Red Sea Max 650 LED mod thread

B

brad65ford

New Member
Hey guys, just order a Red Sea Max 650 from Affordable Aquatic Supplies needless to say I'm excited:weird: Already seen a lot of owners swapping over to LED's which i'm all about. It would have have a thread just dedicated to the LED swapping for the RSM 650. Though I have 3 Kessil 350w's I'm still looking for something ultra sleek that resembles the factory look and amazing coverage. Please post all that you have done with LED modding to your 650.

Thanks in advanced,
Brad
 
Choff

Choff

Well-Known Member
Hey Brad, gratz on the RSM! You will love it.

IMO the 2 best options are removing the center light panel and dropping in kessils, but I suggest 4. This is what I have done for the past year and love it. The other is Steve's led retro kit. I have since purchased this, but not installed. Hopefully in the next few weeks I'll have it up and running and can give you a comparison.

While I think the kessils might be slightly better lights, since you have the 350s I would lean towards Steve's vs buying 4 new 360s. Assuming you will want to control them which as you know you can't with the 350s.

...stupid auto correct
 
coralrama

coralrama

Member
I put a pair of Kessil 360w s over my RSM 500, I took the whole stock hood off so I could put a screen top on the tank. I love the Kessils, I just wish I could dial them down lower than12% with the apex to use them as moon lights.
 
Choff

Choff

Well-Known Member
Yes the need for moons is an annoyance. I tried running them at the lowest setting and it was too bright. The fish never "slept"

BTW, I'm running 4 because of how close to the surface they are. I could see 2 being good for a 500 at proper height.

Oh.... And I use a screen with the stock hood without any issues.

...stupid auto correct
 
B

brad65ford

New Member
Thanks guys I appreciate the suggestions and help. For the guys running the Kessils with out the stock hood what distance are the lights away from the water surface and what intensity are your running / par output etc...? Also any pictures of your setups? Wonder what the rsm650 Max looks like with out the hood? Shame the new 360 don't have the ability to do moon light. The 350 looks great but sucks when it comes to none programmable.

Really do not want to do the whole Radion thing for this tank. IMO they are just to expensive for what you get and i've owned a few different Radion's including the Radion Pro G3. Wondering if Maxspect makes something long enough to cover the whole tank...

Choff said:
Hey Brad, gratz on the RSM! You will love it.

IMO the 2 best options are removing the center light panel and dropping in kessils, but I suggest 4. This is what I have done for the past year and love it. The other is Steve's led retro kit. I have since purchased this, but not installed. Hopefully in the next few weeks I'll have it up and running and can give you a comparison.

While I think the kessils might be slightly better lights, since you have the 350s I would lean towards Steve's vs buying 4 new 360s. Assuming you will want to control them which as you know you can't with the 350s.

...stupid auto correct
Click to expand...

are these you are referring to? http://shop.stevesleds.com/Red-Sea-Max-S-Series-650-Extreme-SPS-RSM650.htm would like to know more about them.
 
Choff

Choff

Well-Known Member
Yes, those are the lights. Mdk16 aka Matt was the first guy with them and helped them design it. Check out his thread.

Not being able to control LEDs defeats 75 pct of their usefulness IMO. How can you not want sunrise to sunset action?!?!

Kessil is coming out with new lights. There are some YouTube videos floating around. They unveiled them at the recent euro fish show.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
coralrama

coralrama

Member
Choff is your top just resting on the front and back then? It didn't look like there was enough lip ion the sides to do it with the hood in place.

I like the look better without the hood, but maybe it's just me.

My lights are pretty low to the water, maybe 5 inches. I don't have PAR readings, but the corals are doing great. I'm OK with having some low light areas around the sides too, as it gives me some places to put some corals that like lower light.

My tank is lightly stocked as I just moved into a month ago from a 50 gallon. The few SPS I have look happy though and have shown some growth.
 
Choff

Choff

Well-Known Member
Hey coral, you are correct there is no lip to speak of on the sides with the hood on. I just have to slide it back far enough (not that far really) so there is enough weight in the back to support it. As I just typed this I realize now if I added weight to the back that would allow me to not have to push it as far back as I do. It'd not really an issue though. 8 to 10" and it supports itself.

Now I do have a slight gap of about an inch on the side in the back because the back rail is a bit higher and the screen slopes down slightly.

...stupid auto correct
 
B

brad65ford

New Member
Need pic's boys, thanks again for keeping this thread going. IMO RSM should offer a led kit for our models but like anything else it seems the users have to do some work ourselves ;-) Looked at the Vertex Illumina not sure how that would be over the top of the 650 max.
 
N

Nob35

Active Member
I may have some inside news that is being kept quiet right now so sales do not drop off. After talking to my LFS, he told me that redsea is going to be releasing the max in LEDs at some point. He went to one of the expo's and was told that Red Sea was not releasing the news yet for fears that sales would drop off until the release. I cannot say if this is true but there has been more talk of this happening on different forums from people that has been to the expo's in the UK.
 
Choff

Choff

Well-Known Member
Hey Nob, there is a thread about rsm LEDs. It's been announced and I think they said 2015 for the S series.

Coral, too funny. I just built mine too and keep joking with the kids to go open the screen door and feed the fish. Still trying to figure out why I ordered from BRS when I'm sure I could have paid a lot less at Home Depot.


Oh and hey nice looking scape! Tank looks great. I do have to ask what the coke bottle contraption is?

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
coralrama

coralrama

Member
Thanks Choff!

I used pond netting for the screen, I have about 200 square feet of it if anyone is in CT and needs some.

The coke bottle is my brine shrimp hatchery. My girlfriend made a holder out of a coat hanger and I hung it from a pipe on the ceiling.

I drilled two holes in the cap, one has air going in (through a back flow valve), the other has a tube going out with a screw type gang valve. When they hatch I just shine a light on the bottom to get the shrimp to go down, and then open the valve and let them loose in the tank.

Maybe not the best method as I know the water has some ammonia in it but I don't let too much into the tank, maybe a cup or two.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top