So I've been here for a while, and I have been keeping reef tanks of varying sizes up to my current 180 consistently since 2004. It's time to re-do the basement after 7 years, so its time to take everything apart for the re-carpet then start again. As far as lighting goes I have 3 different halides (from 150 to 400), 2 light rails and more T5's than I could shake a big stick at. I have wired at least 7 different Icecap ballasts without burning my house down. Yet.
I figured that now was the right time for me to try out some LEDs, and after some quiet contemplation I decided to pick up a new A360W. I did it partly because I had heard good things, partly because I am running T5's right now and miss my halide shimmer, and partly because I will have a new Apex controller shortly (which I was getting anyway) and I like the idea of dawn/dusk. Scratch that - it's mostly because I want to try something shiny and new.
Some thoughts, in no particular order:
- I've heard some things about this replacing anything up to and including a 400W halide. I have halides (one of which is a 400W lumenarc/icecap/XM combo sitting 2 feet away from this light). Based on my own eyes I can see this being somewhere between a 150 and a 250 (the latter being pretty optimistic IMHO, but maybe spectrum comes into play too). If you think that this is going to be as bright as a 400W halide in a decent reflector, then you probably haven't ever seen a 400W halide in a decent reflector.
- This thing runs cold. After 8 hours of running at 100% today, it was barely warm to the touch. I can believe that watt for watt this is more efficient than a halide (but I don't believe that we are talking about that huge a margin either).
- The color spread is decent, and ranges from too yellow to too blue for my tastes. I can't be scientific about how much light drop-off there is at the ends of the spectrum, but I actually rather like it in the middle, so lucky me.
- The packaging says it comes with both an interconnect cable and a controller cable. Mine didn't come with either. I'll not judge anyone on that until I seek out and receive a response.
- The light doesn't come on with the dimmer below 30%. I was hoping for a slightly lower introductory light level. If I can tweak the color with the controller, and come in at one end of the spectrum then I don't see this as too big of a deal (and over the tank it probably really isn't). Until I get the cable, and the controller I will not know.
- It appears to be well made, and initial setup is lego easy and went without a hitch.
- This is a point light source. This is more of a point light source than anything I have ever seen. You might think a halide in a reflector is a point light source, but it has nothing on this (the reflector will be reflecting and scattering a portion of the light over a relatively wide area, this is really really a point). This is both good and bad - the shimmer really is impressive, but the shadowing under any obstruction is severe (with multiple lights in the tank there would definitely be spill-over between lights, so I may be judging this a little too harshly, but I only have one so far to play with).
- The light spread is pretty ridiculous, and I will be running this much closer to the water than I would any other light I have owned. I'm not saying that this is good or bad, it just is.
So, my current plan, assuming that I can control it properly, is to get 2 more, and re-assess the shadowing in the tank with multiple lights. I do like it, and while I can believe it is turning power into light more efficiently than any other light I have owned, this isn't a magic lamp that can suddenly turn 90W of input into 400W of halide output either.
My final tank lighting will most likely contain at least 2 60" T5's to tune out some of the shading, but this is definitely going to be the main lighting solution. It's also possible that with some clever rockwork I could really grow to like the "deep dark cave" look (I know a cardinal fish that almost certainly would), and just stick with 3 x 360W's. Who knows - time will tell.
Anyway, so in short, it looks different to anything else I have tried, output-wise it doesn't suck but falls short of being a magic-powered superlight, and I have a new toy to play with. One day I will post pictures, but I am currently setting up the stock tank for the move, so everything is in more disarray than I wish to share. Maybe in a week or so.
Dave
I figured that now was the right time for me to try out some LEDs, and after some quiet contemplation I decided to pick up a new A360W. I did it partly because I had heard good things, partly because I am running T5's right now and miss my halide shimmer, and partly because I will have a new Apex controller shortly (which I was getting anyway) and I like the idea of dawn/dusk. Scratch that - it's mostly because I want to try something shiny and new.
Some thoughts, in no particular order:
- I've heard some things about this replacing anything up to and including a 400W halide. I have halides (one of which is a 400W lumenarc/icecap/XM combo sitting 2 feet away from this light). Based on my own eyes I can see this being somewhere between a 150 and a 250 (the latter being pretty optimistic IMHO, but maybe spectrum comes into play too). If you think that this is going to be as bright as a 400W halide in a decent reflector, then you probably haven't ever seen a 400W halide in a decent reflector.
- This thing runs cold. After 8 hours of running at 100% today, it was barely warm to the touch. I can believe that watt for watt this is more efficient than a halide (but I don't believe that we are talking about that huge a margin either).
- The color spread is decent, and ranges from too yellow to too blue for my tastes. I can't be scientific about how much light drop-off there is at the ends of the spectrum, but I actually rather like it in the middle, so lucky me.
- The packaging says it comes with both an interconnect cable and a controller cable. Mine didn't come with either. I'll not judge anyone on that until I seek out and receive a response.
- The light doesn't come on with the dimmer below 30%. I was hoping for a slightly lower introductory light level. If I can tweak the color with the controller, and come in at one end of the spectrum then I don't see this as too big of a deal (and over the tank it probably really isn't). Until I get the cable, and the controller I will not know.
- It appears to be well made, and initial setup is lego easy and went without a hitch.
- This is a point light source. This is more of a point light source than anything I have ever seen. You might think a halide in a reflector is a point light source, but it has nothing on this (the reflector will be reflecting and scattering a portion of the light over a relatively wide area, this is really really a point). This is both good and bad - the shimmer really is impressive, but the shadowing under any obstruction is severe (with multiple lights in the tank there would definitely be spill-over between lights, so I may be judging this a little too harshly, but I only have one so far to play with).
- The light spread is pretty ridiculous, and I will be running this much closer to the water than I would any other light I have owned. I'm not saying that this is good or bad, it just is.
So, my current plan, assuming that I can control it properly, is to get 2 more, and re-assess the shadowing in the tank with multiple lights. I do like it, and while I can believe it is turning power into light more efficiently than any other light I have owned, this isn't a magic lamp that can suddenly turn 90W of input into 400W of halide output either.
My final tank lighting will most likely contain at least 2 60" T5's to tune out some of the shading, but this is definitely going to be the main lighting solution. It's also possible that with some clever rockwork I could really grow to like the "deep dark cave" look (I know a cardinal fish that almost certainly would), and just stick with 3 x 360W's. Who knows - time will tell.
Anyway, so in short, it looks different to anything else I have tried, output-wise it doesn't suck but falls short of being a magic-powered superlight, and I have a new toy to play with. One day I will post pictures, but I am currently setting up the stock tank for the move, so everything is in more disarray than I wish to share. Maybe in a week or so.
Dave
