MrConclusion Posted August 10, 2004 Share Posted August 10, 2004 Some of you may be interested in this new lighting system, so I will be posting an in-depth review as soon as it arrives, which will be any day now. The manufacturer's site is www.sunlightsupply.com. I purchased the fixture, ballasts, and bulbs from customaquatic.com Some of the reasons I chose this system: 1. Good experience with Sunlight Supply products. If you are interested in T5 lighting, I have already reviewed the T5 Tek Lights at http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/showthread...&threadid=19409 2. Interest in the efficiency and compactness of the double ended 250 watt bulbs. Also, the availability of good 14,000K bulbs for about $55.00! 3. Interest in the T5HO instead of T12VHO. The smaller diameter T5 allows for a better, more efficient reflector design compared to T12's, while still being a "truer" actinic bulb compared to PC. 4. Lower profile, more "finished" appearance of the fixture compared to the admittedly superb but somewhat large & clunky PFO hoods. I have always liked the sleek look of AquaMedic hoods, but they don't offer anything with true actinic bulbs. The Maristar looks a lot like the AquaSpaceLight. The Maristar is offered in 24", 26", 48", and 72" versions, so there are plenty of options for Nano-Reefers and also the big tanks! If you're interested in the review stay tuned here, and if you have any specific questions or photos to request as I unpack, install, and test the fixture, post it here. THANKS ALL! Link to comment
Purple Haze Posted August 11, 2004 Share Posted August 11, 2004 Good choice. I'll be using the 36" version on my custom tank in a few months. I look forward to your review. Link to comment
MrConclusion Posted August 12, 2004 Author Share Posted August 12, 2004 Coming soon. I just got the UPS tracking information for the shipment, and it won't be arriving until the 17th. Link to comment
supernip Posted August 13, 2004 Share Posted August 13, 2004 you should have waited man. a lot of new set up's coming out. 400de systems due out soon (though untested) and a lot of cheaper alternatives from coralife, coralvue. even giesemann has stuff lined up. But the maristar is pretty nice too. Link to comment
MrConclusion Posted August 13, 2004 Author Share Posted August 13, 2004 Supernip, Yeah, I have seen the speculation about Coralvue's lights, but I wasn't swept away with desire. I also checked out Coralife's new systems. I like my Coralife 96w powerquad, so I'm keeping them in mind for the future. Also, time is of the essence - I was trying to get this tank started ASAP. If the dual 250 watt turns out to be insufficient, that'll be a great excuse to try the 400's when they're more readliy available. BTW, I have seen the Maristar for $1000 - $1150 from many sources, but I got mine with bulbs and ballasts for $850, so the price isn't that bad. Link to comment
Purple Haze Posted August 14, 2004 Share Posted August 14, 2004 Where did you purchase? If you'd like to pm me that's fine. Definately post some pics when it comes in. Link to comment
MrConclusion Posted August 14, 2004 Author Share Posted August 14, 2004 Purple Haze, I bought it from www.customaquatic.com. The price breakdown was like this: Maristar hood (includes T5 ballasts): $469.99 BlueWave VII dual 250W HQI Ballast: $209.99 Hamilton 14K Bulbs: 2x $54.99 54W T5 Actinic Bulbs: 2x $29.99 Link to comment
Purple Haze Posted August 17, 2004 Share Posted August 17, 2004 $849 is a great price. When I tried going to the custom aquatics website i got an error message. I'll try again later. If not I may have to get the number from you to keep them in mind when i'm ready for my 36" version . Thank for the info, Ryan EDIT. I added an "S" to your url and the site came up. Link to comment
MrConclusion Posted August 18, 2004 Author Share Posted August 18, 2004 Everything arrived today. The order was extremely well packed for shipping. The bulbs were sent in their own box, the fixture in another, and the ballast in a third. As you can see, the fixture was very well packaged to arrive free of scratches and dings. Link to comment
MrConclusion Posted August 18, 2004 Author Share Posted August 18, 2004 The ballast is completely assembled and ready to plug & play. This is the Blue Wave VII ballast, so it's a HQI magnetic. This is a very massive and solid piece. The fixture is assembled except for the bulbs and glass shield. The bulbs are very easy to insert. Installing the glass requires removing one of the small ends of the fixture. You must remove 8 torx screws to do this, but a small torx allen wrench is supplied. Link to comment
