Solaris lights

[SWSaltwater]

I finally got my solaris light and man these are the real deal. I am very impressed and it was worth the wait. Unfortunately UPS dropped one of them and it does not look to have survived. Now I just need to work out the micro bubbles in my return by adding one more bulkhead to the sump. One down note is there is a loose screw in the hood blocking part of a light, I hope it was an extra and nothing important.

Rob

 

[xinumaster]

Cool. Can you post some pictures once you got it installed.

 

[SWSaltwater]

I will bring the camera to the shop tomorrow.

 

[AZreefkeeper]

cool, I will have to come by and check them out.

 

[AZreefkeeper]

side note...seems like UPS has a bad record when it comes to breakage and loosing things.

 

[SWSaltwater]

yeah the real kicker is shipping was about $200 and they failed to note damage on the system even after Bill showed the damage to the driver. Now I will probably have a few weeks for the replacement since the 72" 20K is sold out. I was on a list 3-4 months ago for these. Dang UPS.

 

[McCrary]

Man, I am super excited to see how the LED lighting compare to halides in terms of coral growth and coralline algae growth.

 

[SWSaltwater]

My guess is it will beat halide in coraline, equal 250wMH in coral growth (as stated from PFO test). Probably won't touch VHO's on coraline though. Once I get a new live rock tank it will have act. VHO's on it for coraline.

I can't wait to see how the corals coloration comes along. I had a few montis that were nice when I got em turn brown under the 6500 MH's. I put it in the tank to see if they color it up.

 

[owsi]

Hey Rob, could give a brief description of these solaris lights, I'm not up on them, LED? Sounds interesting.

 

[SWSaltwater]

They are the new LED lights. As far as I know PFO is the first to market with em. My hood is 72" to match the show tank legth. The light case is skinnier then I thought as well. I could easily slide 2 VHO tubes along side it but won't need to. The light spectrum can change from 6.5k to 20k.

 

[cerreta]

Cool. Rob, what is the LUX output on those? I have yet to pick up the meter, try it out. Use the eggcrate that is attached to the probe as a distance tool. Select the middle switch on the meter.

The T5s produce 13k LUX. The MH HQI 14k Phoenix with 250watt Reef Fanatic ballast produce 33k Lux.

I'm curious to see the comparison.

 

[SWSaltwater]

I forgot about that meter, will check it out later when I get to the shop, and dangit I forgot my dig camera at home.........The night time lighting features on the light are cool full dawn and dusk simulations, but I would like a dimmer lunar light option. Seems quite bright on the lowest setting IMO.

 

[Crepusculum]

I'm bringing my camera to work today. Maybe I'll stop by and take some pictures for the folks on the board.

 

[SWSaltwater]

Lux Meter results.

Using the eggcrate at 7 1/2 inches and with the Range set to x10 the readout is between 1675 and 1700. With the range at x100 it fluctuates around 208 at the same distance.

 

[Crepusculum]

Ok I got some shots of the setup and took a couple of another tank which seemed to have MH and VHOs for comparision. I'll upload them ASAP.

 

[Crepusculum]

Here they are...sorry about the poor quality I wasn't trying very hard when taking the shots.

Starting with shots of the new set-up...

 

[Crepusculum]

 

[Crepusculum]

 

[Crepusculum]

Here is a shot of the other tank for some comparison. I really like the way the Solaris lighting looked compared to the other tank.

 

[cerreta]

Pics look great.

Rob, those values are excellent.

The Solaris produces 17k LUX, compared to T5 at 13k, VHO at 9k, and my LED light stips in the sump at 6k.

The MH produce 33k. This is nearly double the output. However, the flaw of MH is unequal intensity distribution unlike fluorescent lamps and the Solaris. In other words, MH lamps offer high intensity levels directly under the lamps, but as light rays travel at angles deeper into the tank, intensity levels (LUX) are greatly reduced.

So comparing the Solaris to MH for raw intensity is somewhat misleading. It is best to compare the Solaris to lamps that offer a similar light projection. That is, compare them to the linear lamps like VHO and T5. The Solaris offers 4k more LUX compared to the T5s which, by the way has been proven successful in sps only reefs.

The Solaris produces 31% more light output than T5s. Impressive!It seems that there will be gaps of light penetration through the tank due to the spacing in each of the six LED Banks, but this should be minimal compared to the gaps in MH lighting. So as an overall lighting system producing 17K LUX at wide dispersion angles, it is a winner.

Time will tell if they can last 11years, as suggested by manufacturer claims. I feel they will not hold LUX levels at the value of 17K for more than 3 years. So, let's say a 30% loss occurs over three years. Then the LUX levels would be 13k, equal to that of new T5 lamps. Still not bad, since we know that T5s will support a stocked sps tank.

The overall color appearance given off by the Solaris is nice and warm in the photos (purple and pink hues). I prefer this look over the crisp white and blues given off by the MH.


Do you get shimmer effects from the Solaris?