Deep Blue Professional lighting...

[TripleT]

Anybody have these lights?

My LFS has the 48" 4x54 w/ moon lights for $250.

My 75 gallon FOWLR has 2 T12's right now... and I feel like I should upgrade the lighting, or scrap everything and upgrade to a larger tank.

What to do, what to do...

http://www.fishtanksdirect.com/48Inch4x54wT5HODeepBlueLightingSystem.aspx

 

[Johnny C]

They are very new on the market. From what I saw it looked like a decent fixture. I'll try to get around to PAR testing it this week.

 

[sedor]

Looks decent. I would scrap the bulbs (or save them as backups) and go with a higher end bulb. That holds true for really all fixtures though.

If your thinking about a bigger tank it might be best to just take the plunge instead of sinking another $300 into your current one. Every time I start dreaming of a new tank somehow it ends up happening and generally quicker than I imagine.

 

[one4gatr]

Yup saw the same fixtures in my LFS as well. They dont know much about them unfortunately. I am getting a price today but will probably pass on them. I like that the come with 3 independent switches but the "built-in" timer scares me as the unit only as a single plug for all 3 banks. I dont know if you saw this plugged in yet (i did) but I wasnt OVERLY impressed with the reflectors. I could easily flip a 2x36 fixture over and I didnt really need to shade my eyes. They look like a decent fixture but the price point seems a bit high. The site you reference shows the 4x24 for $215 which puts it in the same ballpark as the Tek, Current, Wavepoint, etc... So given the price and that I will need to change out the bulbs immediately I am probably going to pass. For a cheapy fixture have you looked at the fishneedit ones? I know a few people who have used them with ATI/Geismann bulbs and have been fairly pleased. Good luck!

http://www.fishneedit.com/4ft4bulbs-with-l44.html

 

[TripleT]

Looks decent. I would scrap the bulbs (or save them as backups) and go with a higher end bulb. That holds true for really all fixtures though.

If your thinking about a bigger tank it might be best to just take the plunge instead of sinking another $300 into your current one. Every time I start dreaming of a new tank somehow it ends up happening and generally quicker than I imagine.

I couldn't resist, and picked up the 4x54 for my 75 gallon today. It was just too easy after considering the cost of upgrading the entire tank.

Seems like a nice fixture... and the price was very good ($250).

A huge difference from my old fixture, which had 2 t12's and sat directly on the tank top. This is much brighter, and sitting up a few inches on the optional legs, the light illuminates the whole room quite a bit. Not sure I like that, but maybe I just need a little time to get used to it.

The colors on my fish look more vibrant, but I was hoping for a blue quality to the light... and I don't really notice that with the bulbs it shipped with.

If it has 2 10000K daylights, and 2 actinic 03 bulbs, what should I try to get a noticeable blue shade?

I was actually considering taking out one of the 10000K daylights, and replacing it with some kind of actinic.

Any suggestions?

 

[TripleT]

The program just turned off the daylight bulbs, leaving just the actinics and moonlights.

This is the best my tank has ever looked at "tank dusk".

 

[TripleT]

Hmmm... moonlights are medium intensity I would say.

My fish definitely had a new routine... taking much longer to settle down.

Then I checked out the tank around 2AM, after 4 hours of just moonlights...

My clarkii clown who always sleeps in the corner, in a near coma, within a few inches of the overflow, looked wide awake, swimming up and down repeatedly, near the bottom of the tank.



It didn't look very restful to me, so I turned off the lights completely with the single switch located on the back of the unit.

This morning I flipped the switch back on, but the unit seems to have lost the time of day, and programming, so I had to reset these.

If my fish don't adjust to the moonlight in the next day or two, I'll be looking to return this unit for one that is more programmable (and doesn't forget its settings when turned off), or that has separate cords that can be plugged into cheap timers, or a controller.

It's a nice enough light, at a good price, but has a few shortcomings.

 

[46nBliss]

Tripple T what is your review of this fixture after all this time? I'm in the market and would appreciate your feedback.
thanks

 

[BTilly]

I have used deep blue lights for my cichlid tanks and love them.

Deep Blue Double Bulb 48" T-5 Strip Light with Moonlights: Comes with one each 28 watt t-5 10,000k & Actinic bulbs and 8 Moonlights. $52.95 Each

I was looking at purchasing these for my 40g breeder FOWLR.

Deep Blue Quad Bulb 48" T-5 HO Strip Light with Moonlights:
Comes with two each 54 watt t-5 10,000k & Actinic bulbs and 8 Moonlights. Built in timer! $214.95 Each

I have heard good things from fellow cichlid club members on these lights.

 

[TripleT]

Tripple T what is your review of this fixture after all this time? I'm in the market and would appreciate your feedback.
thanks

I paid $250, which I though was a great price.

Nice looking housing.

Love the moonlights. Not too bright, not too dim. My fish have adjusted. And it's fun watching the cleaner shrimps go about their business. They roam the entire tank at night.

Built-in fans are fairly quiet, even after about 8 months. They vent out the right side.

Programming is a pain. Buttons are a little tough to push, and you need to decipher the blinking LED's to tell what lights you're setting the time for. But since you won't be changing the programming often, not a big deal.

The moonlights are on 24/7. Not a problem for me.

You can't control each T5 bulb individually. You program when bulbs 1 and 3 turn on/off. And the same for bulbs 2 and 4.

If you have a controller, like the Neptune Apex, it cannot control the lights. This requires lighting with multiple power cords, which this one does not have. Not to mention that cutting the power loses the time setting.

Changing bulbs is a pain. You have to loosen the set screws on the mounting legs to get them out of the way, swing open the glass cover, and get the legs back to where they belong, and tighten the set screws again. Not a problem if you are going to hang it from the ceiling of course. And I don't think this is a problem specific to Deep Blue Professional.

If I lose power, or flip a circuit breaker, I have to reset the time. So once in a while I come home, and the tank thinks it is like 2AM, because I lost power 2 hours earlier (this seems to happen to me once every month or two, very annoying).

I think some say the reflector is not as efficient as it could be, but I'm not enough of a lighting expert to tell.

Overall... I'm satisfied. And for the price, hard not to recommend.

 

[46nBliss]

Thanks for the review this helps a lot!

 

[TripleT]

Just posting a quick update. Came home yesterday and the lights were out, and the display on the front of the unit was flickering.

Deep Blue responded to my email the same day, and are sending me replacement parts to repair the unit myself (which I had offered as a solution).

I'll post an update with how things go.

 

[fetta]

I have had nothing but trouble with this light I have gone through 4 of these units in 8 months with problems like led moonlight burning out after a week to my circuit board frying and nothing working. Now it's been a week since I emailed (would call but can't find number anywhere) and still no response. So I am done with them completely, although 275 down the drain........... Lessons learned I guess

 

[blazzing_ray]

I had the same prob as above less dying after a month then a burning smell and lights dimmed a little so I just ended up Geting the nova 8 bulb for my 90 gallon