littlephish Posted February 26, 2014 Share Posted February 26, 2014 Just got mine in and it is blue enough for me. It is way over kill for my current tank but I will need it in the future, I don't think i can run it any more than the lowest setting at the moment. This is a better option for my wants and needs than custom building one at the moment. I opened it immediately as it arrived and everything worked properly and it is quieter than my Jebao WP-10. Link to comment
defective_weeble Posted February 26, 2014 Share Posted February 26, 2014 Got mine in. Absolutely love it. Trying to find exactly the right height. Seems like about 7 inches off the top hits everywhere that I want it to hit without flooding out the sides too much. Now to figure out how to hang the thing. I was going to use a plant hanger off the wall, but it leaves me about 3 inches short of center on the tank so it's back to the drawing board. Link to comment
defective_weeble Posted February 27, 2014 Share Posted February 27, 2014 OK, found a problem. 05XRunner - is this what you were seeing before removing the reflectors? Obviously it's not this obvious to the naked eye, and the lights are nowhere near this blue in person. But those bands of color...they seem to be coming from the reflectors. If I hold the lights over the carpet, you can clearly see every reflector facet. EDIT - Confirmed! Pull the reflectors and suddenly you get beautiful light with no "banding" or separation of color. Unscrew the 6 black screws on the white face plate. Remove 4 nuts on each reflector. Carefully tap the clear splash guard and save it. Remove the reflectors, run a bead of super glue to hold the splash guards in place and then replace the face plate to the main housing once the glue has dried. Link to comment
defective_weeble Posted February 27, 2014 Share Posted February 27, 2014 And a quick video, just because. Link to comment
05XRunner Posted February 27, 2014 Author Share Posted February 27, 2014 yea with the reflectors in you get like 2 circle spots on the sand that have some purple/blue color to it. then once the reflectors are gone everything mixes perfectly. I like the light for the price I think its a good bang for your buck. color is pretty good, coverage is good shimmer is great the only thing that can beat it is the kessils and price is awesome Link to comment
patrickbruno91 Posted February 27, 2014 Share Posted February 27, 2014 And a quick video, just because. This is on a 20 gallon long about 8" above the tank? Link to comment
duncan-junkie Posted February 27, 2014 Share Posted February 27, 2014 Looks like a good light for the price......excited to see how your corals like it. Keep those updates coming! Link to comment
defective_weeble Posted February 27, 2014 Share Posted February 27, 2014 This is on a 20 gallon long about 8" above the tank? Yep. 8, maybe 8 1/2 above the water line. I could actually come down another inch or so but I have it on a shelf instead of hanging so I'm leaving room for me to get in and work. Link to comment
patrickbruno91 Posted February 27, 2014 Share Posted February 27, 2014 Yep. 8, maybe 8 1/2 above the water line. I could actually come down another inch or so but I have it on a shelf instead of hanging so I'm leaving room for me to get in and work. I might just have to jump in and buy one of these. I also have a 20Long that is turning into a frag/growout tank. Link to comment
defective_weeble Posted February 27, 2014 Share Posted February 27, 2014 I might just have to jump in and buy one of these. I also have a 20Long that is turning into a frag/growout tank. It's going to be really hard to beat this light for the price. I was heavily considering a BML fixture but I'm very happy that I went this route. Link to comment
rfalk Posted February 27, 2014 Share Posted February 27, 2014 Someone get some par #s on these would love to see. Link to comment
patrickbruno91 Posted February 27, 2014 Share Posted February 27, 2014 It's going to be really hard to beat this light for the price. I was heavily considering a BML fixture but I'm very happy that I went this route. Same here. I was also looking at BML, but idk i just couldn't pull the plug with there set-up for the price. It seems to simple, just a strip of leds for there price. i just need a basic inexpensive one at the time being for a frag tank. On my nano DT that will be different. Link to comment
zooman72 Posted February 27, 2014 Share Posted February 27, 2014 It's going to be really hard to beat this light for the price. I was heavily considering a BML fixture but I'm very happy that I went this route. Same here. I was also looking at BML, but idk i just couldn't pull the plug with there set-up for the price. It seems to simple, just a strip of leds for there price. i just need a basic inexpensive one at the time being for a frag tank. On my nano DT that will be different. While the BML's might be considered pricey, they are a completely different format for lighting than this fixture here. I think the comparison between this and a pair of Kessils is fair, although I cannot go into any detail myself without seeing this in person. I am afraid that, without knowing what whites they are using and assuming they are using high-temp whites, that this may suffer a bit when it comes to color rendition, although that may be mitigated a bit (probably not enough though) with the use of the red diodes. I also have to wonder why they used reflectors of this design if they are so noticeably problematic... Link to comment
defective_weeble Posted February 27, 2014 Share Posted February 27, 2014 While the BML's might be considered pricey, they are a completely different format for lighting than this fixture here. I think the comparison between this and a pair of Kessils is fair, although I cannot go into any detail myself without seeing this in person. I am afraid that, without knowing what whites they are using and assuming they are using high-temp whites, that this may suffer a bit when it comes to color rendition, although that may be mitigated a bit (probably not enough though) with the use of the red diodes. I also have to wonder why they used reflectors of this design if they are so noticeably problematic... To my eyes, they're not an extremely high temp white, but I could be dead wrong. I see enough of a warm tone to them that I think they're probably 6500k (or at least part of them are) though I could be completely wrong. I actually prefer the long-strip format of the BML light, and I'd have liked to have run it only a couple of inches above the water surface I may eventually end up with a 2-strip BML setup, and move this to a corner tank, but I'm not at all unhappy with how this light looks. 100 percent agreed on the reflector confusion. I think it's one of those situations where they looked at the setup, thought that they could get "more" light using reflectors, so they did. Unfortunately it leads to the really ugly results. Link to comment
