New Mitras LX7206's installed over my 500 gallon reef!!

[slief]

I finally got my Mitras LX7206's are installed!! The install went very smooth thanks to good planning. We filmed the entire install and even dedicated an entire part of the episode to software setup and basic programming. The install will be featured in an episode of LA Fish Guys Tech Talk and should serve as a good step by step video for setting up the Mitras.

I still have work to do on the lighting project (programming) as I am starting with minimal intensity in order to acclimate my corals slowly to the new lighting. I dropped the intensity on my Kessils some and will take my time with the adjustments so as to acclimate the tank to the new lights and wean it off the Kessils. I have to say that the color of the corals under the Mitras is absolutely stunning! After setting them up yesterday. I shut the original lights off and played around with the project in the lighting composer just to get an idea of what things will look like once I am done with the acclimation process and eliminate the Kessils. Boy do these not disappoint. Given my experience with the Mitras on my other tanks, I knew what to expect but seeing the tank under the new lights is still shocking. The colors of the corals and even the fish makes it look like a new tank.

Here are some pictures of the install. I need to take some pictures of the tank under the lights as well but after the install, I was just to friend to take more pictures. There are 6 of the LX7206's over my 4' x 8' x 2' tall tank and with the Mitras alone, the coverage is pretty impressive.

[scuzy]

Looks really nice


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[ClownReef®]

What intensity do you run them at?

[slief]

Originally Posted by ClownReef®

What intensity do you run them at?

As I mentioned above, I just installed them and am acclimating my corals to the new lights. As such, I have my intensities on each of the channels dialed way back. Right now I am only using about 30% of the available power of these lights and figure I will likely be working my way up to about 70% of the available power. I will slowly be refining the programming and increasing the intensity on the Mitras over the next month or so as I want to avoid any negative repercussions from the lighting upgrade. At the same time, I will be reducing the intensity on my existing lights as I try to make a smooth and seamless transition. I have a lot of corals near the surface of the water in my tank and these lights are extremely powerful so I am erring on the side of caution and taking it slow as I have an insane amount of coral in my tank. Once I have my program dialed in and the migration over the Mitras complete, I will be in a better spot to share project files and settings that will be more meaningful and useful.

[locito277]

Looks great Steven!


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[d2mini]

Looks great! I like how you have them all angled.

[mlew]

Looks good! Would love to see a side by side pic comparing the Kessils and the Mitras. :-)

[slief]

Originally Posted by mlew

Looks good! Would love to see a side by side pic comparing the Kessils and the Mitras. :-)

I will have to do that. I am not sure my camera will be able to really show the difference though. Especially from a distance. I did get a new Sony A6500 camera but I am still learning it and am no expert when it comes to photography. To the eye, the difference is huge because of the coloration of the corals and the subtle difference in to glow from certain colors. It's hard to capture that with the camera though. This weekend, I will try to take some pictures showing the differences or maybe even a couple videos.

[slief]

Really loving these Mitras. This is the end of sunset phase just before the lights went out last night. The colors in the tank are spectacular. These pictures do no justice.

[moondoggy4]

Wow looking great.

[Hellsangelbx]

Looking great @slief you now have me thinking about these lights. I wonder how they compare to radion pros and hydras

[RCS82]

Very impressive, your tank looked amazing with the kessils and now this haha. I have kessils now with t5s but i'll be following along as these mitras are on my list for the future upgrade.
Thanks

[mlew]

That looks great. I'm definitely a fan of these new lights.

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[slief]

Originally Posted by moondoggy4

Wow looking great.

Thanks moondoggy!

Originally Posted by Hellsangelbx

Looking great @slief you now have me thinking about these lights. I wonder how they compare to radion pros and hydras

Thanks! I don't think Hydra's would be be a fair comparison. I've tested the Hydra 52's and wasn't really impressed at all. These are MUCH more powerful with much better spread. I had a Radion G3 Pro over another tank and that was pretty unimpressive in terms of spread. I've head the G4 Pro's are better than the G3's but the Mitras have more channels and a better mix of diodes which will result in better coloration when it comes to the corals. The Mitras also have better spread due to the 6 clusters on the Mitras vs 2 on the Radions. At the end of the day, I could have gone with what ever light I wanted and the Mitras were a no brainer for me..

Originally Posted by RCS82

Very impressive, your tank looked amazing with the kessils and now this haha. I have kessils now with t5s but i'll be following along as these mitras are on my list for the future upgrade.

Thanks

Yea, it was a pretty big leap but I am really impressed with these lights and corals are responding really well. I've been slowly working my way up in intensity and fine tuning the channels and so everything is very happy. What's most impressive is the coloration that the Mitras bring out compared to the Kessils.

