- Hey, it's Thomas here with
the Neptune Systems Sky.
In this video,
we're going to dive into
the features and performance
of the sky and ultimately figure out what kind
of reefer this large
panel style led light fixture
is going to speak to the most.
We'll also see if this is the answer
for reefers who wanted
to love the Coral Care,
but couldn't get past its hefty weight
and much wider spectrum.
So let's dig into it.
Oh, and no,
you absolutely do not need
to have an Apex in order to use it.
You can control the Sky through
the Fusion app
on your smartphone wirelessly
without an Apex.
So yeah, let's go.
First and foremost,
the majority of modern reefers
are looking for a light fixture,
that's going to provide their corals with
the necessary energy that they require
to flourish and grow into
large colorful show quality colonies that
they can be proud of.
But,
reefers also take into consideration
how these lights are going
to look over top of their tank,
both physically,
as well as how they make
the tank appear
and how much shimmer they provide,
what mounting options are available,
how easy they are to set up
and dial in,
along with what control features allow them
to do that,
and how intuitive they are to use.
Now,
that list of considerations can
vary pretty wildly from reefer to reefer,
which is why we see
so many different light fixtures available.
But it's not too often,
we have a new light fixture come out,
that tries to approach lighting,
especially with LEDs differently than
the majority of other fixtures out there.
The sky from Neptune Systems
is a large panel LED light fixture that
provides a very widespread soft diffuse light with
a spectrum geared towards modern reefing that
provides plenty of par and color pop
and will most certainly provide ample energy
for robust coral growth,
with a very subdued shimmer,
similar to T5's.
This lightweight fixture sport's
a pair of quiet fans to keep things running cool,
a unique locking power connector,
a single cable that splits
to include an Aqua West connector,
which keeps things looking nice
and clean along with easy app control
and set up with or without an Apex.
Before we get into all
the nitty gritty details,
let's get this one
out of the box.
In the box you'll find
the Sky LED light fixture
4X black M5 mounting thumb screws,
a gray logo insert,
the origin certs already pre-installed,
an Aquabus Y-cable,
the power supply as well as
a wearable fabric bag.
Like I mentioned,
the Sky is a larger panel style
LED fixture measuring
in right around 14" by 10.5"
with an array of 104 individual LEDs covering nearly
that entire footprint.
Drawing right around 219 Watts from
the wall when running with all
the channels at a 100%.
To cool those diodes it uses a pair
of large fans running at lower RPMs
to keep things nice and quiet.
Now,
despite being a larger panel style fixture,
it definitely has
a sleek look that must take at least some
of its styling cues from
a certain popular super car company.
The swooping lines
and downward facing vents
are quite sporty
and the rubbery feeling soft touch finish is
a really nice touch.
I've seen similar finishes
on a few products now like,
the controller of my Volvo King Mini
or the motor of my MP10,
as well as the Max Bag Jump Pumps.
And I've always thought it looked great
and felt super comfortable to hold.
The custom finishes don't even stop there.
Even the fan covers are customized with
the Neptune Systems logo.
Plus for those who prefer it,
the triangular orange badge
on the front can be swapped out with
the included gray badge.
If the orange color
is just a tad loud for your taste.
When it comes to mounting it,
Neptune Systems did something
I have yet to see from any other manufacturer
and based their mounting bolt pattern on
the popular Radion platform.
Meaning that the Sky
is compatible with the sleek XR 30 RMS
mounting options from EcoTech.
Admittedly,
this is a pretty bold move,
but I do agree that standardizing
the bolt pattern
for reef lighting could prove
to be a huge boom
for the reefing community
and could definitely translate
to more mounting options
for all light fixtures in the future.
For those who want
to hang their lighting from
the ceiling or wall brackets,
there is also a hanging kit available
for the Sky.
And instead of
the standard silver kits we
usually see Neptune Systems offers one
that is Jet Black,
which could help hide
it against darker backdrops.
Regardless of what mounting option you
do go with,
you should have no trouble at all getting
the surprisingly lightweight LED over your reef
in a way that works for you.
Okay,
enough about the exterior of this light.
Let's dig into the meat and potatoes
and see what this thing can really do.
When it comes to spectrum and part output.
The Sky has its bases as well covered with
a spread of diode colors ranging from
near UV all the way to cyan and amber with
a swath of blues that create
a peak right around 446 nanometers all
coming together to provide the energy necessary,
both for coral growth and coloration.