zooman72 Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 To my eyes, they're not an extremely high temp white, but I could be dead wrong. I see enough of a warm tone to them that I think they're probably 6500k (or at least part of them are) though I could be completely wrong. I actually prefer the long-strip format of the BML light, and I'd have liked to have run it only a couple of inches above the water surface I may eventually end up with a 2-strip BML setup, and move this to a corner tank, but I'm not at all unhappy with how this light looks. 100 percent agreed on the reflector confusion. I think it's one of those situations where they looked at the setup, thought that they could get "more" light using reflectors, so they did. Unfortunately it leads to the really ugly results. Well, with the whites making up the greatest number of diodes in the fixture, along with the number of green and red diodes, I would bet that they are higher than a typical 6500K white. Also, color rendition is hard to judge on an empty aquarium - once I see this over a tank of variously-colored corals it would be easier to determine how good or bad it is. Note that if you plan on using BML lights for this tank, which is a 20L, you would probably only need one of them, not a pair... And if they had decided to use reflectors, why not test a few different formats first to eliminate problems like the one noted here... Link to comment
Horerczy Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 All multichips behave this way with reflectors except Kessil. Kessil leds use dense matrix tech with Kessil's homebrew diodes set on a half inch or so piece of concave metal with a lense. This multichip is set on a dream chip board with wider spacing. The different colors reflect at different angles producing the color bands. Without the reflector the colors are free to overlap better. Link to comment
defective_weeble Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 All multichips behave this way with reflectors except Kessil. Kessil leds use dense matrix tech with Kessil's homebrew diodes set on a half inch or so piece of concave metal with a lense. This multichip is set on a dream chip board with wider spacing. The different colors reflect at different angles producing the color bands. Without the reflector the colors are free to overlap better. Nice explanation, and definitely seem to match up with what photos of the lights would show. Thanks! Well, with the whites making up the greatest number of diodes in the fixture, along with the number of green and red diodes, I would bet that they are higher than a typical 6500K white. Also, color rendition is hard to judge on an empty aquarium - once I see this over a tank of variously-colored corals it would be easier to determine how good or bad it is. Note that if you plan on using BML lights for this tank, which is a 20L, you would probably only need one of them, not a pair... And if they had decided to use reflectors, why not test a few different formats first to eliminate problems like the one noted here... Interesting note on the BML. I was hesitant to go for the 14k so I thought perhaps two of the 12k would be ideal. Link to comment
zooman72 Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 All multichips behave this way with reflectors except Kessil. Kessil leds use dense matrix tech with Kessil's homebrew diodes set on a half inch or so piece of concave metal with a lense. This multichip is set on a dream chip board with wider spacing. The different colors reflect at different angles producing the color bands. Without the reflector the colors are free to overlap better. Yep, so why not just use a lens if the reflectors are a problem with this layout? I have seen a shallow "reflector" used for LEDGroupBuy's Lumia as well - shallow and non-faceted - wonder if it has any issues? Interesting note on the BML. I was hesitant to go for the 14k so I thought perhaps two of the 12k would be ideal. Of the various "pre-configured" color layouts, the one that looks the best via their photos is the 12K and the 20K. Their multi-channel fixtures are also coming out soon, allowing the user to dial in the color as in other fixtures, but I think they need their proprietary controller to do so... A manual one would be nice and less expensive, but I don't know if they are going to offer one... Link to comment
05XRunner Posted February 28, 2014 Author Share Posted February 28, 2014 If you look back you will see I added 50mm lenses to my fixture. Link to comment
littlephish Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 Where did you buy the lenses? Link to comment
05XRunner Posted February 28, 2014 Author Share Posted February 28, 2014 ebay they are from china. took a few weeks to get in http://www.ebay.com/itm/390363937664?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649 Link to comment
Horerczy Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 Yep, so why not just use a lens if the reflectors are a problem with this layout? The lenses have their own downfalls. Ac-rc sells reflectors that match the lens that 05xrunner put on his light. Link to comment
05XRunner Posted March 2, 2014 Author Share Posted March 2, 2014 well decided to sell mine. The light is really nice dont get me wrong just doesnt get blue enough for my taste. After stopping at local store today and seeing how blue they can get with other LED units I have decided to try something else. sacrifice the awesome shimmer for better color. Trying out the Reef radiance DM-155e Link to comment
bpounds1991 Posted March 2, 2014 Share Posted March 2, 2014 Just suck it up like I did and get a nanobox lol Link to comment
defective_weeble Posted March 2, 2014 Share Posted March 2, 2014 I was really close to getting a DM-155e but I'm a big fan of this light. Then again, I don't like to go so blue so it works for me. Link to comment
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