Pacific Sun Diuna 80W

[Nstocks]

Hello everyone,

 

For my upcoming 6ft. tank will be using T5 lighting, specifically the Pacific sun Diuna 80W fixture. (8 tubes plus blue LED moonlights)

 

The manufacturer have recommended the following PS tubes:

 

5x Crystal Blue

2x Pigment INT+

1x Spectra +

 

This looks a little too blue for my preference but I'd love to hear options from anyone using this light.

 

Of course I will end up buying more tubes to experiment, being totally new to T5

[dingusplease]

Hi there! I'm not familiar with that light, but if you're keeping coral you might want to look at a higher wattage fixture. It depends on the bulbs and the height of the tank, but 80w isn't a ton for a 6ft, with coral. If it's a FOWLR though should be perfect! Find the colors that look good to you

[gus6464]

Hi there! I'm not familiar with that light, but if you're keeping coral you might want to look at a higher wattage fixture. It depends on the bulbs and the height of the tank, but 80w isn't a ton for a 6ft, with coral. If it's a FOWLR though should be perfect! Find the colors that look good to you

 

Uhh what? He has a 6ft 8 bulb T5 unit. How on earth is that not enough? Each bulb is 80W. Also the gallons per watt thing is dead and has been for a long time. It is not a metric for anything anymore.

[dingusplease]

 

Uhh what? He has a 6ft 8 bulb T5 unit. How on earth is that not enough? Each bulb is 80W. Also the gallons per watt thing is dead and has been for a long time. It is not a metric for anything anymore.

 

Ahhh, each bulb is 80w. Haha, shows how much I know about t5s. Been using led's on reef tanks for years. Well yeah then sounds like you're set!

 

Never mentioned anything about gallons per watt... just that an 80w t5 wouldn't suffice to sustain anything photosynthetic in a 6ft reef haha. Heck, didn't know there was a watt-per-gallon metric. It would literally be impossible to use something like that, with all the types of lighting available.

[Nstocks]

Yep, total wattage is 640W. Current Hydra 52 is 130W (I think) and 4 would be best which is 520W, so T5 has loads more power.

 

I've ordered 8 KZ tubes which are said to be very crisp lights with no yellowing and long lasting. Well 9 months anyway!

 

£20 a tube so after 5 years the light would work out the same price as 4 Hydra HD's. (£2,000). Light was £540, £180 every 9 months for new tubes. Just interesting to calculate how it compares. Obviously there is some extra cost on power consumption though.

[Horerczy]

Yep, total wattage is 640W. Current Hydra 52 is 130W (I think) and 4 would be best which is 520W, so T5 has loads more power.

You mean it uses more power right?

 

It's less efficient than LEDs so output watt for watt would favor LEDs.

 

That said t5 are really nice. I rather like them. But I do more with LEDs.

[sangheili]

Hello everyone,

 

For my upcoming 6ft. tank will be using T5 lighting, specifically the Pacific sun Diuna 80W fixture. (8 tubes plus blue LED moonlights)

 

The manufacturer have recommended the following PS tubes:

 

5x Crystal Blue

2x Pigment INT+

1x Spectra +

 

This looks a little too blue for my preference but I'd love to hear options from anyone using this light.

 

Of course I will end up buying more tubes to experiment, being totally new to T5

 

Having owned this light, I would suggest that if it's not too late, change course to ATI instead. I would also suggest avoiding Pac Sun bulbs as their usable life is roughly half of the competitors.

[Nstocks]

You mean it uses more power right?

 

It's less efficient than LEDs so output watt for watt would favor LEDs.

 

That said t5 are really nice. I rather like them. But I do more with LEDs.

 

T5 uses more power, yes.

 

Having owned this light, I would suggest that if it's not too late, change course to ATI instead. I would also suggest avoiding Pac Sun bulbs as their usable life is roughly half of the competitors.

 

It's not too late, I've ordered PS fixture .

 

I did a LOT of thinking on this one, but it came down to:

 

PS looks much sleeker than ATI (IMO)

PS has better cooling (the way the ballasts are vented and their placement compared to ATI)

PS is not dimmable, so the tubes last longer overall

4 ballasts means the tubes come on in pairs which gives the effect of sunrise/sunset, again no dimming.

PS is slightly less expensive with 17.5% off current price.

 

PS bulbs are terrible, that was the only downside with them.

