Cali Kid Corals

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I’m curious if there is a power management solution for multiple SKY lights on one tank or each one requires its own power brick?
 
Beautiful tank Rich. I like how these lights appear to soften the shadows compared to some other LEDs. Looks like their diffuser intentionally lets some white LEDs shine through without diffusion to add back some shimmer. Is that your experience?
I don't notice much shimmer. One of my units has the clear lenses, the other two dont.

I’m curious if there is a power management solution for multiple SKY lights on one tank or each one requires its own power brick?
Each requires its own power brick.
 
...Each requires its own power brick.

Question on the power brick:
Is the power supply very hot to the touch?
Does the power supply look sealed?
Metal or plastic?

Certain other vendors are notorious for having a fancy expensive LED, tied to a very crappy cheap power supply.
I have yet to see a vendor use a good MeanWell HEP series one.
Just wondering what was done here.
 
Question on the power brick:
Is the power supply very hot to the touch?
Does the power supply look sealed?
Metal or plastic?

Certain other vendors are notorious for having a fancy expensive LED, tied to a very crappy cheap power supply.
I have yet to see a vendor use a good MeanWell HEP series one.
Just wondering what was done here.

BRS site says “219w Meanwell Power Supply”
 
Question on the power brick:
Is the power supply very hot to the touch?
Does the power supply look sealed?
Metal or plastic?

Certain other vendors are notorious for having a fancy expensive LED, tied to a very crappy cheap power supply.
I have yet to see a vendor use a good MeanWell HEP series one.
Just wondering what was done here.
It is a Meanwell power supply. Don't have the specs on hand.
 
I like the form factor, the spread, the quality of the light, zero disco ball, built in moon light, the controllability, super easy to set up, and they work with APEX. Friggin dreamy.
I want 4 more for the Secret home lab tanks.
So do these lights make it easier to enable location based lighting like you used in the breeding experiments? Or is it similar to using the radions and the apex dongle thingy

It would be cool if it was really simple to implement so hobbyists could run seasonal lighting and just see if it does anything without having the extra steps like blacking out the tank from ambient light
 
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So do these lights make it easier to enable location based lighting like you used in the breeding experiments? Or is it similar to using the radions and the apex dongle thingy
They are easier to set up than lights with the wxm. Really simple to set up. I am not sure about location based - we enter info directly into the season table through local.
It would be cool if it was really simple to implement so hobbyists could run seasonal lighting and just see if it does anything without having the extra steps like blacking out the tank from ambient light

You can do that now if you have lights that can be programmed through apex. Check out the issue of CORAL from Jan/Feb
 
I will wait to see in 2 years how the sky holds up vs. the kessil lights. There is something to be said about a company that only makes lights and has been doing it for 50 years. They actually make the LED themselves to their tolerances. Everyone else just buys from CREE.

I think they know what they are doing by now or they would be out of buissness.
 
Philips actually uses their own LEDs in their Coral Care fixture, which is now in gen2.

The SKY is similar to the Radion G5 and the Coral Care with the wide spread of a ton of LEDs, with both fixtures producing more than acceptable results.

I'm interested in seeing the SKY in actual operation with my own eyes to see how they hold up to the crisp white look of MHs as well as the features that's integrated within the Apex ecosystem. Everyone has their own preference for lights and what they're looking for in them so to each their own.
 
Philips actually uses their own LEDs in their Coral Care fixture, which is now in gen2.

The SKY is similar to the Radion G5 and the Coral Care with the wide spread of a ton of LEDs, with both fixtures producing more than acceptable results.

I'm interested in seeing the SKY in actual operation with my own eyes to see how they hold up to the crisp white look of MHs as well as the features that's integrated within the Apex ecosystem. Everyone has their own preference for lights and what they're looking for in them so to each their own.

Ive heard this debated over and over... a lot LED's vs a concentrated cluster and optics. IMHO I personally can't say one is better than the other. Then people talk about the disco ball shimmer affect. I don't think that's a brand specific issue. That's a water turbulence issue and can easily be corrected.

- Randy
 
Ive heard this debated over and over... a lot LED's vs a concentrated cluster and optics. IMHO I personally can't say one is better than the other. Then people talk about the disco ball shimmer affect. I don't think that's a brand specific issue. That's a water turbulence issue and can easily be corrected.

- Randy
Disco ball effect and shimmer effect are 2 different things. There are big differences between brands for these because the different brands make different design choices for their lights.

Disco effect- When you can see a bunch of different spotlights of colors dancing around individually on surfaces, most noticeable on white sand. Caused by having a bunch of vividly different colors of LEDs spread out in the light fixture. When the light from each LED passes through the ripples in the water surface it gets diffracted slightly differently than its neighbors so that instead of blending they separate but only for a fraction of a second with each ripple. People use diffusers to reduce this since each light blends more before exiting the fixture. Lights that have the colors coming from one point source like the Kessil avoid this entirely. I think everyone considers this a negative if they notice it, but a lot of people don’t really notice it for some reason.

Shimmer effect- This is when light from an individual dominant point source like a Kessil light (or the sun on a cloudless day) goes through the ripples in the water surface. Instead of separating the colors, it concentrates the light in rapidly moving visible bands that dance around. Visible on all surfaces. Some people like this because it is what you see when you snorkel or dive on a shallow reef. You don’t get it with spread out light sources, especially with a diffuser (or clouds), because all the shimmer lines blend together if all the point sources are blended together.
 
I think everyone considers this a negative if they notice it, but a lot of people don’t really notice it for some reason.
I had Hydra 32s for a little bit and didn't notice it. Until someone pointed it out to me and then I couldn't unsee it. That was all I saw every time I looked at the tank.

So those came off and I got Radions (g2 or g3 at that time, can't remember). Definitely less, but still there. Went to Kessils and that went away, plus side is I also got nice shimmer lines which I love and the color was excellent. Been using Kessils ever since.
 
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I had Hydra 32s for a little bit and didn't notice it. Until someone pointed it out to me and then I couldn't unsee it. That was all I saw every time I looked at the tank.

So those came off and I got Radions (g2 or g3 at that time, can't remember). Definitely less, but still there. Went to Kessils and that went away, plus side is I also got nice shimmer lines which I love and the color was excellent. Been using Kessils ever since.
You mean cadillacs.
 
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