dm-155e vs photon 16-24

T

texasswangin214

So I am wanting to get better leds for my tank I have a dsa 35g 23x23x15 I think or close to that frag tank and I narrowed it down to reef builders photon 16-24 or reef radiance dm-155e just wanting to now if anyone has experience with the dm-155. I think they both use brigdelux leds just wanna mow if there is a reason they are half of the photons price
 
I have both. The Photon has built in programming. The 155e does not, so you hook it to 2 timers to turn the 2 light strings on, and off, and adjust the brightness of each with the dimmer knobs. I also have the programmable Reef Radiance fixture that is similar to the Photon. I had the 155e customized. They replaced several of the white LEDs with royal blue. I also have a DIY with Crees, and one with luxeons. All of these provide plenty of good light for your tank. My reef radiance programmable fixture has blue LEDs where the Reefbreeders has royal blue. At first I was disappointed - I expected RB, but now I am looking forward to seeing what they do. I don't know if they are still using blue instead of RB now, or not. My 155e has royal blues. Other than that, and choosing programmable, or not, they all grow coral about the same, I think.
 
@texasswangin214 wrote:
Yea the controller is nice but doesn't the 155e have a controller you can buy for it said:
I am not familiar with it if there is.
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I want to clarify my previous comments.

The Reef Radiance fixtures DO NOT use royal blue LEDs, and that IS a problem because it is the royal blue LEDs that make the corals "pop". They are using a blue LED that leans toward green in color, so maybe a 480 nm LED, whereas royal blue LEDs should be around 450 nm. So if you want to be able to get your corals to fluoresce, and if you want to stimulate the coloration of your corals, DO NOT buy a Reef Radiance fixture, unless you want to replace some of the blue LEDs with royal blue, which is what I guess I will be attempting to do! Rick Schott at Reef Radiance recommended that I find a reputable shop to replace the LEDs for me, so I contacted Logan at Reefbreeders, and he said that he will help me get the right color blue LEDs for my fixture.
 
Ok I think I'm going to suck it up and buy the photon 24( I know my tank is about the same siE but it's $10 more if I upgrade my tank) figure with 60-90degree ops it would be fine. But that is wierd as why they wouldn't carry rb led themself did they happen to comment as to why
 
@texasswangin214 wrote:
Ok I think I'm going to suck it up and buy the photon 24( I know my tank is about the same siE but it's $10 more if I upgrade my tank) figure with 60-90degree ops it would be fine. But that is wierd as why they wouldn't carry rb led themself did they happen to comment as to why said:
He does not install any royal blue LEDs in his fixtures! That's why he doesn't have any. Now he did not say that. I am saying that. He won't even discuss the subject of royal blue LEDs. I suspect that he has a source for cheap LEDs, so he thinks it's ok to substitute them for the real royal blues. Or maybe he doesn't know the difference. But, as I said, since he avoids discussion of the subject, I can only speculate. He said, "most people aren't like you. As long as the lights grow coral, they are happy." I told him that everyone that I have ever talked to wants their coral to "pop" under the LEDs, AND for them to grow coral. I received no comment from him in return.

The Reefbreeder may cost a couple dollars more, but the control is more intuitive, and it goes quicker to program it, and you get LEDs with a better spectrum of light, IMHO, and customer service is great with Reef breeders. Mr. Schott is coming out with some new fixtures that will be programmable with your smart phone, and it will bring the cost of the fixtures down. And that is great! BUT, if you don't have the right color LEDs, what good is it?
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Not all fixtures run royal blue. Gen 3 radions do not run royal blues as the uv led in combo with blue gives you the rb effect

By adding and separating the uv, blue and deep blue you cover more of the spectrum. Instead of just going rb so your corals get a more traditional lighting ie mh or t5 but in a led fixture


http://ecotechmarine.com/products/radion/radion-xr30w-pro


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OK, so what are you calling deep blue? I don't see anything like that on the reef radiance fixture that I have. There is just one kind of blue, and it has a hint of green to it. I don't doubt that this blue might be good in combination with some other blues. But they advertise their fixtures as having royal blue 455 nm LEDs, and they are not. I am basing my statement on having royal blue Luxeons, Crees, Epistars, and Bridgelux LEDs over my tanks right next to this fixture. They are nowhere near the color of all of these others that are advertised as royal blue! And all of these others are close to each other in color.
 
I wasn't there but on another forum they said the medium size one would be about $300. That's the 35 watt size.............. [smilie=smile.gif]
 
@DFW wrote:
OK said:
I seem to remember reading a couple of threads on another board a while back where the reefbreeder and reefradiance owners were arguing over the different blue leds.
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I seem to remember reading a couple of threads on another board a while back where the reefbreeder and reefradiance owners were arguing over the different blue leds.[/quote]

Well, it might be that using the blues from each one in a mix gives the best result. The reefbreeders is too violet for my eyes when you run blue only. And the reef radiance has no color pop whatsoever, and leans toward green. I have not seen any other threads about these.
 
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