I've ordered a full set of KZ tubes. Apparently they are crisper than ATI and have zero yellow.

 

Ordered:

2x KZ New Gen

1x KZ Figi Purple

3x KZ Superblue

2x KZ Coral Light

 

Also, there is currently one distributor of ATI in the UK and their customer service is terrible. PS said any parts that need repairing will be sent to me because it is very easy to repair/replace and there's no point sending it back to Poland.

 

Why didn't you like the PS fixture?

[Horerczy]

There is no 60" dimmable sunpower.

[Nstocks]

There is no 60" dimmable sunpower.

Nope, the largest ATI is 58". The Diuna is 63"

[Horerczy]

Not what I mean. The largest dimmable ATI sunpower is 48" class.

[Nstocks]

OK. I never said there was a 60" ATI anyway.

[jedimasterben]

OK. I never said there was a 60" ATI anyway.

ATI has been making 5' fixtures for many years now.

[sangheili]

See below, sorry for the delayed response:

 

PS looks much sleeker than ATI (IMO) -- I was disappointed in the build quality of the Diuna compared to ATI Powermodules. The lights are quite a bit more flimsy and made of steel not aluminum. Even the cheaper Sunpower fixtures are aluminum not steel. The acrylic panel on the Diuna is a nightmare to get in/out and aligned. The overall design is really poorly thought out.

 

PS has better cooling (the way the ballasts are vented and their placement compared to ATI) -- Absolutely untrue. The PS unit uses tiny fans which ONLY cool the ballasts and not the bulbs. The ATI has much better cooling and the higher end fixtures actually regulate the temperature via a controller.

 

PS is not dimmable, so the tubes last longer overall -- With proper break-in period dimming should not impact tube life.

 

4 ballasts means the tubes come on in pairs which gives the effect of sunrise/sunset, again no dimming. -- This is one benefit over the ATI fixtures. However you won't really get sunrise/sunset with T5s as the light is so spread. You can however achieve excellent sunrise/sunset and moon phase with the LED groups in the ATI Hybrid.

 

PS is slightly less expensive with 17.5% off current price. -- Not in the USA... not by a long shot.

 

PS bulbs are terrible, that was the only downside with them. -- From what I have read I would agree with this, but I have not used their bulbs long enough in person to actually correlate.

 

I've ordered a full set of KZ tubes. Apparently they are crisper than ATI and have zero yellow. -- The KZ bulbs are very similar to ATI. I believe JediBen has some spectral analysis somewhere.

 

Ordered:

2x KZ New Gen

1x KZ Figi Purple
3x KZ Superblue
2x KZ Coral Light

 

Also, there is currently one distributor of ATI in the UK and their customer service is terrible. PS said any parts that need repairing will be sent to me because it is very easy to repair/replace and there's no point sending it back to Poland.

 

Why didn't you like the PS fixture? -- See above points. I own 3 ATI fixtures and have since sold the Pacific Sun fixture. I own two Pacific Sun Kore 5th dosers which I have mixed opinions about. I was honestly very disappointed in the Diuna compared to my ATIs.

 

Regarding dim-able fixtures...

 

ATI does not sell a dim-able 60" T5 fixture in the USA due to no dim-able ballasts being manufactured for 110v power. My understanding is that in Europe they do have this option.

 

When people typically refer to fixtures as 48/60/etc inches they are referring to a bulb length (which even that is wrong) not the fixture length. Some 48" fixtures will be less then 48", some will be more (such as the Pacific Sun).

[Nstocks]

Light should be with me next week so I will see how it is, I think only then can I truly say how good or bad it is.

 

Price difference over here, where it is relevant to me is almost over £200 . That's over $300+ which is new tubes for a year! But I don't buy cheap to buy twice however it is relevant context I think.

 

I've read that pretty much every splash guard on T5 units need replacing because it bends so easily with the heat. Also, all second hand ATI unit have really dirty reflectors (£100 to replace) so the splash guard isn't doing much to protect them. (and I doubt it is any different on the PS). The materials is steel with some coating to protect against rust. It might not feel as strong as ATI by my guess, but it looks much sleeker.

 

I don't have the polish forum where I found the claims from the manufactures about cooling, from memory it's something about the fans pushing are from left to right which impacts the tube performance. (I think BRS did a video on this too). That could be totally wrong and honestly I don't care about specs that much as long as the light output is outstanding.

