110galreef
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msr224...How did you go from so skeptical to 3 days later the biggest promoter for Orphek?
Orphek LED Lighting?
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msr224
New member
HAHAHA good question.
I got an email from someone at Orphek and have been talking to him via emails. Basically he asked me what my problem with Orphek was...in a nicer manner. I told him how I felt about the pricing issues. This opened a discussion. He has shared some of the issues with coming to market in North America. He also has asked about my aquarium and goals for it. That's how the whole NANO prototype came up. He sent me the pics when I told him I thought the lights were really good looking. Generally the guy seems to be on top of it and wants to provide. He admitted that they were working through some manufacturing increases and also the fact that they recently locked down their distributors in Canada and US.
Promoter? Hmmmm.....I guess I didn't realize I was promoting....My goal was to share some of the behind the scenes stuff that he shared. I am STILL NOT SATISFIED with the price or the answer on why the price changed... I still want one of the lights.....
My decision to purchase one of these lights has been hinging on the findings of Mr.Wilson partially. I was pretty much ready to pull the trigger even before he got his light to test....a case of "gotta have it." The price increases, and now the fact that you can't even get one right now....well...all I can say is I'll wait and see.
At this point it's just not in my Dave Ramsey approved budget..... at least that's what my wife tells me.....I think the kids can go a couple of weeks without eating....they eat at school right????
I did jump all over this light from the first time that I saw it on Nineball's build thread. I read the review and I love LED. I believe it's the future of lighting across the entire spectrum of lights, household, commercial and what-have-you. I think it's hot looking and since I need better lighting...... Currently I am running 2 cheap LED panels I picked up off Ebay..... Most true reefers might scoff at them but the few corals I have are doing well. I bought them for 30 each and never expected them to be the permanent lights.....I just couldn't afford what I need... I originally liked and still do the Aquatic life lights.... I like the all in one intergration of the timers. I've spoken with the owner of Aquatic Life asking about a 24 or 30 inch light with T5, MH and LED but alas....they have no plans for anything smaller than 36 inch with all three... I like to go to the source when possible and this connection with Orphek has been a good conversation.
-Scott
knockout
Really Cool Stuff!
I really dont care for production pictures, I already know what the like should look like, and I really like it, that being said, what I really care is real life accounts of the fixture and its daily use performance, real reviews from trusted 3rd parties, company participation in reef events, there is only thousands of those every year, why cant they go to an event such as MACNA, reefapalooza, large clubs fragswaps, I've been to 4 of such events in the last 30 days and have another one coming up next week, show the light to people and stop the filtering of information thru 3rd party channels, until then I remain on the side lines, and so will my customers as I will not recommend a unproven piece of equipment, hey I have to service it so I have to make sure it works and works well.
msr224
New member
:sad2:
The only person that I know of that has one of these as of right now is Aquaman. He was on this thread and was taking his apart for all to see and that's the last we've seen of him. I PMd him and as of 5 days ago he had been busy with other things. Until he gets time we will have to wait for him or for someone else to step up. AS of right now they don's have that many out there. Aquaman did say it looks nice and crisp white maybe in the 14k range. He also said that Orphek was sending him new fans because they had upgraded to a quieter fan on the newer models. This is from his PM.
I'm guessing that once Mr. Wilson gets his we will see whats what. Hopefully that will be soon!
I wish I could provide a pic of the light over my tankls but alas. It's out of the price range for right now and even if it wasn't now they are saying on their blog that it won't be in stock in retailers until maybe November.....:sad2:
The only person that I know of that has one of these as of right now is Aquaman. He was on this thread and was taking his apart for all to see and that's the last we've seen of him. I PMd him and as of 5 days ago he had been busy with other things. Until he gets time we will have to wait for him or for someone else to step up. AS of right now they don's have that many out there. Aquaman did say it looks nice and crisp white maybe in the 14k range. He also said that Orphek was sending him new fans because they had upgraded to a quieter fan on the newer models. This is from his PM.
I'm guessing that once Mr. Wilson gets his we will see whats what. Hopefully that will be soon!
