Neptune SKY LED

[Reefcowboy]

Reef LED Lighting brings emotion to so many in forums. That topic is only topped by Neptune's new equipment threads...which can only be topped by led vs halides threads... now dont ever dare to start Neptune's new LEDs vs Halides, lol. The internet cant handle such thing.

I watched today a video of an experienced reefer who has actually seen the SKY in person and he said it looks awesome. Touched on build, features, and compared it to Radion G5s which seemed to be right next to the SKY(same tank? Cant remember)

I own stuff from Ecotech and Neptune and have gotten premature failures from both brands while also having products from both I would buy multiple times. I get it its equipment and both brands are awesome.

I work with manufacturing and also know some people out there are never reasonable towards being fair to products. For those we have to take our own evaluation of each situation separately.

The reefing hobby is so blessed to have so much invested and we should be grateful for so many products and involvement from manufavturers. We actually have forums where discontent is heard and shared which is great.

Ecotech has been the pinnacle in lighting and yes they make a superb light fixture with proven results that trickles down once every 3, 4 years.
In my opinion the G4 Pros were the first unit to solidify trust in LEDs for serious sps reefers. Crushed the walls of hesistation and showed results.
The G5s havent done the same as far as innovation and impact.

If you think the SKY wont take away some sleep from Ecotech engineers, you are wrong. They will fight back and work harder on future units. Unveils will now be sooner than expected. Gloves are off, and we will have people fighting for the money which is great for all of us

 

[_AV]

BRS, being an online merchant, does not entirely lack bias. It is easy to get excited about a new product. In the past, BRS shilled with great enthusiasm about Vertex Cerebra, for example. Many now have a very expensive paperweight at home, in part because of those videos.

As for the light, it may have the right spectrum, or the wrong one, or anything in between. I don't know. But what I do know is the interesting product quality history of various manufacturers in this hobby. If we take, for example, Neptune and Ecotech. At a high level, my personal perception is that Ecotech makes great hardware (a couple of hiccups with G4 and G5 notwithstanding), but they can't write software if their life depended on it. Neptune, on the other hand, did a great job with their cloud software and control synchronization, which is particularly significant in this hobby industry. But starting with Apex 2016, their hardware design and implementation decisions have often been questionable at best. And that's reflected in product reviews, which are not always easy to skew with paid promotions.

I know, perfect is going to be hard to find. So, if history is any indication of the future, I'd expect that the new light will have an excellent software control and cloud integration, but I'd be concerned about the internal hardware design and the overall product lifespan.

 

[GillMeister]

At the end of the day, we have to keep in mind our hobby is supported by relatively small companies pouring hearts and souls into developing products they can be proud of. We're not talking about General Motors. These are usually groups of people who are hobbyists trying to create something they would want themselves. We can only guess at how much effort goes into the Engineering, spec creation and sourcing of all that goes into a specialized product like a reef light. And they won't be selling millions of these per year. These lights cost what they do for a reason. If they don't get compensated fairly for the work they've done there will be no money available for them to come out with new innovations .

I say buy what you can afford. Make it work, just as you always have. But please leave a place for companies that many of us in this hobby rely on to make it more enjoyable. Free market means the best products at the best prices will win out. Let them compete on merit and not be hampered by premarket trashing.

 

[Terence]

Today, on www.youtube.com/neptunesystemsvideo at 5/8 PDT/EDT we go live with #LetsTalkReef and discuss all things SKY. Join us and ask your questions.

 

[flourishofmediocrity]

Today, on www.youtube.com/neptunesystems.com at 5/8 PDT/EDT we go live with #LetsTalkReef and discuss all things SKY. Join us and ask your questions.

do you mean https://www.youtube.com/user/NeptuneSystemsVideo ? XD

 

[Terence]

do you mean https://www.youtube.com/user/NeptuneSystemsVideo ? XD

doh! crossed wires!

 

[DeepintheReef]

Check out the livestream Neptune just did on YouTube if you have questions

 

[Terence]

Great interview by Richard from Afishionado channel on YT -

 

[GillMeister]

Nice interview. Loved the tanks glowing in the background. Congratulations on the launch.

 

[RobW]

I looked at the product description on the Neptune website, they need to add the LED counts by color/spectrum and manufacturer. If their not using Cree and Osram, or equivalent it would be an absolute deal breaker at that pricing. I'm trying not to be jaded as the Apex controllability would be a real plus, but many of their other accessories are built on the cheap, hopefully the lights warrant the cost.