 

The moonlight LED on the PS is a nice touch too. Something I would have needed to add on if I bought ATI. Let's not forgot how that the Diuna is a very young product, (not technology) compared to the ATI units and have far less customers in UK/USA, but popular in Poland. Lastly, if the Diuna breaks, they will ship the parts to me 24 hours (from Poland!) to fix it myself. That' much better then having to pay for an ATI to be send to distributor in the UK and wait two weeks.

[Nstocks]

Light finally arrived!

 

Firs impressions is the build quality is outstanding. It's very thick metal compared to the ATI and feels quite solid.

Connecting it to my Mac was easy, but the light does not respond to the changes I've made...

Fans are very loud too - I would say they are louder than a cheap and poor made powerhead.

It's bright! My gosh, my 20' x 20' lounge is entirely lit up - not sure how I will cope with that all the time.

KZ bulbs are very crisp, however the supplier sent me two incorrect types, they work just not the colours I asked for.

 

Contacted PS about the issues, so not a perfect start.

[gus6464]

The old ATI Powermodule is the one T5 that was basically leagues ahead of anything else on the market in terms of build quality. Sadly production costs were probably insanely high as the thing is molded thick aluminum vs using sheets like the Sunpower. While you can get the same thing with the new Powermodule Hybrid the cost is now sky high.

[Nstocks]

I've been in contact with PS and they gave me a newer version (beta?) of their program along with a huge troubleshooting list. Very technical. So stressful

 

The tubes can now be turned on and off, but the LED moonlight does not work (one reason I bought this fixture over ATI). Fans are super loud too. As far as I'm concerned, this is a dud. I'll be requesting a refund based on faulty moonlight and if they agree 50+db for 4 small fans is loud, hopefully we can come to agreement.

[Horerczy]

That didn't take long.

 

Maybe switch over to the Geismann Matrix II? Those are sexy looking and built like tanks.

[gus6464]

That didn't take long.

 

Maybe switch over to the Geismann Matrix II? Those are sexy looking and built like tanks.

 

They are like double the price of a Sunpower. OP didn't want ATI cuz that was already more expensive than the Pac Sun.

[Nstocks]

That didn't take long.

 

Maybe switch over to the Geismann Matrix II? Those are sexy looking and built like tanks.

 

LOL. I know. But don't say that, Pacific Sun are telling me ATI, Giesmann and others all copied PS technology! By that they mean the bluetooth connection and LED display.

 

They will not accept this is faulty, despite 4 videos demonstrating that nothing I do with the information they have provided works. Over and over again they are implying it's me, which it was at first, until they gave me the updated software! But now they are 100% it works, you know, just because they think it will.

 

They actually told me to "push fans in, delivery might have moved them"... But when I say the same could have damaged the LED, they are not interested.

 

Looks like it will be a claim through my credit card.

 

To make it all worse, I've just sold my Hydra 52, so now I have a 12W LED strip over my corals... Admittadbley I'm putting a bit of heat on PS to get me some answers (they already promised they will "fix it this morning") but I know it's broke, they have the evidence so I might just buy the ATI anyway.

 

They are like double the price of a Sunpower. OP didn't want ATI cuz that was already more expensive than the Pac Sun.

 

It turns out all the prices I was given for ATI include bulbs! So actually, ATI dimmable without bulbs is cheaper than PS, even with PS' discount.

 

Giesmann Matrix II Dimtec is £400 more than ATI for 8x80W, but that includes tubes. ( paid £160 for 8 KX tubes)

[gus6464]

You don't want ATI dimmable, there's really no point to it. Just get a regular old Sunpower basic.

[Nstocks]

You don't want ATI dimmable, there's really no point to it. Just get a regular old Sunpower basic.

 

So the tubes last longer?

 

The dimmable version is actually £1 cheaper than the old one! I assume I can just have all tubes on 100% anyway?

[gus6464]

 

So the tubes last longer?

 

The dimmable version is actually £1 cheaper than the old one! I assume I can just have all tubes on 100% anyway?

 

Dimming is kinda useless. If it's too strong then raise the light. Why would you want to have a light right on top of your tank that you have to move when doing maintenance?

[Nstocks]

Good point! But ATI only has 2 channels, right? (at least the dimmable version) whereas PS has 4 channels