Apollo Reef LED SolarBlast Dimable Review

[Dustin1300]

In planning for my 600 gallon tank build, I've been looking at several LED fixtures out on the market because having MHs/T5s and a chiller were not feasible in building a tank of this size. After searching high and low, and taking away many of the features I find to be pointless, I believe I've settled on the Apollo Reef LED SolarBlast Dimable fixture. This is my first review but believe that on RC this fixture has not had a lot of exposure. I'm in no way affiliated with Apollo Reef LED and just a fellow Reefaholic looking to share a review on a fixture I find to be a great choice in the current LED market.

First off, the unboxing. The fixture is made up of 55 X 3 Watt BridgeLux LEDs with 90 degree optics and 2 blue LEDs on ON/OFF switch for moonlights and power consumption comes out to ~120 Watts as the LEDs are driven at ~2 watts each. LEDs are made up of a blend of Royal Blues (453 NM), UVs (405 NM), and "œhigh noon whites" at 6500K. The fixture has three power cords and two dimable ports that you use a straight through network cable to tie into the controller of your choice. Channel one covers the whites and channel two covers the RBs/UVs and separate power and toggle switch for the moonlights.

Overall, I'm very satisfied with the fixture and the control I have. While it does not have 8 channels and a full software integration, many of the features such as lightning, sunrise/sunset, and cloud movement can all be easily configured with your controller. With the option to control the RBs/UV and Whites on separate channels I'm able to get the color I desire with the appropriate spectrum that the coral enjoy. Red/Green LEDs are not of concern and if I ever wanted them, I could easily supplement them with some DIY LEDs.

Toggle switches are built in to turn the lights ON/OFF when needed. Power cords need to be on controller/timer to turn off RBs/UVs and Whites so the fan does not constantly run and a third controllable outlet for the moonlights also help to kick them on once the main lights dim down. The fans are quiet and would be happy with the sound level in a living area. Should one fail later down the road, 60mm fans are readily available and could be easily swapped out with the molex connectors under the hood.

With all that being said, below I've quickly outlined the Pros/Cons of the fixture. In following posts I also include PAR readings I performed in my frag tank over a 36"X24" area at three depths and 25 different locations totaling 75 readings. I've also taken the 75 sample PAR readings at four different heights based on Apollo Reef LEDs recommended mounting heights above the water surface; 1) 8", 2) 10", 3) 12", and 4) 14".

Pros:

• Price/Performance Factor
• Spread and PAR on Deeper Tanks
• Dimable Options (Sunrise/Sunset, Cloud Simulation, and Lightning)
• Great Customer Service from Apollo (Joe is owner and very responsive to each question I had)
• 2 Year Warranty

Cons:

• 3 Power Cords
• Controller Required for Dimable Fixture (Apex, ReefAngel, and Profilux supported)

Package includes light fixture, hanging kit, 3 power cords, straight through network cable, and instructions.

5 Rows of 11 BridgeLux LEDs with 90 degree optics.

29 Royal Blues, 22 Whites, and 4 UVs.

Case opened up and shows MeanWell 60-48D Drivers and three 60mm fans. Everything is well organized and has molex connectors should a part fail and need replacement.

Aluminum heatsink and fully aluminum housing.

"œNetwork Port" where RJ45 goes and three power cords.

And now to the PAR readings"¦They were all done using a Apogee QMSW-SS Quantum Meter and I used the Electric setting on all. Many will say LED PAR numbers don't mean everything because PAR meters don't measure the PAR spectrum very well and the light is actually brighter than represented by PAR readings alone. This is just a common measurement I find to be a good representation of how big of a PAR monster these things are!

Meter Used.

Fixture mounted at 8" above water surface with measurements at surface, 6" down, and 13" down.

 

[Dustin1300]

PAR Readings Cont'd

PAR Readings Cont'd

Fixture mounted at 10" above water surface with measurements at surface, 6" down, and 13" down.

Fixture mounted at 12" above water surface with measurements at surface, 6" down, and 13" down.

Fixture mounted at 14" above water surface with measurements at surface, 6" down, and 13" down.

 

[bhazard451]

Awesome, AWESOME review with Par numbers. I've tried many fixtures and this is the best option for reefers with Apex controllers that I've found. It even has moonlights. Knowing that it uses Meanwells in parallel strings, aluminum heatsink, and with quick connects is nice. Soldering in different color leds would be tricky since it is in parallel.

