Apollo Reef LED SolarBlast Dimable Review
- Thread starter Dustin1300
- Start date
bhazard451
New member
Looking forward to the new revision of the fixture
I think you might have gotten the new one that Joe's taken into consideration our feedback and added in the Reds!
http://apolloreefled.com/shop/acti-red/
Yep. I held back from mentioning it until i posted pics or until it was posted on the site. I'm one of the first, if not the first customer to have ordered it, and I'll be the first to share it with you guys.
First impressions:
I absolutely LOVE the outer aluminum casing. It is quite a bit bigger height-wise than the chinese boxes that I've also tried, and there is more open area of clear shielding on the bottom, maximizing spread. It's solid, and I wished I had a case like this in the making of my DIY Cree light. Plenty of room for Meanwells in there. I didn't bother opening it because Dustin did a great job showing off the internals.
The Meanwell drivers powered up the leds nicely, and I ran each channel through a 1 minute ramp up/ramp down test to see sunrise/sunset through the Apex. The light and the Apex handled this with no problems. The only minor limitation with using the Meanwell's/Apex combo, is that the light will cut off completely at under 10% intensity, which means you won't get a completely smooth on/off curve. Its not really noticeable during normal dimming anyway.
The addition of the 4 reds and 6? 420nm violets are a very nice touch. Through comparing fixtures with and without these colors, I won't build or buy a led light without them now. They provide that extra little bit of color and photosynthetic benefits (violet actinic) that seems lacking in a regular Royal Blue/White fixture. These new leds are not overpowering, and still maintain a very nice 14k look. Clownfish now give off a striking orange color. My Maroon clown nearly glows with color. My red sponge is RED. The leds themselves give off a great, nicely blended color, and seem to be stronger than the generic chinese binned "bridgelux" I'm used to seeing. It's not a striking visual difference though, and I would need a PAR meter to truly show how much more light and proper coloring the Solarblast puts out.
Overall, the leds blend very well together on the sand bed, with no obvious disco effect or spotlighting. The 90 degree optics work perfectly in focusing the light into my tank where I want it, compared to fixtures without them that shoot the light all over the room and nearly blind me in the process.
There is one little downside to the reds in some cases however. While you won't see blotches of red on the sand bed, you can see focused red areas if you have live rock close to the surface. It can sometimes be distracting, but the coloring benefits to the rest of the tank outweigh the negatives of the red spotlighting.
The moonlights are nice to have. Just a standard on/off here, and I like having them instead of not having them and saving an outlet. It's too bad these couldn't mimic the function of the Apex Lunar Sim modules, with different light intensities and following the lunar cycle. It could technically be done, but a small dimmable driver and another ethernet port would need to be added in. I'm undecided if I'd want to plug up all of the vdm ports on my apex for just one light. It would ruin the ability of running two lights via the vdm ports without voiding your warranty by modifying the driver wires to the ethernet port. Its fine as-is.
Overall I'm very happy with the fixture. It's nice to have an Apex option on the market, with much better light output compared to an AI Sol module. Building a DIY fixture comparable in quality to this would be a major pain in the *** to most people. $379-399 is a good price for what you get, but when it was $359 on sale, that was an excellent price... a no brainer buy if you want leds and have an Apex.
Some pics of it running:
bhazard451
New member
Radions are nice fixtures, just absurdly overpriced. Output wise, I would take this light over the Radion anyday. The Radion has some nice software options, but I find "thunderstorms" to be overhyped. They don't even look that great or natural on the Radion.
The Apex can do sunrise/sunset pretty well.
Mpfaff77
New member
I am still on the fence about AI sol blue or this light. I would say solarblast has better optics and power but sol seems to have better control. The Sol can control each color individually. Solarblast has how many channels? Are the red blue whites uv all controlled individually????
Edit : another few quick ? Can I plug into full apex without a VDM??? Same variable speed port right? It also uses 2 of the ports?
Edit : another few quick ? Can I plug into full apex without a VDM??? Same variable speed port right? It also uses 2 of the ports?
Last edited:
Dustin1300
Reefaholic
@bhazard, thanks for the review! From what I understand a future revision will have dimming options for the moonlights so you could easily tie into the Apex lunar cycle settings with the dimming.
@rudy, I earlier outlined that you cannot use lightning. Not really a feature I care about and think it just is going stress out fish more than anything. You can do sunrise/sunset/cloud simulation but the lightning is not possible (see earlier update):
@Mpfaff, the light currently has two dimable drivers and two channels. One channel controls the whites/reds and the second channel controls the blues/uvs. While the SOL can control each light individually that scares me. It might sound really nice on the surface as the granularity of control sounds nice, but you start playing with the spectrum a lot and not know what spectral output is coming out....You could easily find yourself with not so happy coral dying off.
