Guygettnby
New member
I received my Arctic T247 about a week ago. As I open the box I feel like a child on Christmas morning. Upon opening the box I notice several things right off the get go. The lights weighed next to nothing. The finish is very nice, almost rubber like, seems it should hold up well over time.
A bit about why I decided to get this light. I have always had metal halide/T5 or metal halide/VHO combo lighting in the past and absolutely loved it. currently I was running 2 250w phoenix halides with 4 54w blue plus T5's over a 72g bow front tank. the color was great for me, great growth of everything in my tank. But I have always wanted to try LED lighting and could never pull the trigger. Have heard too many horror stories over the years and like every one else, I can not afford to lose all my corals.
After lots of reading, lots of questions from various vendors and of course many days of me talking it over with my wife. I talked to Stan over at OceanRevive for awhile, picked his brain as much as I could and determined this was the company I wanted to buy from. The friendly customer service I received was top notch, answered any questions I had, never got short with me even though I know I had to be driving him crazy with all the questions! After awhile I decided that the Arctic T247 was what I wanted to try out.
so back to current day. the light is currently mounted over my tank at about 8" over the water. currently have them set up at 30% ch1 and 20% ch2 trying to acclimate my tank right now. It is very hard to compare light intensity between MH/T5 to LED's. A PAR meter would for sure be helpful with this process. I did how ever try many different settings over my tank just to see how they would look at different settings. The light does put out a lot of light when turned up! This light is a HUGE difference then MH/T5 lights. The look of LED's is a whole different look to me. Pictures could NEVER show the true look of a LED tank.
Arctic T247 LED vs MH/T5
Pro's
1: Absolutely no heat.
2: Energy consumption is a lot less.
3: Cost of replacement bulbs.
4: Ability to change kelvin and intensity on the fly.
5: Not as much spill over light (if that matters to you).
6: Corals POP more under these lights then they do under T5. its a different kind of glow. Again maybe not for every one, but if you like that look this is a pro for sure.
7: Remote control is a cool option to have. Super small and useful for some functions when your sitting on your couch and being lazy.
8: ONLY 1 POWER CORD!
Con's
1: Dark spots. doesn't fill the tank like MH/T5 combo would. More direct lighting, if that makes any sense.
2: The red and green LED's put off a spot light appearance. meaning you can see exactly where they are placed in the fixture, when looking at the tank.
3: Some colors are not as vibrant compared to my MH/T5 combo. Like my yellow polyps are a bit washed out looking. could be the settings, so this might be a premature con.
4: Even though it is cool to have a remote control for these fixtures, the remote does not have the ability to only turn on/off 1 channel at a time. Like turning off the full spectrum portion and only leaving on the blues.
There is more to add to this list, on both sides, But I want to give the light more time for me to make adjustments. see how the corals react over some time. The shimmer effect of LED's looks like I have a disco ball in my living room ( My wife's words). This may be part of adjusting the light, but I can notice the red and green LED's in the shimmer. Might not be for every one, But my wife loves it. I personally think it is a little much as it sits right now.
I plan to add more information to this as time goes on. I wanted to speak my mind on what I felt about this light and my initial impressions. I did take pictures to post up, I did find taking pictures of the LED's over my tank was a bit harder for me to do. So I plan on having a buddy come over with a better camera later on.
First picture is the tank with my MH/T5 lights over it. the rest are with the LED's and some of how I mounted them for right now. might change the mounting later on.
If you have any questions about the light that I didn't speak about, Please ask and I will try to fill in the blanks. Just keep in mind this is a initial thought review and I will be updating it later on.
A bit about why I decided to get this light. I have always had metal halide/T5 or metal halide/VHO combo lighting in the past and absolutely loved it. currently I was running 2 250w phoenix halides with 4 54w blue plus T5's over a 72g bow front tank. the color was great for me, great growth of everything in my tank. But I have always wanted to try LED lighting and could never pull the trigger. Have heard too many horror stories over the years and like every one else, I can not afford to lose all my corals.
After lots of reading, lots of questions from various vendors and of course many days of me talking it over with my wife. I talked to Stan over at OceanRevive for awhile, picked his brain as much as I could and determined this was the company I wanted to buy from. The friendly customer service I received was top notch, answered any questions I had, never got short with me even though I know I had to be driving him crazy with all the questions! After awhile I decided that the Arctic T247 was what I wanted to try out.
so back to current day. the light is currently mounted over my tank at about 8" over the water. currently have them set up at 30% ch1 and 20% ch2 trying to acclimate my tank right now. It is very hard to compare light intensity between MH/T5 to LED's. A PAR meter would for sure be helpful with this process. I did how ever try many different settings over my tank just to see how they would look at different settings. The light does put out a lot of light when turned up! This light is a HUGE difference then MH/T5 lights. The look of LED's is a whole different look to me. Pictures could NEVER show the true look of a LED tank.
Arctic T247 LED vs MH/T5
Pro's
1: Absolutely no heat.
2: Energy consumption is a lot less.
3: Cost of replacement bulbs.
4: Ability to change kelvin and intensity on the fly.
5: Not as much spill over light (if that matters to you).
6: Corals POP more under these lights then they do under T5. its a different kind of glow. Again maybe not for every one, but if you like that look this is a pro for sure.
7: Remote control is a cool option to have. Super small and useful for some functions when your sitting on your couch and being lazy.
8: ONLY 1 POWER CORD!
Con's
1: Dark spots. doesn't fill the tank like MH/T5 combo would. More direct lighting, if that makes any sense.
2: The red and green LED's put off a spot light appearance. meaning you can see exactly where they are placed in the fixture, when looking at the tank.
3: Some colors are not as vibrant compared to my MH/T5 combo. Like my yellow polyps are a bit washed out looking. could be the settings, so this might be a premature con.
4: Even though it is cool to have a remote control for these fixtures, the remote does not have the ability to only turn on/off 1 channel at a time. Like turning off the full spectrum portion and only leaving on the blues.
There is more to add to this list, on both sides, But I want to give the light more time for me to make adjustments. see how the corals react over some time. The shimmer effect of LED's looks like I have a disco ball in my living room ( My wife's words). This may be part of adjusting the light, but I can notice the red and green LED's in the shimmer. Might not be for every one, But my wife loves it. I personally think it is a little much as it sits right now.
I plan to add more information to this as time goes on. I wanted to speak my mind on what I felt about this light and my initial impressions. I did take pictures to post up, I did find taking pictures of the LED's over my tank was a bit harder for me to do. So I plan on having a buddy come over with a better camera later on.
First picture is the tank with my MH/T5 lights over it. the rest are with the LED's and some of how I mounted them for right now. might change the mounting later on.
If you have any questions about the light that I didn't speak about, Please ask and I will try to fill in the blanks. Just keep in mind this is a initial thought review and I will be updating it later on.