One question I have though... are the moonlights on a separate dimmable driver? I don't think it is. Apex can follow the moon cycle, and it turns on and dims moonlights according to the cycle on its lunar sim unit. I don't think it would be possible to program these moonlights to turn on/off at different times like that with this. Am I wrong? If it could do this, that's an extra $80 saved in not needing the moonlight module.

 

[Dustin1300]

Awesome, AWESOME review with Par numbers. I've tried many fixtures and this is the best option for reefers with Apex controllers that I've found. It even has moonlights. Knowing that it uses Meanwells in parallel strings, aluminum heatsink, and with quick connects is nice. Soldering in different color leds would be tricky since it is in parallel.

One question I have though... are the moonlights on a separate dimmable driver? I don't think it is. Apex can follow the moon cycle, and it turns on and dims moonlights according to the cycle on its lunar sim unit. I don't think it would be possible to program these moonlights to turn on/off at different times like that with this. Am I wrong? If it could do this, that's an extra $80 saved in not needing the moonlight module.

Agreed, the negative is having to have a controller but was nothing I had to add. I still have two more channels available on my Apex and can add a VDM module to add more for more fixtures if I don't want them sharing the same channels.

As far as the moonlights, they do not dim currently but are on separate power. I have the moonlights kick on right after my blues dim down for two hours so I really am not sure having the moonlights on a dimmer is really needed. Should the moonlights be moved to a dimmer, the three cords could be consolidated to one and would help take away some of the unneeded power cords. That answer your question?

 

[biecacka]

Dustin can I ask how much for these fixtures?
Corey

 

[Dustin1300]

Dustin can I ask how much for these fixtures?
Corey

I paid $399 but the past two weeks they've been running them on special for $359. I've been told 6 will cover my 600 gallon (96"X48"X30") which is better than the Radions I was originally considering which would I was told I'd need 12-16 fixtures.

$2154 compared to $8988-$11984. I know the two fixtures are not in the same league but I find a GUI and some of the other LEDs pretty useless to the spectrum. (Not really wanting to debate that here but fixture does not have red/greens) With LEDs in reefing still developing, I'm not willing to make such a large investment because I think lots of things will come out in the next 2-3 years.

 

[Mike S]

Good review Dustin. Ive had a pair of these over my 120 for about 5 months now and am very happy with them. I may have missed it but what % were you running you lights at when you did the PAR readings? The only two things that I would change about them is the number of power cords and dimmable moonlights. Those moonlights are so bright a lot of my fish dont settle down for sleep if I leave them on.

 

[Dustin1300]

Good review Dustin. Ive had a pair of these over my 120 for about 5 months now and am very happy with them. I may have missed it but what % were you running you lights at when you did the PAR readings? The only two things that I would change about them is the number of power cords and dimmable moonlights. Those moonlights are so bright a lot of my fish dont settle down for sleep if I leave them on.

Lights were 100% on both channels for testing.

Yesterday before I posted review I was awaiting a reply from ApolloReef on the 90 degree optics and Joe let me know that they are trying to currently incorporate the three cords into one. I'd love that as it's a lot of cords to manage.

 

[Mike S]

I did some quick testing early on with my lights about 14 inches above the water and was generally seeing about 400 to 500 about 6 inches down and 100 on my sand. Ive been meaning to borrow my clubs par meter to find a good hanging height.

The three cords isnt that big of a deal. A few black cable ties cleaned them up. Its also nice that they are removable in case you didn't like to run longer cords.

 

[jdander2]

Great review, and the PAR number charts are really nice to have in addition to information from Apollo directly.

I have two over my 75 (48x18x20), and the only real negative is the power cord issue. I have two units, which means I'm running 6 power cords. I am able to tie them off and tuck them away in my canopy, but the cords do start piling up. Good to know they're looking at consolidating.

Re: moonlights, I also wish they were on a dimmer. I ended up only using one light fixture (with 2 moonlights) and kept the second fixture dark. It actually looks kind of cool without being as bright as the four moonlights. I can still use the "If Moon" programming with them so their on/off is tied to the seasonal table, but I don't get the intensity levels.

I used to use the Lunar Sim module with 4 LEDs, which put out much less light and gave me the correct intensities for the seasonal lunar table. Haven't made up my mind which I like better lol.