MrConclusion Posted August 18, 2004 Author Share Posted August 18, 2004 Here you can see the nice sealed power switch which controls the T5 fluorescent lights. It is completely salt proof. You can also see three power cords. There are two MH power cords, plus the fluorescent power cord. The MH cords have a special plug on the end, so you can't possible plug them into the wrong place. The T5 cord has a standard grounded plug. The fixture has two cooling fans which blow out of the top. These fans are very quiet, move a decent amount of air, and they're turned on when the fluorescents are running. Link to comment
MrConclusion Posted August 18, 2004 Author Share Posted August 18, 2004 Here you can see the nice sealed power switch which controls the T5 fluorescent lights. It is completely salt proof. You can also see three power cords. There are two MH power cords, plus the fluorescent power cord. The MH cords have a special plug on the end, so you can't possible plug them into the wrong place. The T5 cord has a standard grounded plug. The fixture has two cooling fans which blow out of the top. These fans are very quiet, move a decent amount of air, and they're turned on when the fluorescents are running. Link to comment
MrConclusion Posted August 18, 2004 Author Share Posted August 18, 2004 Sorry about the double post back there. These are the Hamilton 14,000K 250 watt HQI bulbs. I am looking forward to seeng them after the 100 hour burn-in. One thing that made me very happy is that the 250 watt DE bulbs have a completely different socket type, and it's a hundred times easier to insert than the 70 and 150 watt DE bulbs! Link to comment
MrConclusion Posted August 18, 2004 Author Share Posted August 18, 2004 I'm also happy with the hanging system. It uses slim, attractive cables and is very easy to adjust. There's a pushbutton assembly that allows you to slip the cable to the desired length, then it automatically locks into place. As you can see, I haven't trimmed the excess cable yet. Link to comment
MrConclusion Posted August 18, 2004 Author Share Posted August 18, 2004 Here are the ceiling anchors. The came with white trim plates. Basically, everything was included except for the necessary tools: a drill, drill bit, and a wrench. Link to comment
MrConclusion Posted August 18, 2004 Author Share Posted August 18, 2004 Here's the first tank photo. The bulbs have less than an hour of run time. NOTE - This was taken with the camera set to DAYTIME SUNLIGHT WHITE BALANCE. In real life, it doesn't look this blue. Link to comment
MrConclusion Posted August 18, 2004 Author Share Posted August 18, 2004 Here's another look at the tank, angled so you can get a peek of the business end of the lighting fixture. There's 128 pounds of florida aquacultured LR spread out to cure in the tank, so you don't need to tell me that the aquascaping sucks! NOTE - This was taken with the camera set to DAYTIME SUNLIGHT WHITE BALANCE. In real life, it doesn't look this blue. Link to comment
MrConclusion Posted August 18, 2004 Author Share Posted August 18, 2004 Just for the heck of it, I took the same photo with the camera's WHITE BALANCE set on MANUAL, and I used the white sand as a reference. These are the same bulbs, the only change is the camera's settings. This photo gives you an idea what it would look like with whiter bulbs, but in real like the actinic T5 + Hamilton 14,000K looks bluer than this. The real appearance is somewhat between this photo and the last one! Link to comment
Purple Haze Posted August 19, 2004 Share Posted August 19, 2004 Very nice, that's what I want. How deep is your tank? L8r Link to comment
supernip Posted August 19, 2004 Share Posted August 19, 2004 if there were bulbs that burnt as white as your last pictures, I'd buy a case this instant Link to comment
MrConclusion Posted August 19, 2004 Author Share Posted August 19, 2004 Purplehaze: This is a 120 gallon tank, it's 48" long, 24: wide and 24" deep. Supernip: You could easily use 10,000K MH bulbs, which burn white with no blue tint. You could choose Ushio, Hamilton, AB, or a few other brands which offer 10,000K 250 watt DE bulbs. Also, for the T5 bulbs, you can get 10,000K "white" or 6,500K "day" bulbs. Link to comment
supernip Posted August 19, 2004 Share Posted August 19, 2004 i know, but few bulbs (if any) ever burn as white as that. I'd love to live in a world that white. all the 10k bulbs ive seen have tints of color. that thing is dead on white. haunting Link to comment
MrConclusion Posted August 22, 2004 Author Share Posted August 22, 2004 Supernip - That's the beauty of digital photography... no matter what the actual color, use it as a set-point for manual white balance and it looks pure white. BTW, I would suggest the Aqualine Buschke 10,000K DE bulbs, they really do look intensely white with no color tint that I can detect. UPDATE - The Hamilton 14,000K bulbs are looking more white (less blue) in color as they burn in. Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.