Mark_C
New member
Initial item: Fluval Marine and Reef LED bar, 36"-46", 25K white, 400/420/440/460 blues, 35W, 1630 lumens.
Cost: Approximately $250 (though you can find it on occasional sale at chain stores for approx. $150 - $180)
Consideration: This unit is designed that the edge of the bar sits on the outside of the lip of the tank. Its interesting that other units tend to accomodate 36-48" tanks. As this unit only extends to 46", if you decided to upgrade to a 48" tank, which I'm doing this spring, you'll have to buy the next size up
Looks: Squareish, top of unit is fringed like a large heatsink (which may well have been a design consideration)
Set up and operation: Set up was plug and play. It has a 3 way switch, manual operation only, which can be set to spectrum, moon, or off. There is no ability to ramp it, it is on or off operation. I plugged it into a timer and had it kick on (full spectrum) at 11am. After arriving home at approx. 8pm I'd manually switch to blues and then, at 11 when timer shut off, I'd flip the switch back to spectrum for the next day's cycle.
Impression: I've been running it for my initial 4 months. Light was very strong, very white, and very crisp, it was almost glaring. If you've ever had a "˜daylight lamp' that is how this spectrum of light appeared.
Effects: My tank is quite young and I'm building uwith a few zoa plugs, one of which is bleaching. I introduced a colony rock of zoas a few weeks ago with a mini-maxi hitchhiker. 1/3 of the zoas on the rock are bleaching and the mini-maxi, though staying out of the direct light, is losing some color on its green outskirts - its not bleaching, but it definitely was fading. Over the past few weeks I've also had a not unexpected diatome bloom, though this seems unusually dense. Water parameters are fine, feeding is controlled, theres an adequate cuc, and there is no reason I can fathom that this bloom is so aggressive outside of the possibility of the lighting.
Today, the new toy arrived"¦
Item: Current USA Orbit Marine 36-48", 8-12K white with 445/460 actinic, 36W
Cost: $170
Considerations: The unit can fit up to 48" tanks. It has a remote control with options ranging from controlling white/blues to mimicking cloudy afternoons or thunderstorms, it even has a specific lighting setting for acclimation of new corals.
Looks: Very slimline and sleek, actually think it adds to the tank.
Set up and operation: Initial set up is simple. Led strip plugs into digital (backlit) control unit, which then plugs into power brick. Use the remote to set the time on the digital display, and hit a program button. You may never never to touch the controller again (but I will, many times, there's a lot of interesting stuff on it with tons of versatility).
Impression: The light from this unit seemed much more natural as compared to the Fluval. Over the course of a few hours the lighting cycled through a few different, though subtle, spectrum variations. Overall the aquarium looked well lit enough to allow growth. At 8:30pm the moonlights came on automatically and have enhanced the zoas dramatically in comparison to the Fluval.
Effects: Just installed the unit today. I'm hoping for a restoration of some of the fading zoas (or at least halting the progression of the zoas and the mini-maxi that are fading), and an assist in halting the diatome outbreak.
If anyone has interest I'll keep up a running review, with photos, on the performance of the Current USA.
Oh, and"¦ 40b, 78˚F, 2 WP-10s & a 425gph, Eshopps overflow 300gph, frags, 2 clowns, 1 chromie, 1 blennie, 1 cleaner shrimp, 2 (was recently 1) bubble anem, cuc, SG 1.025, 8.3pH, ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 0, phosphate 0.1, calcium 450, Magnesium 1400, alkalinity 7.6KH
Cost: Approximately $250 (though you can find it on occasional sale at chain stores for approx. $150 - $180)
Consideration: This unit is designed that the edge of the bar sits on the outside of the lip of the tank. Its interesting that other units tend to accomodate 36-48" tanks. As this unit only extends to 46", if you decided to upgrade to a 48" tank, which I'm doing this spring, you'll have to buy the next size up
Looks: Squareish, top of unit is fringed like a large heatsink (which may well have been a design consideration)
Set up and operation: Set up was plug and play. It has a 3 way switch, manual operation only, which can be set to spectrum, moon, or off. There is no ability to ramp it, it is on or off operation. I plugged it into a timer and had it kick on (full spectrum) at 11am. After arriving home at approx. 8pm I'd manually switch to blues and then, at 11 when timer shut off, I'd flip the switch back to spectrum for the next day's cycle.
Impression: I've been running it for my initial 4 months. Light was very strong, very white, and very crisp, it was almost glaring. If you've ever had a "˜daylight lamp' that is how this spectrum of light appeared.
Effects: My tank is quite young and I'm building uwith a few zoa plugs, one of which is bleaching. I introduced a colony rock of zoas a few weeks ago with a mini-maxi hitchhiker. 1/3 of the zoas on the rock are bleaching and the mini-maxi, though staying out of the direct light, is losing some color on its green outskirts - its not bleaching, but it definitely was fading. Over the past few weeks I've also had a not unexpected diatome bloom, though this seems unusually dense. Water parameters are fine, feeding is controlled, theres an adequate cuc, and there is no reason I can fathom that this bloom is so aggressive outside of the possibility of the lighting.
Today, the new toy arrived"¦
Item: Current USA Orbit Marine 36-48", 8-12K white with 445/460 actinic, 36W
Cost: $170
Considerations: The unit can fit up to 48" tanks. It has a remote control with options ranging from controlling white/blues to mimicking cloudy afternoons or thunderstorms, it even has a specific lighting setting for acclimation of new corals.
Looks: Very slimline and sleek, actually think it adds to the tank.
Set up and operation: Initial set up is simple. Led strip plugs into digital (backlit) control unit, which then plugs into power brick. Use the remote to set the time on the digital display, and hit a program button. You may never never to touch the controller again (but I will, many times, there's a lot of interesting stuff on it with tons of versatility).
Impression: The light from this unit seemed much more natural as compared to the Fluval. Over the course of a few hours the lighting cycled through a few different, though subtle, spectrum variations. Overall the aquarium looked well lit enough to allow growth. At 8:30pm the moonlights came on automatically and have enhanced the zoas dramatically in comparison to the Fluval.
Effects: Just installed the unit today. I'm hoping for a restoration of some of the fading zoas (or at least halting the progression of the zoas and the mini-maxi that are fading), and an assist in halting the diatome outbreak.
If anyone has interest I'll keep up a running review, with photos, on the performance of the Current USA.
Oh, and"¦ 40b, 78˚F, 2 WP-10s & a 425gph, Eshopps overflow 300gph, frags, 2 clowns, 1 chromie, 1 blennie, 1 cleaner shrimp, 2 (was recently 1) bubble anem, cuc, SG 1.025, 8.3pH, ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 0, phosphate 0.1, calcium 450, Magnesium 1400, alkalinity 7.6KH