Thats why I went with ghl. The mitras are awesome!

 

[AJsReef]

What’s the warranty period going to be on these, I’m assuming 1 years? As AV showed, with sources Neptune quality is seriously lacking recently. Doesn’t give me confidence when it comes to the idea of spending $850 per light

That said, I would LOVE to ditch the Gen5 Radion fan noise and garbage app integration with Mobius

 

[Mywifeisgunnakillme]

1 year warranty.... Agreed all companies need more than that for the price of these things....

I think it's a pretty good light, that said. The software looks pretty slick... When my T'5's are banned by the crazy enviro nuts, i'll look at another generation of these or the ATI's stratons, or Radions... And just being in that crowd (and same sentence as those lights) out of the gate is props to Neptune..

 

[Kingston]

Finally caught up on this thread!!...In the medical field, we have head-to-head trials, non-inferiority trials, blinded randomized controlled trials, etc, etc. Unfortunately this is not possible in this situation for obvious reasons. So the next best will be the various observational data from NSI users and early adopters/users. I have my 96 x 30 x 30 tank which is just over a year old which is not doing great as far as corals esp SPS. I currently have 4 kessil A360s and 2 48"Aquatic life T5s over. I am going to slowly work on getting my nutrients under control and will not add any new SPS for now. Hopefully by then, the SKY will be on the market ( with covid slowing everything down). I plan on slowly changing to the SKY, maybe one at a time ( I have to figure out my mounting solution though). Maybe if I do half tank SKY and leave the other half Kessil/T5, we can get some comparison data.....We will see.

 

[Kfactor]

1 year warranty.... Agreed all companies need more than that for the price of these things....

I think it's a pretty good light, that said. The software looks pretty slick... When my T'5's are banned by the crazy enviro nuts, i'll look at another generation of these or the ATI's stratons, or Radions... And just being in that crowd (and same sentence as those lights) out of the gate is props to Neptune..

That’s what makes me iffy on spend that kind of money in somthing the warranty and customer support is everything

 

[Mywifeisgunnakillme]

I have my 96 x 30 x 30 tank which is just over a year old which is not doing great as far as corals esp SPS. I currently have 4 kessil A360s and 2 48"Aquatic life T5s over. I am going to slowly work on getting my nutrients under control and will not add any new SPS for now. Hopefully by then, the SKY will be on the market ( with covid slowing everything down). I plan on slowly changing to the SKY, maybe one at a time ( I have to figure out my mounting solution though). Maybe if I do half tank SKY and leave the other half Kessil/T5, we can get some comparison data.....We will see.

That's a big deep tank and you need a lot of light no matter how you shake it?!

Sticking with Kessil and T5's

That's a Kessil every 2 feet (4 x 90 = 360 watts) and 4 T5's the length of the tank (432 watts), so a little more than a six bulb T5 (648 watts) fixture in terms of par total is my guess. Also, the Aquatic Life (less wide) T5 reflectors do not pack the punch of say ATI reflectors is what i recall, so middle and bottom third of the tank will not be high par, especially if your water clarity (nutrients?) is at issue. If your SPS is in the top third of that deeper tank they'll be fine light wise, nothing crazy, but 200 to 300 par is my guess.

Cost on your current setup is $335.00 x 2 on the T5's, or $670, plus $450 x 4 on the kessils and say another $100 for a dongle ($1900), for a total of $2,570.

Personally, if you stuck with the Kessils you have and added more, for heavy SPS on that 30 inch tank, I'd add three more X500's (185 x 3 = 555 watts), and you would have the light (1,347 watts) to hammer out SPS anywhere in that tank IMO... that would another $2,217.00 ($739.00 x 3). So a very ideal kessil and T5 setup here would be $4,787.00.

Say these LEDs last 5 years, that's $4,115 every five years plus, say $160 a year on T5 bulbs, plus or minus 50% depending on your bulb change schedule. So $5,587.00 for five years for a very nice kessil and t5 hybrid. If you did away with the T5's and ran just the Kessils (3 500x's and 4 360x's) your cost over five years would be $4,117.00. If you did four 500x's over five years that is $2,956.00 (but i wonder if you would want fill light? In that case, four 500x's and 4 Aquatic Life fixtures over 5 years would be $4,426.00).

Using 740 watts to 1347 watts, depending on the above.

