Neptune Systems SKY LED Light

The SKY is a 200w, LED aquarium light, with patented diffuser technology, that smoothly blends all of its 104 LEDs to create a homogeneous field of coral-health-optimized light — no hotspots, no disco-ball effect, no need to augment it with other lights or add-on diffusers — but best of all, none of the harsh shadowing and fractured spectrum found in most other popular lights.

Diffused light just like what illuminates planet Earth. . .The earth is illuminated by the sun, but not as a single point of light like a light bulb. If it were, there would be harsh shadows and the reefs as we know them would likely not exist. Instead, our planet is really illuminated by our atmosphere, the sky, as a filter and diffuser of the sun’s rays. This results in a homogeneous, bathing of light from all directions. The SKY brings to your aquarium that blanket of natural and life-sustaining light that nourishes earth’s coral reefs.

. . .but with the “look” reefers desire - While a few prefer the natural look the sun and sky provide on natural reefs, most tend to appreciate a more blue-purple light in various degrees. But the desired aesthetic is not universal. So the SKY delivers both. It can be easily tuned to the unique “look” that individual reef-keepers desire, without sacrificing the quality of the life-giving light the corals and other animals need.

HIGHLIGHTS

WIRED OR WIRELESS - YOU CHOOSE!
Connects easily to your Apex with an AquaBus connection OR wirelessly to your Apple or Android mobile device.

No Apex necessary! Can be operated independently from an Apex via a wireless connection to your mobile device.

Easily connects to your Apex via an AquaBus cable – and then a quick and easy software setup.

With its unique light engine design, the SKY will cover an area of 24?x30? for SPS and up to 30?x36? for less light demanding corals.

The LED on the SKY have been carefully selected to provide the right balance of spectrum that optimizes coral growth and color while at the same time illuminating the aquarium with the look most reefers desire

While some may debate the need for UV LED, there is no doubt that UV adds that little extra pop to the look of your reef aquarium.

With its four “Shimz” lenses inserted into the diffusion panel, the SKY brings both worlds together – diffusion and just the right amount of shimmer in your tank. Too much shimmer? Then purchase and replace them with the optionally available diffused “Shimz”

The moonlights on the SKY are not just some of the main LED dimmed down, instead they are two discrete, blue and white colored LED that can operate with the phases of the real moon outside or, if you prefer, simply as night lights when your daytime lights are not currently on.

The SKY has a robust thermal management system that not only keeps it cool, its lower operating temperature extends the lifetime output of the LED as well as the lifetime of the fixture itself.

NEARLY SILENT
Two fans and a large heat sink make the SKY extremely quiet. With two fans they can spin slower, creating less fan noise.

The SKY is just 1.75? tall and weighs about four pounds.

The universal four-point mounting system matches that of one of the most popular lights on the market (Radion G1-G5) so you can choose that, or use an optionally available wire hanging kit.

In nature corals are minimally shadowed because they get softened light from horizon to horizon due to the diffusion aspect of the atmosphere. For proper coral growth and health, this is something we attempt to accomplish in our reef aquariums.

Unfortunately most LED reef lights have a small surface area of light origination that creates dark areas and harsh shadows – sometimes with an altered spectrum. As a reef aquarium matures, this is the main limiting factor for coral growth and health. Many attempt to correct this deficiency by adding additional fixtures, light-limiting diffusers, additional fixtures or hodge-podge together a hybrid solution with supplemental lighting strips.

The SKY has a large surface area of diffused light at the origin which emulates the horizon to horizon effect of the atmosphere and minimizes shadowing. The SKY  alone is all you need to properly light your reef aquarium and provide for the health, growth, and color needs of even the most demanding corals.

Do LED lights grow healthy, colorful corals? Of course. But to be optimal, they must have the right spectral balance of colors, sometimes referred to as “full-spectrum”. Also, and more importantly, that light must be blended and spread uniformly over the entire aquarium.

All full-spectrum, LED reef aquarium lights mix various discrete LED colors, each one with its own segment of the spectrum, along with whites. Blending all these LED together into homogenous light is where things get tricky. Some light designs bring all the LED very close together so that they blend at the source. The downside here is this very small area of light origination creates the harshest of shadows. Others spread out LED, hoping to mix the various spectrums of the discrete LED on their way to the aquarium – but this leads to the “disco-ball ” or “static” effect we often see in the shadows or on the sand in the aquariums.