I wish I could provide a pic of the light over my tankls but alas. It's out of the price range for right now and even if it wasn't now they are saying on their blog that it won't be in stock in retailers until maybe November.....:sad2:
msr224
New member
If it would make you folks feel better I won't share anymore of the info that I receive. My only goal was to share what little info that I have been privy to. I cannot make them tell me anything or answer the questions myself....I'm not going to make things up.
I want pics of tanks surviving under these lights as much as anyone else. The pics on their website are supposed to be under their lights. I still want an avg RC'r to be posting their pics of their tank with the Orphek lights.... we can't do that until someone receives one.
When I buy one I will.........
-Scott
I want pics of tanks surviving under these lights as much as anyone else. The pics on their website are supposed to be under their lights. I still want an avg RC'r to be posting their pics of their tank with the Orphek lights.... we can't do that until someone receives one.
When I buy one I will.........
-Scott
Here`s a tank from australia with the orphek leds and comparison shots with T5:
http://www.masa.asn.au/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=49&t=220807&hilit=orphek
http://www.masa.asn.au/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=49&t=220807&hilit=orphek
mr.wilson
.Registered Member
More photos from their Chinese production facility.
Units in production
More units
Acrylic ready to be polished
Thanks for posting the pictures.
1) There is no way they can keep up with production if that is their facility.
2) It doesn't look like quality control assurance can be achieved with a few random parts that appear to be assembled by one or two people.
3) They don't show that horrible looking giant power supply in the marketing photos and it has yet another noisy fan to deal with.
I don't think I have anywhere to put 15 of those power supplies over the tank I am working on and I definitely don't want 15 more fans. It looks like I will go with Aquatic Illuminations or Aqua-Medic MHL & T5.
I'm sure you are all thrilled to see they are offering the light for $700 in Australia
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mr.wilson
.Registered Member
I don't know if that was directed at me. or a general question for everyone following, but no, I did not attend.
I just got my light yesterday. I didn't see the instructions (who reads instructions anyway
) so I missed the fact that you need to depress the reset button on the timers to turn the light on initially. The top white plastic has some cracks from shipping, but that's typical of shipping small packages. That won't be a problem once distributors start getting them safely packed in sea containers. They have offered to send me a replacement part.
I will be testing the light out over an aquarium tomorrow. I'll post some pics and my thoughts tomorrow night. I took the ballast box apart when I couldn't get the light to come on. There isn't much there (two small pillbox ballasts, a small power supply, a fan, and two bulky timers). I have been informed that the ballasts can be mounted onboard the light fixture and I don't need the timers so I can lose the box entirely.
The fans sound about average in the noise department. I still don't like the idea of having fans at all, but I realize they are necessary for hotter running LED.
knockout
Really Cool Stuff!
I think this was directed to me, and is the typical message that I've been getting from Orphek, did you attend? that show is 2700 miles out of my way, bring it to the north east and I'll see it :thumbdown
CalmSeasQuest
Active member
John_D - 8 of your 9 posts are promoting Orphek??
It's disappointing that after multiple requests for those affiliated with Orphek to identify themselves - the shilling continues.
:thumbdown:
mr.wilson
.Registered Member
I finally got the test light up over the tank. Here are some pictures of it in full and blue only mode...
There is a little bit of shimmer on the outer margins, but not much. This will be minimized by neighboring lights. It looks like the narrow spread requires the light to be spaced about 4" apart from each other. The fans are audible, but not excessively loud. Unfortunately they are the only sound you can hear coming from the 1350 gallon tank. Orphek recommends 15 lights for the tank but it looks like it will require at least 26. The idea of 52 fans isn't comforting.
Here it is in the middle, with a 400 watt MHL 12,500 K to the right. The PAR values are high as promised reading 300-350 on the substrate of the 30" tall tank. The spread of the light however is limited pretty much to the footprint of the fixture (24" x 6"). You can see the LED's light cast on the middle of the arch.
Here's a view from the flip side. One concern is the PAR just below the surface is 900 (325 on the bottom below the lights footprint, but quickly dropping off to 50 within 2 inches of the light's footprint), while our 250 watt MHL is only 600 (150 uniform across the 36" wide bottom). The concern is that the LED may burn corals near the surface or cause nuisance algae.