Versus Halides

In comparison to halide days, you would have probably had four 400 watt halides (1600 watts) on the same tank (30 inch!) if you were SPS dominant, so you're (currently in comparison to haludes) not running a lot of light on tank that size and especially that deep.

(Total watts isn't really the best way to measure a LED lights power, but nonetheless the comparison above is pretty accurate in terms of figuring out ball park light needs... The reality is that while LEDs produce less heat (sometimes), they are not that much better/efficient at reducing electrical consumption if you want to hit the same PAR numbers in the tank as halides or T5's....)

Cost of halides, say reefbrite 400 watts would be $534.00 with ballasts and bulbs each, total $2,136.00 for 1600 watts of proven SPS growing power (https://www.aquariumspecialty.com/reef-brite-halide-hybrid-15-mogul-pendant-kit.html). Each bulb would need to replaced say every 6 to 12 months (at $60 a bulb for reefbrites/$240 every 6 to 12 months/$2,400 per five years, plus or minus 50% depending on bulb replacement). So over five years, for a nice halide setup that's $3,336.00 to $4,536.00 using 1600 watts.

Versus just T5's

An ATI 8 bulb dimmable 48 inch fixture is $825.00. Need two, so $1650.00. Plus bulbs each year at $400 a year, plus or minus 50% depending on how often you change the bulbs. Over five years, pure T5's is $3,650.00 using 864 watts.

Versus Reefbrites strips: 16 reef bright xho 48 inch strips is $6,336.00 using about 864 watts

Versus ATI Straton: four of these is $4,400.00 using 920 watts


Versus Neptune Sky

As for Neptune Sky, the ideal setup according them, since they recommend 3 skys for a 72 inch tank, would be 4 skys for the 96 inch tank. The Skys come in at $869.00 each so--$3,476.00 every five years using 876 watts. If you added an additional sky, 5 total, so every 19 inches instead of every 24, you'd be at $4,345.,00 and using 1,095 watts.

Conclusion:

You're gunna spend some money no matter what on a 8 foot 30 inch deep tank.

But the Sky is arguably the most economical way to go for best coverage on an SPS tank (Four Kessil 500x is cheaper but same coverage?; Halide and changing bulbs once a year is cheaper, but higher electical costs and chiller?...)?! Seems to be a T5 replacement/halide (not factoring in that the T5 fixture/ballast and halide fixture/ballast may last more than five years and still run lights 100% because you're changing bulbs)?! So long as that "one year" warranty holds up and they're not Chinese garbage--seem like a good light

I do question whether the Sky is going to penetrate 30 inches say as well as halides, or the Kessil 500's, however, which can utilize lens designed to do just that....

Personally, i think combo hybrid lights are the best, but lights like Neptune Sky and ATI Straton might change my mind?

 

[Overfloater]

It looks like the gen 4 Radion brackets almost completely cover the fans.

Is this going to be an issue as far as cooling is concerned?

 

[Mywifeisgunnakillme]

It looks like the gen 4 Radion brackets almost completely cover the fans.

Is this going to be an issue as far as cooling is concerned?

Tetrance showed there was a space in a video. Not a huge space. But he said enough to allow cooling.

 

[ReefRxSWFL]

Saw it at RAP. It does a great job with coverage, it has LED color pop, but the lack of natural shimmer lines like you see with Halides or Kessils to me was disappointing. Think would have been better aesthetically in the tank if somewhere on the light there was a non-diffused portion with one color of LED, or a “Kessil like” puck in the middle of the light to add some shimmer in the tank. The tank looked one ho-hum better than all T5. While not bad, it just misses for me. Im sure it will do well, but looks like when my 120 is done being built, it will be getting four XR15s.

 

[ReefRxSWFL]

Tetrance showed there was a space in a video. Not a huge space. But he said enough to allow cooling.

The newest Radion Mounting System has a big arch that will completely clear the fans. I have the new RMS on my Radions. I dont know why they used the old RMS at the show. BRS and the other sellers dont even carry the old RMS anymore, so i guess they found an old one on Ebay or something.

 

[PanhandleReef]

The newest Radion Mounting System has a big arch that will completely clear the fans. I have the new RMS on my Radions. I dont know why they used the old RMS at the show. BRS and the other sellers dont even carry the old RMS anymore, so i guess they found an old one on Ebay or something.

They probably figure people will "upgrade" from G4's, but less will be willing to ditch their G5's. It's all in the marketing.