Charney Posted March 5, 2007 Share Posted March 5, 2007 I purchased a 24" Solaris fixture about a month ago. The first one was delivered with the lights misaligned and I had to send it back. I had a replacement within a week. Now, the fabulous auto timing system that replicates the light cycle in the Northern hemisphere--sunrise, sunset, moon rise, etc., doesn't work on the replacement. The "fix" that PFO had me try did not work. So it appears I'll be sending this fixture back, too. I'm anticipating they will be very accommodating, but DANG...I spent a ton of money on a little 24" fixture and after a month, I'm still using my PCs! Has anyone else had any experience with this fixture? Link to comment
newjerseynano Posted March 5, 2007 Share Posted March 5, 2007 lol u will be lucky to find a home user unless theyre loaded. i will ask my lfs about it, they have one on display. Link to comment
NanoClown Posted March 5, 2007 Share Posted March 5, 2007 wow! ur lighting cost more that me Finnex M-tank 32 fully stocked! Link to comment
andrewkw Posted March 5, 2007 Share Posted March 5, 2007 wow! ur lighting cost more that me Finnex M-tank 32 fully stocked! After a couple years of bulb changes, you will start to catch up. When I first heard about these fixtures I was interested but I too can not afford the initial start up cost. Especially since 10 years from now I hope to have a bigger tank and if I bought solaris I'd still want to be using it. When it did work how bright did you find it? I know they claim its as bright as 250mh but I have heard its closer to 150w. Link to comment
pnguye3 Posted March 5, 2007 Share Posted March 5, 2007 We put one on a customer's tank...and it bleached his acros. He had 2 250w hqi on it before...so they're pretty strong lights from what i understand. After a couple years of bulb changes, you will start to catch up. When I first heard about these fixtures I was interested but I too can not afford the initial start up cost. Especially since 10 years from now I hope to have a bigger tank and if I bought solaris I'd still want to be using it. When it did work how bright did you find it? I know they claim its as bright as 250mh but I have heard its closer to 150w. Link to comment
Charney Posted March 5, 2007 Author Share Posted March 5, 2007 I'd say it looks closer to a 150 watt, but if pnguye3's customer had his acros bleach, maybe the brightness is deceptive. Link to comment
masterbuilder Posted March 5, 2007 Share Posted March 5, 2007 Dang...sorry to hear that your having trouble with the PFO. I want one for a 30 gallon cube. BUT... for the price, it better be better than perfect. Keep us posted. Mark p.s. As much as I hate to say it...post this over on reefcentral.com, I know there are a few over there. Link to comment
Carinya Posted March 5, 2007 Share Posted March 5, 2007 I was going to treat myself to one this spring. Oddly enough, I have a 14" nano (the LPS tank in sig) and what re the odds that the short Solaris is exactly 14"? I mean, who ever heard of a 14" fixture? Plus I was (am) to be getting a large-ish check in a couple months. But at the end of the day, I just went with MH because I couldn't quite justify spending the cash. I am really, really interested in the technology, largely from an energy savings perspective, but I am hoping that in a year or so there will be more competition and the price will come down. It seems to me that LED technology is advancing pretty rapidly, so hopefully there could even be a good DIY application. Sorry to hear your experience has been not so good thus far. Hopefully the third time will be the charm. Please continue to let us know. I for one and VERY interested to hear some firsthand experiences. C Link to comment
icenine Posted March 5, 2007 Share Posted March 5, 2007 ....I've heard that some other manufacturers are ready to release LED fixures. Perhaps we'll see some at the confrences coming up (IMAC.. etc). I have my fingers crossed that by the time I get around to building a bigger system there are more options out there and the price has been driven down some. Link to comment
masterbuilder Posted March 5, 2007 Share Posted March 5, 2007 ....I've heard that some other manufacturers are ready to release LED fixures. Perhaps we'll see some at the confrences coming up (IMAC.. etc). I hope so, icenine. I have a 30 gallon cube waiting for LED's Link to comment
proraptor2 Posted March 5, 2007 Share Posted March 5, 2007 I woul love to switch over to LED's one day but thos solaris fixtures they have out now arent very impressive...Ive seen one run in person and it was as bright as maybe a 150 watt halide.... I hope the newer fixtures will be as bright as a 250 watt halide atleast... Link to comment
Chupacabras Posted March 5, 2007 Share Posted March 5, 2007 At the price point these were being sold at, it seemed to me they weren't really interested in having actual buyers and the described quality is about what I'd expect from same. So no, I don't have one of these fixtures . Link to comment
Prozz Posted March 5, 2007 Share Posted March 5, 2007 I own a 24" fixture and I agree with the statements that it appears much like a 150w halide. This is mainly due to the 5 1/2 inches of empty space between the two LED banks. This space does of course add the opportunity for modification. All of the fixtures are slightly shorter then the listed length. PFO made this design change so that these fixtures can be put into hoods: so yes Arinya I suspect the 14" fixture will be within ¾ inch of 14". PFO is known to have excellent customer service, especially in regards to these fixtures. I believe Charney will see fairly quickly how PFO is willing to bend over backwards (so far) to get these quality issues resolved. Since owning this fixture my equipment heavy 20 high has not needed to run a chiller. I am now having issues getting the temperature over 80. The inside of the fixture has yet to break 85, averaging around 79-81. The technology is still to new for me to have an opinion on its effect on live stock but at the moment I am impressed. Link to comment
travisurfer Posted March 5, 2007 Share Posted March 5, 2007 with that extra space, you could put a 250w halide Link to comment