The other end of the 24' long tank has 250 watt HQI MHL (Phoenix 14K with actinic T5). The light is much more uniform with a steady 150-200 PAR across the bottom with no hot spots. There is lots of shimmer and shadows are less dramatic than with the Orphek.
Despite the high LUX & PAR readings, the Orphek still looks dim in comparison to the other lights on the tank (150w MHL, 250w MHL, 400w MHL, 290w plasma). The light doesn't look physically bright enough with the naked eye. It looks brighter in the photos than it does in real life. It shows nice colours on the live rock, but the sand looks a little blue like the light LED flashlights or car headlights produce.
I haven't given up on the fixture though. I would like to try wider optics on the outer emitters. I also think it may work well with a smaller tank. I will be testing it over a 30"L x 30"W x 26"H tank tomorrow. The tank currently has a Giesemann 250 HQI fixture with actinic T5. I think it might be a good light choice for this application. I will post pics tomorrow.
There is a little bit of shimmer on the outer margins, but not much. This will be minimized by neighboring lights. It looks like the narrow spread requires the light to be spaced about 4" apart from each other. The fans are audible, but not excessively loud. Unfortunately they are the only sound you can hear coming from the 1350 gallon tank. Orphek recommends 15 lights for the tank but it looks like it will require at least 26. The idea of 52 fans isn't comforting.
Here it is in the middle, with a 400 watt MHL 12,500 K to the right. The PAR values are high as promised reading 300-350 on the substrate of the 30" tall tank. The spread of the light however is limited pretty much to the footprint of the fixture (24" x 6"). You can see the LED's light cast on the middle of the arch.
Here's a view from the flip side. One concern is the PAR just below the surface is 900 (325 on the bottom below the lights footprint, but quickly dropping off to 50 within 2 inches of the light's footprint), while our 250 watt MHL is only 600 (150 uniform across the 36" wide bottom). The concern is that the LED may burn corals near the surface or cause nuisance algae.
The other end of the 24' long tank has 250 watt HQI MHL (Phoenix 14K with actinic T5). The light is much more uniform with a steady 150-200 PAR across the bottom with no hot spots. There is lots of shimmer and shadows are less dramatic than with the Orphek.
Despite the high LUX & PAR readings, the Orphek still looks dim in comparison to the other lights on the tank (150w MHL, 250w MHL, 400w MHL, 290w plasma). The light doesn't look physically bright enough with the naked eye. It looks brighter in the photos than it does in real life. It shows nice colours on the live rock, but the sand looks a little blue like the light LED flashlights or car headlights produce.
I haven't given up on the fixture though. I would like to try wider optics on the outer emitters. I also think it may work well with a smaller tank. I will be testing it over a 30"L x 30"W x 26"H tank tomorrow. The tank currently has a Giesemann 250 HQI fixture with actinic T5. I think it might be a good light choice for this application. I will post pics tomorrow.
Saw one at RAP. Looked similar to AI.
I asked some of the folks from MarineDepot detailed questions. All I got was "Orphek gave us one".
kgk
Purveyor of Cool
Thanks for the great post.
How is your impression of the color under it? Given my experience w/ LEDs so far, I am sceptical that warm colors look good under this fixture. I would expect a sort of "actinic brown" color unless their white LEDs perform signifcantly different from every other white LED I have researched (Crees & Luxeon specifically). And IF they do have a "warm" white LED, I would expect the light to look yellow in person with a 2:1 white/blue ratio like they have.
Also - does anyone know what degree optics they use? I haven't seen that but maybe I overlooked it. If you know the optics we can do some math for how high you have to hang it & get a decent spread... it's simply trig.
I also haven't seen this mentioned here yet - but be careful with this light when you first start using it. Read any AI thread & you'll see new users torching their coral when they first start using them. Given this light has no dimming (like my MaxSpects), I would recommend caution at first. Low photoperiod in the beginning, etc ... standard light acclimation procedure.
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