The SKY has 104 carefully curated LED, split into four controllable channels, spread across a large surface to maximize the area of light origination and minimize shadowing. Then the SKY uses patented light engine technology that mixes some of the light from all the LED right inside the light panel. Then that light, along with some of the direct light from the LED, all pass through a carefully selected diffuser panel that evens out all the light while minimally reducing the light output. The result is a well-blended light output, that has the same spectrum, nearly everywhere in the aquarium, with minimal shadowing and no disco-ball-effect.

Up until now setting up an LED reef light for success usually meant trial and error moving color sliders around, asking friends, reading forum posts, and in the end you were basically on your own.

Start out simple…With the SKY, we have simplified the entire process from connection, to initial configuration, to ongoing operation. Simply connect the SKY to your Apex, or run it wirelessly connected to your mobile device – no Apex necessary.

Then, configure the SKY. Apex Fusion will ask you a series of questions and show you different “looks” for you to choose from – each one curated to provide light spectrum for the growth and health of your corals. From there, simply choose when you want the lights to come on, go off, and that’s it!

…Graduate to Pro! Don’t think the SKY is just for noobs. There is also access to advanced scheduling features, LED intensity sliders, and an infinite amount of ways to integrate the operation of your SKY with other Apex functions. #ControlFreaks rejoice!

The SKY easily joins your Apex ecosystem simply by connecting its integrated AquaBus cable to an available port on one of your modules or the base unit. This makes set up fast and easy. If you have more than one SKY, the included Y-cable can be used to chain them together and still only need one AquaBus connection on your Apex.

Alternatively, those without an Apex can wirelessly connect to the SKY and operate it wirelessly over BT on their mobile devices.

The SKY has an advanced approach to thermal management that is more than just the two fans you see.

So, why two fans? With two fans the SKY can operate them at much lower RPM while keeping the LED cooler. Cooler LEDs mean a longer lifespan for your light. Also, running the fans slower means that the SKY is quieter, in fact, its the quietest actively-cooled LED in its power-class. The SKY puts out just 33dB at one meter and set to 100%. The leading competitor clocks in at >40dB at 100% power.

Along with these fans a temperature and power monitoring algorithm manages their speed. If one fan were to fail, the other will pick up the slack and still keep the SKY running and safely cooled until a replacement is obtained. Also, if for some other reason the SKY cannot adequately cool itself, such as excessively high ambient air temperature, it will throttle the power to the LED to keep them safely cool.

Many lights on the market force you into purchasing their mounting solution. We decided to broaden your options by adopting a standard already widely used by one of the most popular brands on the market. So, in addition to our optional, sleek black cable hanging kit, you now have many other ways to mount your SKY over your aquarium. This also makes the SKY an even more cost effective option when considering a lighting upgrade. On top of this, we are working closely with 3rd parties to build even more mounting options for our SKY customers.

Compatible Tank Mounts

• Neptune Systems SKY Hanging Kit
• Ecotech Marine RMS XR30 G5 Tank Mount System
• Orphek Universal LED Mounting Bracket

As equipped, and with surface water agitation, the SKY provides a gentle shimmer that suits the tastes of most aquarists. We realized early in the SKY development that when you put a diffuser in front of LED, as many lights do, it tends to kill off nearly ALL shimmer. And that’s not good. So we designed a hybrid diffuser that has clear covers, called Shimz, over four openings in the diffuser where the white LED can shine through with no diffusion. These white LED then bring back the shimmer lost by the diffuser – but in just the right amount. But because not everyone has the same taste, we created an option. If you wish to have even less shimmer, diffused Shimz can be swapped in – available as an optional purchase.


We call it the SKY for one more reason. The moonlit sky is very important to coral reef health and its natural processes. For aquarists, moonlight simulation can play an important role for the animals, and it provides visual interest in the aquarium as well.

The SKY provides moonlight via four dedicated moonlight LED in two colors. These LED will change intensity following the earth’s current moon cycle. Alternatively, you can set them to night-light mode and they will simply come on opposite your daylight settings.

Dedicated LED are used since dimming the main LED is still just too bright to be an effective moon simulation. Doing it this way allows for a proper range of up and down intensity for emulating the brightness of the varying phases of the moon. The two colors on each moonlight give you some options for how you want the moon to shine. Each pair of LED has its own Shimz fitted in front of it so you get that beautiful night time moon-shimmer all across your reef.

Current model Apex or Apex EL OR iOS/Android mobile device with BT

INCLUDES:

• SKY LED Light
• 219W Meanwell Power Supply
• AquaBus Y-Cable
• Orange Logo (installed)
• Gray Logo
• Four M5 Screws to use with existing mounting solutions