Ecoxotic or Coral Compulsion

[dutch27]

I've been running an Ecoxotic PAR38, Royal Blue, on a 20L to experiment with LED. I've run halides, T5, and PC in the past. So far so good, corals are responding well and growing, albeit only some zoas, a gorgonian, and a hammer.

 

However, I don't like the all blue, it's too much. So I want to switch to a full spectrum bulb, closer to 20k. I'm considering the Ecoxotic 20k which I think is not full spectrum, or the Coral Compulsion 20k full spectrum, or possibly the 18k 40w. For now I just want to keep sofies and LPS, but may dip back into SPS at some point which is part of my internal debate. It also seems the 40w may also give a wider spread.

 

So, my question is does anybody have experience using both of these bulbs to compare directly? Or, any accurate pictures of the bulbs on a tank so I can get a feel for color? Does the Coral Compulsion disco ball at all? Comparison to an equivalent halide (say 14k Phoenix, 20k Ushio) would also be good. And can the BoostLED goosenecks handle the 40w? Seems like it may be heavy for it. My assumpion is I could grow SPS under the 24w bulbs if I stayed in the upper half of the tank.

[Horerczy]

I cant speak for the 40w lamps but I've seen the smaller par 38 lamps coral compulsion sells and they're much nicer than the ecoxotic ones.

[RickNation]

Look ocreef full spectrum also

[zooman72]

For a 20L, you will need 2-3 Par38's, depending on what optics you use, how high they are suspended over the tank, and what corals you plan on keeping. A pair without secondary optics (i.e. 120 degree primary optics) would allow you to keep most low to medium light corals, and three with 90 degree secondary optics would allow you to keep higher light corals of course.

 

The Coral Compulsion lamps will give much better color rendition than the Ecoxotic lamps, with CC's 20K a touch bluer than a Pheonix 14K, and their 14K a bit whiter than the Phoenix 14K - light color perception is somewhat a personal thing keep in mind.

 

BoostLEDs gooseneck lamp probably will not be able to hold the monster 40W Par38 from CC - it will probably slowly sag over time, and may put a bit of stress on the base clamp mount - it also is probably a bit much for a long, shallow tank like a 20L...

[dutch27]

Thanks for the info everyone. A bit more blue than a Phoenix 14k is just about perfect I think. Since I'm still toying around a bit here so I'm only keeping one bulb running, eventually I'll put up a second for the other half of the tank or switch to a single fixture for the entire tank, but for now just playing with a single bulb on half the tank is enough. This is the slowest moving tank I've ever put up, it's been 2-3 months and all I have is a snail and 4 frags, considering adding some fish soon, lol.

 

I checked out ocreef and they look pretty good as well, but I'm probably going with the Coral Compulsion because they do list their optics (90 degree) and include a red and green bulb. Probably won't make much of a difference but enough to convince me to give them a try.

[Tamberav]

As a person who has owned both ecoxotic and Coral Compulsion lights. Coral Compulsion all the way! Ecoxotic is like a blue windex color over the tank.

[dutch27]

At the last minute I swayed and decided to go with OC Reef. They have a 20k full spectrum Cree bulb that has an identical configuration and optic as Coral Compulsion but for less money.

 

I agree with you on the windex effect. Some corals I have pop under the all royal blue, but anything that isn't heavy in green/yellow just looks dull. Excited to be getting this new bulb and seeing how things look!

[dutch27]

Just a follow up for anyone else who may consider these bulbs. The OC Reef bulb coverage is pretty great, I can easily see pulling off a 20L with only two of them if you keep SPS out of the center 2-3 inches of the tank. My only complaint is that this full spectrum bulb has the red and green bulbs opposite each other on the outside of the array. I hadn't thought about that much. What this means is they don't really mix and one half of the covered area looks green, and the other red. If I cover those two bulbs the color is a great 20k-ish look. I'm going to stay the course, but at some point I may open it up and see if I can swap out the red and green for additional blues or UV.

 

I think the red/green should be near each other and part of the inner 4 bulbs for more even color mix and appearance.

[Spiderguardnano]

nice lets see some pics of the oc bulb theres a thread on here with it over a 20l and it looks sick

[dutch27]

 

nice lets see some pics of the oc bulb theres a thread on here with it over a 20l and it looks sick

 

Ok, some pics below. One of the cleanest, but (so far) more boring looking tanks I've had over the years. Set it up with some large rocks I had left from a 120g I broke down and a powerhead, nice and simple. My goal is to go slow, experiment with LED, and keep the setup simple. One of the reasons I downsized was the 120g was constant work.

 

One thing I don't like about using the PAR38 and Gooseneck (using the BoostLED gooseneck) is that it doesn't work well on a tank with a rim. It leaned and made all sorts of terrible noises when I tried getting it tighetned up and staying in place. The acrylic base actually started to crack from the leaning and stress. Today I tried putting some shims behind the tank and that seemed to sturdy it and keep it from tipping, seems much more stable now. I'm likely going to switch to composite shims instead of wood out of fear of the wood getting wet and expanding, as I've had a tank crack in the past due to too much pressure on the back glass trying to shim a light back.

 

You can see the width of coverage in one of the shots as well to get an idea. The color on the frag shots is as-shot and pretty accurate.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[SantaMonica]

Well that's one way to keep the electric bill down, but still be able to keep stonies in one part of it.

[Tamberav]

owww that green and red is pretty bad. I had that same par38 fixture and I found if you flipped it around so the screws went under the rim on the inside, it became rock solid stable.

