thinking 2 t5s on the outside along with this in the middle as a custom light. My other ideas where all t5s ( 4 bulb)or the same idea with small form factor lights. What's your thoughts on that? I hope that made sense!

 

[Tamberav]

I agree with you. I should have been mire clear on my Ideas( I expect people to live in my head sometimes lol) I was thinking of using this along a 2 bulb t5 set up. I'm building my own t5 lights so I was thinking 2 t5s on the outside along with this in the middle as a custom light. My other ideas where all t5s ( 4 bulb)or the same idea with small form factor lights. What's your thoughts on that? I hope that made sense!

I would do 4 T5's so you have more combo of bulbs. I guess I don't see the point of adding this inexpensive light if you are already going to do t5's?

If you are looking for more pop then T5's with a quanta meso blue. I did 6 bulb t5 on my 80g with a single OR3 bar and it added all the pop I wanted. 80g was winder though so you could probably do 4 bulb with quanta meso blue. This is their budget light meant to be supplement, aka would work with your t5' since they do the heavy lifting in that meso blue adds the wide blue band/pop. Run that alone for sunrise/sunset/super pop in morning/evening.

A 4 foot meso blue is only $120 and certainly much better than that amazon light for supplement and build quality and has an actual warranty.

Quanta - Meso Blue | Quanta Lights

Don’t let the price confuse you, this light kicks out a seriously wide blue spectrum for your corals. A great supplemental light that adds additional violet light to fill in where other lights miss. Since they are lightweight mounting them to your already existing lighting system is super easy...

www.quantareef.com

 

[whammack]

I was looking to try and add some shimmer to flat look of t5s . Did you find this to be the case with the quanta? This looks alot like the very expensive AI blade lights.

 

[WvAquatics]

Quanta helix are basically the same as blades. They are supposed to be a much stronger led bar than most. They can be stand alone reef lights with enough to cover. Quanta is looking to disrupt the lighting game. And i think it might be a good time to invest before the products are tried and true and prices rise!

 

[Tamberav]

I was looking to try and add some shimmer to flat look of t5s . Did you find this to be the case with the quanta? This looks alot like the very expensive AI blade lights.

I don't think the amazon light will add much shimmer when competing with the flatness of t5. I am not sure the quanta would either. Whatever minor shimmer they have will likely be drown by t5.

If you are looking for shimmer, you want tighter cluster with lots of surface agitation.

AKA you want kessils or Noops, maybe smatfarm with your t5's.

You want POINT SOURCE lighting for shimmer. You need a DENSE array, not spread out leds.

 

[dedragon]

You want POINT SOURCE lighting for shimmer. You need a DENSE array, not spread out leds.

This is the way. Bars with higher power but less leds will work as well like the quanta pro bars but not nearly to the extent of something like kessils.
A good lower priced alternative to the quanta bars is the aliexpress led bars. I have the 470 nm i just use for pop and i have the "blue plus" version on the way to test it out

 

[MoshJosh]

@enlighten

How do I get the “automatic mode” to stick? I set up spectrum and times, however, doesn’t seem to actually follow the schedule and I have to keep turning it off and on manually. . . Am I doing something wrong? Any tips?

 

[enlighten]

I contacted the company about the green cyan mix-up, they said it should be fixed this week in the app. They sent me a video of the par data, but they tested at 17" out of the water. I will order one in a couple of weeks
If I can find a par meter to rent I will do some water tests. I don't believe the par readings are going to be as high as they are stated on their web site. I won't have any high par coral so it's OK for me.

I can get 300 par at my montis in the image above directly under the lights. Reading on the seneye v6, i know not the diamond standard but a good reference.

 

[Hooz]

So it turns out that I was right (spectrum-wise). Turn the Blue channel to 75-80%, UV, Violet and Cyan (Green) to 100%, then add in whatever White and Red you like (but I'd match their percentages, i.e. Both set to 50% or 60% or whatever).

It sure makes a nice spectrum graph that way.

 

[Hooz]

Quanta helix are basically the same as blades. They are supposed to be a much stronger led bar than most. They can be stand alone reef lights with enough to cover. Quanta is looking to disrupt the lighting game. And i think it might be a good time to invest before the products are tried and true and prices rise!

Helix is NOTHING like the Blade. But that's a GOOD thing!

 

[Barncat]

Depending on the par need for the fuge, I kinda liked Nicrew SkyLed Plus. Seems to provide full spectrum and utilize blue and red LED which are to maximize photosynthesis. Just a thought, but they do run a lot lower wattage. But buddy has 2 side by side and it seems to be growing chaeto but time will tell.

Considering my current lush carpet of turf algae I would absolutely recommend the Nicrew SkyLED Plus lol.

I tried to look up this Glowrium reef light but alas, it doesn't look like it is available in Canada yet.

 

[enlighten]

So it turns out that I was right (spectrum-wise). Turn the Blue channel to 75-80%, UV, Violet and Cyan (Green) to 100%, then add in whatever White and Red you like (but I'd match their percentages, i.e. Both set to 50% or 60% or whatever).

It sure makes a nice spectrum graph that way.

Great recommendation, I run them as seen below.
may update the red/white to be matching as you stated, and perhaps turn down the darker blues...

 

[BigMikeFlipz]

@enlighten This is an awesome thread, thank you for the ideas on this light. I am looking for a temp light better than my super cheap knockoff (6 months while I buy pieces for a much larger setup) and this looks to fit the bill. I also have a 29gallon setup and am curious about your net top, I have a modded glass top for now and want to move to the net, can you share how/where you got your top? Thanks in advance!

 

[enlighten]

@enlighten

How do I get the “automatic mode” to stick? I set up spectrum and times, however, doesn’t seem to actually follow the schedule and I have to keep turning it off and on manually. . . Am I doing something wrong? Any tips?

Make sure you have the timing setup correctly with time zone and daylight savings. Clicking the automatic button and then going back is all I do.

 

[enlighten]

@enlighten This is an awesome thread, thank you for the ideas on this light. I am looking for a temp light better than my super cheap knockoff (6 months while I buy pieces for a much larger setup) and this looks to fit the bill. I also have a 29gallon setup and am curious about your net top, I have a modded glass top for now and want to move to the net, can you share how/where you got your top? Thanks in advance!

I think its like outdoor garden mesh (thick plastic) maybe rated for deer? I cut it up to the shape and size I want then I line it with this plastic I find at lowes close to the shower plastic liners for glass doors. I am not sure what its called but its sold in like 6-10' strips. Basic ashesive will allow it to stay and voila! cheap screen. I will say the holes are big enough for a skinny fish to slip through with perfect precision. RIP Firefish Asce

 

[enlighten]

Considering my current lush carpet of turf algae I would absolutely recommend the Nicrew SkyLED Plus lol.

I tried to look up this Glowrium reef light but alas, it doesn't look like it is available in Canada yet.

Hopefully soon friend! Let me know if you find any canadian alternative to share!