Broncos
New member
I purchased 3 24" pro fixtures about 1 year ago and I'd like to report my experience to date.
THE GOOD:
These fixtures have an excellent color spectrum which looks great and i can grow most anything under them (an extra strip in each fixture wouldn't hurt and thats their new approach).
They don't overheat my tank at all.
They have great customer service.
Expandability provides uniform coverage and little color banding.
THE BAD:
These fixtures have LOTS of connections nd the connectors from the three into one wires are identical so one could easily plug things in wrong (i.e. plug a strip directly into the transformer OR plug one 3 to 1 into another 3 to 1, etc.). This is very complicated with multiple fixtures! replacing lights takes lots of time and dilligence to ensure the wiring is correct.
The wiring covers are cramped and its difficult to squeeze another fixture's wire under them. The wiring covers screws rust and want o strip out the aluminum slot they go into. They are a PITA to add fixtures to... Not like the ads where they magically expand.
My setup requires 6 outlets. Mahing room in APEX EB8 is, well, interesting. They shock me lightly if i touch them when my hand is in the tank
They have good customer service. This is bad? IME this is a sign of companies that experience lots of quality issues.
THE UGLY:
A couple of dimmers failed. I dissasembled one-it was melted internally. Scary. I eventually removed them all when i got my APEX. They are advertized as dimmable...thats true, but you have to do this manually, in my case via 6 different rheostats.
Oh yeah, ALL 15 OF MY MODULES FAILED IN LESS THAN A YEAR. They slowly started "melting" leds within each strip, then total failure. This occured slowly over several months and i didn't notice it at first. Customer service replaced them but it took a long time from when i noticed, negotiating with customer service, shipping and then finding time to rip out my fixtures to replace them which can take a long time (my career requires lots of OT). My last two strips failed recently and I just bought more-I dont want any more help from customer service. I lost quite a few corals in the first round.
I was told that these should have fans on them by customer service. The absence of need for noisy fans was one of the reasons i bought them. In my opinion, the reflectors and their hood design may have contributed to trapping heat. They have changed the design (because of failures?) but the old ones had small electrical components that were exposed through the epoxy they use to pot the LEDs in. New ones dont have this issue. This may have contributed?
SUMMARY
I spent $1500 on these to reduce cost (bulbs and bills), heat and downtime for replacing bulbs. I have wasted a LOT of time trying to fix and replace these strips over the past 6 months or so... I hope the replacements last. I'm poor, this isn't pocket change to me.
As i was replacing the last of these today, i removed my netting to remove my lights and my favorite fairy wrasse silently exited my tank:fish1:. It was very upsetting. Between that and my corals, I've lost hundreds of dollars in livestock. The constant hardware repairs are taking the fun out of this hobby.
I would never buy these again. I give them a D- (woulda given an F if they didn't have such nice color).
If you've experienced similar issues, please post here or PM me. I'd like to know your experience.
Matt
THE GOOD:
These fixtures have an excellent color spectrum which looks great and i can grow most anything under them (an extra strip in each fixture wouldn't hurt and thats their new approach).
They don't overheat my tank at all.
They have great customer service.
Expandability provides uniform coverage and little color banding.
THE BAD:
These fixtures have LOTS of connections nd the connectors from the three into one wires are identical so one could easily plug things in wrong (i.e. plug a strip directly into the transformer OR plug one 3 to 1 into another 3 to 1, etc.). This is very complicated with multiple fixtures! replacing lights takes lots of time and dilligence to ensure the wiring is correct.
The wiring covers are cramped and its difficult to squeeze another fixture's wire under them. The wiring covers screws rust and want o strip out the aluminum slot they go into. They are a PITA to add fixtures to... Not like the ads where they magically expand.
My setup requires 6 outlets. Mahing room in APEX EB8 is, well, interesting. They shock me lightly if i touch them when my hand is in the tank
They have good customer service. This is bad? IME this is a sign of companies that experience lots of quality issues.
THE UGLY:
A couple of dimmers failed. I dissasembled one-it was melted internally. Scary. I eventually removed them all when i got my APEX. They are advertized as dimmable...thats true, but you have to do this manually, in my case via 6 different rheostats.
Oh yeah, ALL 15 OF MY MODULES FAILED IN LESS THAN A YEAR. They slowly started "melting" leds within each strip, then total failure. This occured slowly over several months and i didn't notice it at first. Customer service replaced them but it took a long time from when i noticed, negotiating with customer service, shipping and then finding time to rip out my fixtures to replace them which can take a long time (my career requires lots of OT). My last two strips failed recently and I just bought more-I dont want any more help from customer service. I lost quite a few corals in the first round.
I was told that these should have fans on them by customer service. The absence of need for noisy fans was one of the reasons i bought them. In my opinion, the reflectors and their hood design may have contributed to trapping heat. They have changed the design (because of failures?) but the old ones had small electrical components that were exposed through the epoxy they use to pot the LEDs in. New ones dont have this issue. This may have contributed?
SUMMARY
I spent $1500 on these to reduce cost (bulbs and bills), heat and downtime for replacing bulbs. I have wasted a LOT of time trying to fix and replace these strips over the past 6 months or so... I hope the replacements last. I'm poor, this isn't pocket change to me.
As i was replacing the last of these today, i removed my netting to remove my lights and my favorite fairy wrasse silently exited my tank:fish1:. It was very upsetting. Between that and my corals, I've lost hundreds of dollars in livestock. The constant hardware repairs are taking the fun out of this hobby.
I would never buy these again. I give them a D- (woulda given an F if they didn't have such nice color).
If you've experienced similar issues, please post here or PM me. I'd like to know your experience.
Matt