While also being really attractive with
all channels set to a 100%.
It isn't overly white
and it provides a lot of color pop,
but also doesn't need
the white channel turn down too dramatically
to get that bluer look that
many reefers are after.
A single Sky will provide plenty
of PAR for salty, LPS, and mixed reefs,
up to a footprint
of roughly 36in by 30in per fixture.
And SBS dominated systems up
to 30in by 24in.
Thanks to its specialized diffuser that
uses two distinct layers,
one clear layer
to allow the colors
of the individual diodes
to combine into
a homogeneous mix
and a second to softly diffuse that light
and help spread it evenly
in all directions
to remove harsh shadowing
in the aquarium.
This guy's ability
to spread it's very well diffused T5 like blanket
of light over a wide area
is one of its most impressive features.
All the many other LED lighting options that
have more of a focused angle of light
and might require some sort of fill light.
The Sky does a pretty phenomenal job of all,
but eliminating hard shadows.
Meaning that you
can achieve that sought after
T5 performance and look using
an all LED light fixture,
which will prevent shadowing between
individual corals as well as within
the branches of larger coral colonies.
Which gets more usable light
to those corals
and helps to prevent tissue die-off where
light would otherwise be unable to reach.
The trade-off here
is that the Sky has very little shimmer.
But,
for those reefers who love the T5 look
but needed a lighter
and more manageable
and visually bluer lighting option than the coral care.
This LED fixture is exactly what
the doctor ordered.
If you want to minimize all
of the shimmer possible
the Sky even has swappable covers.
They dub shimz that you can pick up
to further diffuse
the six diodes that provide
the subtle amount
of shimmer that the sky does have,
and really catch those T5 vibes.
Now, unfortunately,
for those who do prefer
to have more shimmer in their tanks,
even with the clear shimz that
the Sky comes standard with,
it really doesn't provide much shimmer at all.
So you'll need to add shimmer using
a separate spotlight style fixture
in conjunction with the Sky
or consider an LED that just naturally creates more
of those sparkly caustic lines.
Like I mentioned,
at the beginning of the video,
you absolutely do not need an Apex
in order to take full
advantage of the Sky.
And while you can hook it up
to your Apex with
a well-executed single cable that
splits off to an AquaBus
to physically connect it to your system.
You can very easily set up
and dial in the Sky wirelessly via Bluetooth through
the Fusion app on your smart device.
The get started card included
in the box makes the whole process very clear
and easy as pie to follow along with
and even provides mounting
and spacing recommendations.
Once you've downloaded
the app and logged in,
you're going to fill
in some quick information
to create "a name your tank".
Then you'll be prompted
to set up your devices.
From there,
you can choose the Sky
and the app will walk you through
the process.
You enter what time you'd like
the light to turn on,
and then can preview
and select your preferred spectrum or look
for presets like coral growth,
SPS AB plus.
SPS Phoenix 14 and ATI Blue Plus,
or choose custom color
to adjust the four sliders manually
to control the amount
of violets,
blues,
whites,
and amber plus cyan.
And then the overall brightness.
Like I was saying earlier,
the Sky does look great,
even with all channels at a 100%.
Which is actually what
the coral growth setting provides.
So you don't have to break your brain,
trying to figure out what
the best mix of channels should be
and can confidently rely
on any of those presets
to make sure your corals get what they need
in terms of light.
Once you've chosen your spectrum,
you then set when you'd like
the light to turn off
and what your preferred moonlight mode is
and then you're all done.
You can always go back
and make adjustments
or changes whenever you'd like.
For example,
you can go in
and set the sky to photo mode,
which reduces the violet blue and color channels,
making it really easy
for anyone to take true
to life photos or video
of their tank with a smartphone
or streaming camera without having
to worry about filters,
or looking like a carrot after white balancing
to match the tank.
But the tank looks great. Right?
Right?
I'm orange.
There's also a reef promo'd in the app.
If you prefer
to manually configure your
light schedules.
So you can add points
to trigger changes in intensity or
even spectrum throughout the day.
And of course you can also hook
the sky up to your Apex through
an available AquaBus port
for more control
and customization
for things like linking specific light profiles
to custom switch boxes,
if that's your kind of thing.
So while it might share a similar look
and performance to T5,
it definitely provides more control
and color pop without
bomb swaps or changes with enough bar
for the most light demanding SPS.
And if that sounds like
it matches your reefing mantra,
you can pick up a Sky
for yourself by clicking right here.
(slow music)