One thing to note is that the fixtures don't dim lower than 10%, then they go dark. I think this is common for some LEDs though as that small of a voltage isn't enough to power them from the 0-9% range.

 

[Dustin1300]

Thanks for sharing guys. I meant to mention the dimming and seems to be a common theme that I've seen. Looking at Reef LED Lights site, they show the ELN60-48D having the capability of going down to 5% at 1Volt. That could be due to our controllers not putting out 1V or the LED not lighting at that low of current from the driver, either or....
http://reefledlights.com/how-to-diy-led/driver-faqs/

I'd love to see the moonlights on a dimmer as you've said, but I'm not going to be petty. If anyone has pictures of your Apollo fixtures and FTS please share. If you have growth shots even better. I'm currently battling some phosphates on frag tank I have the Apollo over so algae got out of control and my Hanna Meter was reading 0.00 ppm. Now that I got a new meter, seems I was actually at about 0.08 ppm so that explained why I was losing my colors and getting algae growth. About to change out 2 pounds of GFO today and that should drive the last 10 ppb phosphorous reading down to 0 in a short time.

 

[Chicago]

How do connect the driver to what to connect to the apex to control the led. Guess I should look in the DIY forums

 

[Dustin1300]

How do connect the driver to what to connect to the apex to control the led. Guess I should look in the DIY forums

Not sure I understand your question? Programming is quite simple on the Apex if that is what your asking. My program can be found at the following link:

Reeftronics Dustin1300 Program

I don't have anything complicated...Just slowly ramping up and down the blues/whites. Channel 1 (Pins 1/2) and channel 2 (Pins 5/6) control the whites and blues and you can see my ramp programs and my current intensities. If you have any questions about the programming let me know and I might be able to help.

 

[Crkbaby]

Good review I am using 4 of these fixtures for my 240 4'X4' setup I am building now. I love that if a driver or fan fails it's a simple fix. Apollo also offers a simple card that can be used to dim the lights instead of a very expensive controller.
The light also has moonlights they are power on and off but I think it will look nice for night time.

 

[Dustin1300]

Good review I am using 4 of these fixtures for my 240 4'X4' setup I am building now. I love that if a driver or fan fails it's a simple fix. Apollo also offers a simple card that can be used to dim the lights instead of a very expensive controller.
The light also has moonlights they are power on and off but I think it will look nice for night time.

That's a good point and I don't think I even saw those on the site when I purchased mine. If you want a different point of administration for the light, this is a great option and I'd think the RJ-45 connection unit would be the best option so you can easily link multiple systems.

http://apolloreefled.com/shop/apollo-reef-led-dim4-card-with-ethernet-jacks/

For me, I'd like to have the flexibility in the future and add a couple VDM modules so I can simulate sunrise/sunset from left to right or right to left on the tank. Not something I need but something I would not mind playing with

 

[aandfsoccr04]

I don't think I ever read a graph as difficult as that 3d graph above in 4 years of college lol. So I assume that the graphs say it has very good par values? Anotherwords, you'd recommend the fixture?

 

[Dustin1300]

I don't think I ever read a graph as difficult as that 3d graph above in 4 years of college lol. So I assume that the graphs say it has very good par values? Anotherwords, you'd recommend the fixture?

The graphs are rather simple and same as you'd see from some of the top LED researchers, Sanjay who does these graphs quite often. Horizontal axis are the grid for the tank...A through E covers a 36 inch area so each segment is 9 inches. 1 through 5 is 24 inches so each segment is 6 inches. Vertical axis represents the PAR readings...Does that make sense?

 

[aandfsoccr04]

Yeah that makes a little more sense. So you are showing that they put out an insane amount of PAR running at 100% on both channels? I think I may go with one of these over a frag tank as opposed to a kessil.

 

[Dustin1300]

Yeah that makes a little more sense. So you are showing that they put out an insane amount of PAR running at 100% on both channels? I think I may go with one of these over a frag tank as opposed to a kessil.

I'd say you'll have just as much PAR from one of these compared to a Kessil. What are the full dimensions of frag tank? If it's shallow your not going to have any problems with sufficient spread and PAR. My 36 inch stretch is a bit of a stretch but I can put low light corals on the skirts of where the light starts dropping off.

 

[aandfsoccr04]

I'm looking at the reef ready deep blue 80 gallon rimless tank.