From blue to full spectrum on a budget

[spit.fire]

After frying my diy fixture on my nano reef i started shopping around for a new fixture. I was wanting to go with a full spectrum fixture and didn't want a cheep pos light that was gonna burn out like the other ones Ive bought online and i wanted to stay away from the typical rectangle fixures that are offered my almost every led lighting company.

First light that i looked at was the ecotech radion but after playing around with it for a bit at the store i really didn't like the software side of it and for what was offered i didnt feel the price was all that great. After a few weeks of borrowing a basic fixture from oceanic corals he showed me the 20" maxspect razor.

Full spectrum, more than enough light for my tank and controllable with ramping at a price i couldnt say no to so i grabbed one


http://maxspect.ca/index.php?option=...d=20&Itemid=21



First thing i noticed when i got it all home and unboxed was that i comes with a hanging kit as well as legs, i just have to decide whether or not im going to use the factory hanging kit or build one that works with my light bars on the tank (my light bars are too low to use a normal hanging kit)

After hanging the light (sitting it on my light bars) and mounting the power supply i finally got to play with my new toy.

Programming the light was simple, took me about 2 minutes to figure out the basics without looking in the manual and set it up on a timers to ramp up and down.

One feature i really like is that i has preset programs so its as simple as set the time on the fixture and let it be or you have the option to ramp up and down however you like using 6 set points. Also there's a manual option to manually turn it on and off through the on board controller as well as manually adjust the color balance.

As far as the color goes, im much happier with the look of all my corals and even my wife commented in it. Main thing i like is its not blue like 60% of the lights out there and its not to white like 35% of the other lights out there, theres a good mix of color.

Initially upon seeing the light in the store the thing that caught my eye was the design of the light, its incredibly thin and i was quite surprised to see fans in it with how thin it was. ive been running mine for 10hrs and the fixture is still only slightly warm to the touch and ive yet to hear the fans turn on (theres a test mode to test the fans and you cant hear them anyways)

overall i would recommend the fixture to anyone whether theyre on a budget or not, the only thing i would change on the fixture is i would add more channels so colors could be controlled individually (there is only 2 channels to control) but at the same time it is balanced quite well as it is.

legs are only there so it doesnt slip off the bars because i put it on my tank at 3 in the morning

[davej]

What kind of damage did they do to the wallet?

[spit.fire]

Originally Posted by davej

What kind of damage did they do to the wallet?

If I remember correctly around 450$ give or take a bit

[spit.fire]

480$

[spit.fire]

449$+tax

[smokinreefer]

What's the size of you're nano?

You think if I use the stock leg mounts, that fixture would be ok on a 36" 65 gallon?

I'm leaning towards the 160w model, but my tank frame has a center brace.
Which makes it kinda pointless if I don't mod the tank.

[tang daddy]

Originally Posted by smokinreefer

What's the size of you're nano?

You think if I use the stock leg mounts, that fixture would be ok on a 36" 65 gallon?

I'm leaning towards the 160w model, but my tank frame has a center brace.
Which makes it kinda pointless if I don't mod the tank.

Cutting out the center brace on your 65g won't compromise safety, I've done it before on my previous 65.... Best mod fersure!!

[spit.fire]

Originally Posted by smokinreefer

What's the size of you're nano?

You think if I use the stock leg mounts, that fixture would be ok on a 36" 65 gallon?

I'm leaning towards the 160w model, but my tank frame has a center brace.
Which makes it kinda pointless if I don't mod the tank.

I've found with those tanks they're always gonna be a pita for lighting because pretty much all LEDs will have a dead spot caused by the bracing unless you get 2 fixtures.

How wide is the brace? How thick is the glass on the tank? My favourite mod to do to those tanks is cut the centre brace out and replace it with euro bracing on the front and back but IMO if the tank is made from 3/8 glass it's generally safe to remove the brace without installing anything else but there's always that small risk factor involved.

[smokinreefer]

hmm...
the front and back panes are 5/16

[spit.fire]

Aka 8mm lol

IMO should be fine but again there's always a risk factor