Odd we don't see much on Neptune sky.......
- Thread starter 14 foot reef
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Im an apex fan but those lights are so overpriced.
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Also dosent help that the former major competitors lighting is all under one corporate umbrella now.
Which Chinese black boxes?
Tried to come out the gate at the Radions price point with no history, where the Radions have one of the strongest reputations in reef lighting.
This BRS is having a sale now and they are $782 a piece. Like they are out if there minds. Im sure they are good lights but I would rather have radions.
Then your Apex brain goes down and you have no lights. Just doesn’t make sense to me.
If you watch the latest BRS videos on lighting, other than the "horizon to horizon", large panel style, the Sky is everything OPPOSITE of what they're talking about.
The spectrum is narrow. Like, really narrow. Narrower than a lot of cheap Chinese lights from Amazon that cost a mere fraction of what the Sky costs. In order to widen the spectrum to something reasonable, you have to turn channels down so far as to make your really expensive light worthless for actually growing anything even moderately PAR demanding.
It's harder to market that than to just forget it ever happened. And now the same company also owns Ecotech and AI, so...
The spectrum is narrow. Like, really narrow. Narrower than a lot of cheap Chinese lights from Amazon that cost a mere fraction of what the Sky costs. In order to widen the spectrum to something reasonable, you have to turn channels down so far as to make your really expensive light worthless for actually growing anything even moderately PAR demanding.
It's harder to market that than to just forget it ever happened. And now the same company also owns Ecotech and AI, so...
OP
OP
You know this because you ran them and then had to get rid of them because they couldn't perform, or do you know this from data on testing ? Just curious, as I have no experience with them. I was just really close to choosing the Sky's over the Radion XR30 Pro's. Looks like I made the right choice.
I was really wanting the Sky’s, but I just couldn’t commit because there isn’t much Info on them. So I ended up going with XR30 Pros with Aquatic Life G3 T5HO to supplement. Best of both worlds in my option.
I know this from the BRS Sky review that they posted when it came out. They glossed over it and made some excuses for it in the video. The Sky has a VERY narrow "450 spike" (that they poked fun at in their newest lighting series). In their initial review they suggested that you could widen the blue band by decreasing the 450 channel dramatically. The thing is, if you have 100 LEDs in your light and you don't use 10 of them (reds and greens) and you run 60 of them at half power or less (whites, and 450 blues), what are you actually left with? A light running at 40% of its advertised power, putting out 40% of its advertised PAR.
That's the whole reason that there is a Radion "Blue" and a Radion "Pro", because people were throwing away half the power of their lights.
BRS just jumped on the "wide blue band" bandwagon recently, but some of us have been chasing it for years, so certain things jump out at us.
Everything they make is over priced.
If I was spending this kind of money. It would be Orphek hands down.
Orphek is the only light I’ve even seen on a tank that literally made my jaw drop. When I build my big tank I’m swapping out the reef brites on my 8 bulb ATI Sunpower with 2 Orphek bars. Gonna be sweet
I don't think anyone knows what is happening with some products post merger. Speculation at best unless one is in the know. To your point you could always try to do some searches with your favorite search engine and see what comes back. Again hard to say because who knows how many post vs those who do not.
There was a sale recently with 10% off. Last year there was actually a great sale with 25%. Clearing inventory? Getting them on the market? Checking price points vs sales? Who knows.
With regards to performance again hard to say. I have them and they work fine. I know a few others that have them over their displays and they work great. Is that the light? Husbandry? Hobbyist skill? I can't say. Chances are high that they would have an awesome display regardless of their light choice. Quality has been fine, no issues. Doesn't appear to be any fall off. I run a pair over a 30" tall 210 gallon display.
Ignoring the noise I think the one common thing I've heard with regards to the light is the price point. Are there better lights? Maybe. Probably. Are there cheaper kits that performance just as well if not better? Probably. Maybe (Reef Fi 2.0 comes to mind).
As with any other hobby there are multiple brands for the same tool and people choose different ones for different reasons. Festool, Milwaukee, etc. Someone uses something different and says the other is drinking the Kool Aid...
If orpheks had a wider lens they would probably be one of the best light out. Ive done quite a bit of research on them. But for my application in side a canopy they are just not going to work. They need a really high mounting height or a ton of them dialed down to really work at under anything less then 14". What changed my mind on them was a tank I recently saw in person. The lights were mounted in a canopy, there was so much disco and light separation it kind of made me nauseous and I like shimmer like from a kessil. The owner of the tank had redone 1 of his lights (or3) with a different lens a little wider then the original and a completely clear shield that had a great look and light was well blended at 12". I dont want to lose a warranty that way.
Never saw the sky as an option. Although it could have been a great light either drop price point or fix the spectrum.
I have a single Quanta light and its amazing.
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One of my LFS has sky’s over their tanks…compared to the G4 Radions they used to have, everything is less bright and the colors just aren’t there. The tanks also look significantly dimmer.
The Radions were pulling those unreal colors you see in many vendor pics in person.
The Radions were pulling those unreal colors you see in many vendor pics in person.
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