 

Is this the one you got? It shows the green/red in the middle

 

https://www.ocreef.com/par38_full_spectrum_led_aquarium_lamp_36_watts

[dutch27]

owww that green and red is pretty bad. I had that same par38 fixture and I found if you flipped it around so the screws went under the rim on the inside, it became rock solid stable.

 

Is this the one you got? It shows the green/red in the middle

 

https://www.ocreef.com/par38_full_spectrum_led_aquarium_lamp_36_watts

 

It is, and I hadn't noticed that. Thanks for pointing that out, I'm going to get in touch with them and send them the pic of my layout and see what they say. Given the option, I'd probably switch to this:

 

https://www.ocreef.com/ocreef_dimmable_par38_cree_led_aquarium_lamp?category_id=5084

 

That looks preferable as it has no red or greens, seeing how these red and greens overpower everything else. As tough as it seems to be to hit a good look with this, I keep considering a single halide or a T5 fixture. Proven appearance, and no messing around wasting money on lights that don't look right trying to find the perfect look. Of course the fact that electricity literally doubled due to the hard winter makes it hard to do anything that isn't as efficient as LED.

 

Also, when I tried to flip that gooseneck around the top two screws weren't low enough to clear the rim, that's why I ended up with the shims. I also think it looks cleaner without the screws on the front/viewing face.

 

Santa Monica - I intend at some point to light the other side, once I decide if I want to commit to the LED/PAR38 approach or not. For now this is my way of experimenting with LED to see if I like them. So far I'm not really impressed, nailing down the color is difficult and costs money, whereas I would be able to pop in T5 bulbs to exactly what I want, or a halide with an actinic LED supplement. I'm hoping to grab a couple of basic SPS frags soon as well to see how they fair.

[SantaMonica]

Might be interesting then to look at the half n half test at Vivid: 800 gal, half LED, half halide.

[dutch27]

Might be interesting then to look at the half n half test at Vivid: 800 gal, half LED, half halide.

I'll try to look around for it. Do you have a link?

 

As an update, I've emailed with OC Reef a couple of times now. They said it must have been a manufacturing error, and said I can return the bulb for refund, shipped back on my nickel. I asked them to send me a new bulb as a replacement so I could then use that packaging to ship this one back. Best they've offered is to send me a new bulb if I send this one back first. They did offer a bulb with different colors since none of their in-stock full spectrums have the red/green in the center of the bulb, so I'll give them that much. They actually had the gall to write that they recommend people have back-up bulbs just in case. Felt to me like they were trying to encourage me to keep the bulb and buy a new one. Not terribly impressed with their customer service on this one, so after I swap bulbs with them I probably won't purchase from them again nor recommend them. Not sure what the big deal is on shipping me a replacement and then having me ship the old one back in that box.

 

This is making me reconsider staying with the PAR38 experiement vs just buying a Reefbreed value LED setup and building a little PVC or conduit rig to hang it over the tank without mounting it to the ceiling. At least that way I'd have multiple channels and some better control. Returning this bulb would pay for half of the Reefbreeder setup. Something I need to think about.

[SantaMonica]

http://www.mrsaltwatertank.com/11-radions-2800-watts-of-metal-halides-and-one-800-gallon-show-tank/

[zooman72]

This is why I recommended the Coral Compulsion bulbs, and why you don't see many recommendations for the OCReef bulbs...

[dutch27]

This is why I recommended the Coral Compulsion bulbs, and why you don't see many recommendations for the OCReef bulbs...

 

Yeah, point taken. I definitely won't recommend their bulb now for reasons of both truth in advertising and customer service. At this point I don't think I want to bother going through the return hassle and am just going to continue on with this bulb with my LED experiment, and if I decide to commit to LED I'll buy a fixture with multiple channels and a dimmer and do it proper. It's a shame too, because they told me none of their in stock bulbs do not have this red/green mess up, and didn't seem to imply they were going to make a stink with their manufacturer, I'm willing to bet that even knowing of this issue they will still sell their in-stock bulbs.

[zooman72]

Well, I am not trying to make you feel worse, and I am sorry that you got stuck with a poor layout, but I have heard less than stellar things about that vendor previously. As for the "experiment" - Par38's definitely work - I have been using them for years now, but because one needs multiple bulbs, they are a bit "bulky" and they are not "controllable", they are usually being used now on tanks like smaller cubes...

[dutch27]

Well, I am not trying to make you feel worse, and I am sorry that you got stuck with a poor layout, but I have heard less than stellar things about that vendor previously. As for the "experiment" - Par38's definitely work - I have been using them for years now, but because one needs multiple bulbs, they are a bit "bulky" and they are not "controllable", they are usually being used now on tanks like smaller cubes...

 

No worries, not making me feel bad. My experiment is more of LED in general as opposed to PAR style. I went with PAR because I could do a single bulb on a budget and see if I like the look and growth of LED before committing. I'm going to grab a couple of easy SPS frags this weekend to put in as well and see how it goes. Part of this "experiement" includes a frag I got back from a friend of a hammer that was green when I gave it to him and turned pale green/white in his tank over the years, so I can see if it'll color back up under the LED.

 

I think if I can get an LED with more control and better color layout I'd be happy with it. My lighting experiences over the years have taught me about what my perfect light would be - control of color of T5, and shimmer/growth of halide - an LED with enough control could give me the best of both worlds.