NanoBox Quad Plus Review

[DaveFason]

A good friend of mine Johnny Ciotti has been a NanoBox user since the first "Mono" light. He has used Flares, Beams, Duos, Mini's and Quads. Johnny is a professional photographer and has put together many marketing strategies, photo shoots and videos for a majority of the aquarium industry.

 

He put together a simple review that I wanted to share. Enjoy!

 

"Short and Sweet

The same way I prefer my reviews happens to be just the way I like my aquarium light fixtures. Let me preface by stating that I’ve been a fan and user of the Nano Box fixtures since day one. Dave has always done something just a little bit different and stayed the course of progression rather than following the status quo of make it cheaper and put more whiz bang into it.



Now this might seem like one of those “oh no he’s going to say only positive things and is being paid for it reviews”, but I’ve got to tell you it’s not.



The Nano Box Quad has been living above my personal reef aquarium for a considerable amount of time now, approximately 12 months and has yet to skip a beat. In the age of replace a light fixture due to the conspicuous nature of consumption and status I see little to no reason to upgrade or change until this light craps out.



The Body:



Let’s talk about the chunk of aluminum that this little beast is made from. It’s solid, it’s precise, it’s made in America, and it feels like you could beat a home intruder to death with it. When the other half hears a bump in the night we no longer go for the 12g behind the door, I’m taking the Nano Box Quad for a wild ride. Don’t confuse solid construction with weight though. This slab of metal is nimble and puts very little stress on the back panel of your aquarium or ceiling depending on how you decide to mount it. The fancy slotted covers that hide the fans from site are a nice touch considering they come in just about any anodized color imaginable and many other interesting materials. I went for the not so fancy and more subdued clear anodizing on my unit because I’m a plain and boring kind of guy. No frills!



More about this units body. It’s got curves in the right places and the rest is wash board ab flat. It doesn’t look like a spaceship floating about a neon blue box of water. The Nano Box looks exactly as it should, un-annoying. All the cables are neatly and discreetly tucked into the gooseneck mounting arms (not sure how Dave does this but I like to think of it as being semi erotic) to continue on with the sleekness.



The Mount:



Not a whole lot to talk about. It’s a clean goose neck solution with cables tucked away like previously stated. Put the fixture wherever you like as long as the necks reach. Mounting points are solid and I’ve never had one move on me but I also don’t go hanging on my fixture.



The Control:



Ok, soooooooooo this is the only thing that isn’t exactly my favorite. The fixture is beyond controllable, but the Bluefish App isn’t exactly as polished as the Ai App. Not that this matters a whole lot because how often are you going in and messing with the settings? Well, if you like pissing off your inhabitants maybe a whole lot. So if you want to throw a rave or seize out your fish I don’t recommend this fixture, but if you plan to change your settings less than once or twice a week (still too much) you probably won’t be bothered by it. Now let me also say that Nano Box has said they are working on a new/different application that has a bit of a more streamlined UI. When it comes to the actual working of the Bluefish App it does have more than enough feature so I’m not exactly sure why I don’t like it (the stupid sliders are annoying). Photo Mode, Morning, Mid Day, Evening, and Night programming with seamless ramping, weather, and heaps of channels allow the fixture to do it’s job very efficiently and syncing it all up is a synch.



The Light:



This is where the Nano Box really shines… Wow, that was the worst pun ever. If anything is going to give this fixture a glowing review it will be the light output and appearance… There it was again, Glowing? Seriously!? Any shadow that’s been cast… Dude…



Ok, so the light output is incredible. With direct comparison (I’m not going to get into that battle) it was either even with or putting out more light than every other comparable fixture on the market under the same conditions. But that isn’t really what I care about as I’m way more into quality than quantity. The Nano Box Quad 24” evenly lights and provides adequate amount from corner to corner, top to bottom of the 36” Red Sea Reefer 250 and it does this with an incredible color rendition. My corals look beautiful and grow like I’d expect them to under a MH or T5 fixture but with the added benefits of LED. The array that Nano Box uses is clean. The perfect blend of vibrancy and clarity with all the “pop” you could ask for. Really, pictures do not do this light justice and I know my pictures are good.



The Customer Service:



Now I’m going to assume that if you share the same love of aquariums as I do, don’t allow your light to bathe in salt creep, and enjoy some good BBQ your experience will be pretty similar to mine. When originally getting the fixture I called Dave at Nano Box to talk about the tech and he was more than willing to answer all of my questions. The fixture came un-damaged and on time (not sure how this works with each one of them being hand made). The one time I had an issue with (user error) my phone not connecting to the Bluefish App he was able to point me in the direction of a solution in a rather timely manner. I’ve not had any other “problems” so it’s a bit hard for me to comment here.



The Inevitable Conclusion:



There are a lot of fixtures on the market and a lot of them do a damn good job of putting bright light of your salty box. If you care about something more than just keeping up with the latest tech, and how much neon blue you can pound into your zoanthids the Nano Box might be a worth while investment. Personally I have a soft spot for American designed/made products that do more than hard work, something that speaks to my soul and reflects a bit of me and projects a genuine personality of its own. I don’t just appreciate my Nano Box I adore it for the craftsmanship and authenticity behind what went into it. "

 

Untitled by David Fason, on Flickr

 

Untitled by David Fason, on Flickr

 

Untitled1 by David Fason, on Flickr

 

Untitled by David Fason, on Flickr

 

Untitled by David Fason, on Flickr

 

Untitled by David Fason, on Flickr

 

Untitled by David Fason, on Flickr

[drgibby]

those pictures ... your lights cool to dave

[teenyreef]

Great review, I think Johnny did a really nice job of describing pros and cons, especially with the Bluefish controller. And the pictures are fantastic.

 

PS: nice reef, btw

[mpsti05]

Beautiful looking tank and nice write up! Interested in seeing what your lighting schedule is aswell