Prozz Posted March 5, 2007 Share Posted March 5, 2007 Actually I was thinking a small travel DVD player for the fish. Plenty of room for a LED bank though... Link to comment
Pet-Lover Posted March 6, 2007 Share Posted March 6, 2007 the lights are supose to be only comparible to a 250W Halide when on 20K, and when on 14/10 K about 150W. thats what ive hear d and i think its true. Link to comment
Charney Posted March 6, 2007 Author Share Posted March 6, 2007 I also want to mention that I've called PFO three times in the past two weeks for suggestions. You can actually get through to a real person relatively easily! Everyone has been very nice, but they had run out of suggestions. Yesterday afternoon, I received an e-mail from Patrick at PFO and he asked me to call him while I'm by the fixture. I plan to do that late this afternoon and will keep you posted. For those thinking of getting one of these, I'd like to mention a few things. Now, you're going to think I'm nuts (if you don't already), but I have this 24" fixture over a 24 JBJ Nanocube. I was going to get the 14" fixture, but then I was told that that fixture only illuminates a 12" x 12" square at 20", so I went for the 24". The 24" fixture doesn't really fit very well because of the 5-1/2" black gap between the two light banks. (I do like the idea of the metal halide in the center!) I have good lighting over the right 60% of the tank, a darker area for about 3", then good light for the remaining left hand side. Since the fixture extends over the edge of the left-hand side of the tank, I could maybe grow a plant or two on the side! My thinking, of course, is that I'll get a bigger tank in the no-too-distant future which will fit the fixture better. After being out of the hobby for about 7 years, I SWEAR I'm only going to have one tank. Link to comment
Carinya Posted March 7, 2007 Share Posted March 7, 2007 Interesting to note about how the 14" fixture illuminates 12 x 12. Thanks for the info & keep us updated, pls. Link to comment
Caesar777 Posted March 8, 2007 Share Posted March 8, 2007 We tried them out. The light output was bright, but not 250w bright, and looked very artifical. Beams seemed to be an annoying issue as well; perhaps having one set up on a fully-stocked tank, and not over an empty tank like we did, might change that, but it's doubtful. Keep in mind that the LED's are covered by the warranty for TWO years, and will last 5-10 years, but LOSE their brightness after about two years. Like replacing 6-month-old fluo's of any kind or halides after one year, it's not just that they're still working, but the potency that's left after a given amount of time. And replacement LED's for these suckers are expensive (these aren't your household power-light LED's!), especially when you need two dozen of them. Even with access to wholesale cost on these Solaris fellas, I'm going all-out for a new IceCap ballast and Ushio 20,000K bulb--not only for the price (still crazy-expensive! give it a few years!), but because there's nothing wrong with halides. I like halides. People are wimps, afraid of heat and light. Personally, I'm awaiting a nice LED fixture's release, but am waiting until the technology is refined and perfected.. Get those bugs worked out. Plus, the price is outrageous. Halides don't boost the power bill THAT much! Link to comment
Charney Posted March 8, 2007 Author Share Posted March 8, 2007 Update on fixture. I spoke with Patrick at PFO and he walked me through the programming in case I had done it wrong. Turns out I had done it correctly. Patrick guessed that there is a bad solder joint. He said this is the first time he hasn't been able to straighten things out over the phone. So my second fixture is going back. To their credit, they are shipping a new one out right away, and are instructing UPS to pick up my fixture, so at least I don't have to pay shipping. I'm just hoping this is going to be one terrific fixture once I get it up and running. Metal halide is looking pretty good right now, and I had the one I was going to get all picked out. Link to comment
Charney Posted March 15, 2007 Author Share Posted March 15, 2007 I received my third replacement fixture earlier this week and it works! From what I've been able to find out, it appears my experience was a rare one. Throughout the whole situation, PFO was quick to respond and replace the fixtures and did what they said they would do. Now that it works, I'm pretty happy with it. Thanks for the responses to my thread. Link to comment
Prozz Posted March 16, 2007 Share Posted March 16, 2007 I hope you find it worth the wait Charney. Keep everyone updated with what you think of the performance. Link to comment
Caesar777 Posted March 16, 2007 Share Posted March 16, 2007 2nd on the updates, too. I'm subscribed to this thread! Link to comment
lgreen Posted March 16, 2007 Share Posted March 16, 2007 Interesting Article on Solaris Fixiture: http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2006/8/rev...searchterm=None Link to comment
The Propagator Posted March 18, 2007 Share Posted March 18, 2007 I still think that (for the time being anyway) they are WAAYYY over priced fisher price toys. Dont trust them and probably never will. I still firmly believe the best choices in lighting are DE bulbs and PC on electronic balasts. I see these things as being similair to those greow lights that flooded Ebay a few montghs ago. Any one remember them? They advertised 500 watts worth of intensitty out of somthing like a 36W PC bulb or somthing insane. This is the best part ! They actualy had plastic covers you could switch out to produce diferent kelvins LMAO !!!! I swear to god they were selling them for reef aquaria usage with plastic blue , red, yellow, green, and white lens covers and claimed they mathced kelvins perfectly wen the light filtered through the covers.LOL!! I hope this persons experience with this fixture proves me wrong though. we do need soem MAJOR advances in ligthing for our reefs, and our walets. IE electric bill and start up cost of the light its self. Link to comment
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