Each port can control two different channels on the stock Apex base module so you can control up to four separate channels. According to Apex, they can control up to 6 lights/dimmers on one port. ReefLEDLights does a good explanation of the dimming and what's possible: http://reefledlights.com/neptun-apex-setup-programing/
@rudy, I earlier outlined that you cannot use lightning. Not really a feature I care about and think it just is going stress out fish more than anything. You can do sunrise/sunset/cloud simulation but the lightning is not possible (see earlier update):
@Mpfaff, the light currently has two dimable drivers and two channels. One channel controls the whites/reds and the second channel controls the blues/uvs. While the SOL can control each light individually that scares me. It might sound really nice on the surface as the granularity of control sounds nice, but you start playing with the spectrum a lot and not know what spectral output is coming out....You could easily find yourself with not so happy coral dying off.
Each port can control two different channels on the stock Apex base module so you can control up to four separate channels. According to Apex, they can control up to 6 lights/dimmers on one port. ReefLEDLights does a good explanation of the dimming and what's possible: http://reefledlights.com/neptun-apex-setup-programing/
Mpfaff77
New member
This all makes sense. Thanx for the link. I will read that tonight after work. I think leaning towards solarblast now. Another plus is better coverage and I also don't have to buy a vdm or a serial cable like I would with the SOL.
OrrG
Member
Well after weeks of research it seems the Apollo is going to offer the best value/performance for me especially with the new model just announced. I have an Apex with VDM so the direct integration is definately a huge selling point, along with quality parts.
My one question is, how hard is it to fine tune the color spectrum with the Apex? Is it just a matter of running the blues at a higher intensity than the whites or is there more involved? I run two 250W radiums and two 54W ATI blue plus T5s so I do like my tank on the blue side.
My one question is, how hard is it to fine tune the color spectrum with the Apex? Is it just a matter of running the blues at a higher intensity than the whites or is there more involved? I run two 250W radiums and two 54W ATI blue plus T5s so I do like my tank on the blue side.
Dustin1300
Reefaholic
I like to run mine a little stronger on the blues and tone back the whites some. I've been ramping lights up slowly over the past couple months and just changed my whites to 90% and blues/uv to 100% tonight. I likely will stick with that color as it's a little blue and not really bright white like I don't desire. I'm really happy with this and I don't have any doubt you'll find the right colors you want by going with the new fixture and calibrating to your tastes
mrbncal
New member
Well I have been a metal halide and T-5 guy for a long time and just recently went all t5 to combat heat issues and chiller costs. After a long research and wait period I am happy to say that I am getting my two new Apollo dimmable units this week! The shop I work at got some of the first models when these came out. They have not disappointed. For the cost vs features and output...I just dont think you can beat these lights. Looking forward to getting them over my reef.
Dustin1300
Reefaholic
Sounds like you've seen that they work already. Please share pics of the shop tank and yours once you get the lights!
vbsaltydog
Member
I have two dimmables over my 135g and my corals like them. I am not done with my canopy build but once that is complete, I will upload some pics.
Dustin1300
Reefaholic
Does everyone have bad camera "skills" like me? 
Can't wait to see some of the tanks that have had them for quite some time.
Can't wait to see some of the tanks that have had them for quite some time.
bhazard451
New member
Does everyone have bad camera "skills" like me?
Can't wait to see some of the tanks that have had them for quite some time.
Yep. I have no camera budget, because it all goes into the tanks instead. lol
Dustin1300
Reefaholic
I've got the camera, now just need the macro lens and have not wanted to send $600-$1000 that way...
bhazard451
New member
RC member jwoyshnar just picked them up and loves them. She was debating chinese fixtures or these. She lives like 10 min away from Apollo headquarters, so it was a no brainer. She posted a review in a separate post.
I sold mine to another member as well. I finished up a DIY 180w Cree/Luxeon fixture with 4 channels of leds and no longer needed it. I'll see what his thoughts were on it.
Honestly speaking, I spent around $300 to build the 180w Cree/Luxeon fixture, and although it is more flexible in color control, and a bit brighter, the Apollo looks nearly just as bright, and you don't need to spend hours building it. The Acti-red is a solid light, especially for Apex users.
Dustin1300
Reefaholic
Agreed, I saw someone over on r 2 r was just getting one in yesterday so would love to see some pictures
Dustin1300
Reefaholic
I just posted in the small thread jwoyshnar started and ask that some pics be posted of the new fixture! Hopefully we get some additional shots and keep this thread going.
saltyjarhead
New member
WTH as soon as you get a new light setup its outdated and you have to get a new one. I just bought a new LED from my LFS and looks pretty close to these but doesn't have the option to run the controller.
Similar threads