Originally Posted by mlew

That looks great. I'm definitely a fan of these new lights.

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Thanks!

[Editour2]

How big is your tank and how many fixtures did you need?
How much of an upgrade are the 7206 series vs the 6200HV....(if you are familiar with them)?

[slief]

Originally Posted by Editour2

How big is your tank and how many fixtures did you need?
How much of an upgrade are the 7206 series vs the 6200HV....(if you are familiar with them)?

My tank is 4' x 8' x 24" tall. I am currently running 6 of the LX7206's which is enough though I could probably use one more due to the way my aquascape is setup but I do have the luxury of a motorized light rack which allowed me to raise the height of the lights for better spread.

I'd say the LX7's are a pretty big step up over the 6200's. Not only is the diode mixture a bit more useful since there is one less white channel and the addition of the UV channel but the power balancing allows you to better use the power for increased intensity. Then there is the integrated Wifi which is a really nice feature too. I am really impressed with the LX7's and my corals have responded extremely well. Most importantly, the colors I am seeing in my corals are exactly what I had hoped for. The corals are much more colorful under the LX7's compared to the previous lights. In fact, I see colors in my corals that I've never seen before in this tank. The lights do wonders and there is so much control over the channels that you can really fine tune the appearance of your tank and the power and spread that comes with these lights is like no other.

[Gbtipp]

Originally Posted by slief

My tank is 4' x 8' x 24" tall. I am currently running 6 of the LX7206's which is enough though I could probably use one more due to the way my aquascape is setup but I do have the luxury of a motorized light rack which allowed me to raise the height of the lights for better spread.



I'd say the LX7's are a pretty big step up over the 6200's. Not only is the diode mixture a bit more useful since there is one less white channel and the addition of the UV channel but the power balancing allows you to better use the power for increased intensity. Then there is the integrated Wifi which is a really nice feature too. I am really impressed with the LX7's and my corals have responded extremely well. Most importantly, the colors I am seeing in my corals are exactly what I had hoped for. The corals are much more colorful under the LX7's compared to the previous lights. In fact, I see colors in my corals that I've never seen before in this tank. The lights do wonders and there is so much control over the channels that you can really fine tune the appearance of your tank and the power and spread that comes with these lights is like no other.

Have you started removing the kessil from your display tank yet?


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[scuzy]

Did you ramp up there intensity yet? Or is it still at 80%?


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[slief]

Originally Posted by scuzy

Did you ramp up there intensity yet? Or is it still at 80%?


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I will never need to hit 100%. I am now peaking at 87% for 4 hours out of my 12 hour photo period with a 16010k color spectrum. I am using power balancing so that some of the channels can exceed 100% output and have it set to High Output. At peak hours, the lights are only pulling about 85 watts per fixture which is pretty damn efficient as I am only drawing a total of about 506 watts for all 6 fixtures.

[slief]

I just submitted my GCC Composer light project to the light project sharing page. It should be available at the link below once GHL approves it.
https://www.aquariumcomputer.com/sup...oser-projects/

[Editour2]

Do you think that 3 LX7206's would adequately cover a 72" long x 24" front to back x 28" top to bottom tank? SPS dominated. I am still debating these lights against the Radion XR30 pro G4's but still feel that I would need 4 of the radions over my tank. I'm not sure if that would be the case with these Mitras.

[Marco@GHLUSA]

Originally Posted by Editour2

Do you think that 3 LX7206's would adequately cover a 72" long x 24" front to back x 28" top to bottom tank? SPS dominated. I am still debating these lights against the Radion XR30 pro G4's but still feel that I would need 4 of the radions over my tank. I'm not sure if that would be the case with these Mitras.

3 would cover it fine. However going with 4 would allow you to run each at a little lower wattage and get even better penetration and PAR.

[slief]

Originally Posted by Marco@GHLUSA

3 would cover it fine. However going with 4 would allow you to run each at a little lower wattage and get even better penetration and PAR.

+ 1..

I couldn't have said it any better myself.

[slief]

It's been a while since I installed the Mitras LX7's over my tank and I absolutely love them. My corals are doing better than ever and have colors like I've never seen before!

We did an LA Fish Guys video series on my Mitras LX7 install. It covers setting them up for my light rack as well as setting up the Wifi network connection basic programming. It's 3 parts. This was shot early this year and just now released to YouTube.
Part 1 discuses the Mitras LX7's and prepping them for my light rack.
https://youtu.be/lxJ_zTbvjqQ

Part 2 covers installing them on my light rack.
https://youtu.be/A5gdhkmnwlI

Part 3 covers basic setup and programming.
https://youtu.be/koVfhf2cXKs