Quote:
Originally Posted by ast
Calms,
What else did you look at besides AI and Maxspect? Any of the China imports?
|
At the time I looked at everything I could find references on including, PacSun, Eco-lamps (now sold in the US as Acan Lighting), Maxspect (which is Chinese made) and AquaIllumination - Basically all of the 3W LED fixtures I could find data on at the time. I had also done some testing of Evils PAR38 21W 12K LEDs.
In the end, I went with AI due to build quality, Cree dies, US Made and Licensed under the Orbitec patent and dimming (the ability to control each color channel was and is a significant issue for me.) I then later added the Maxspect over my small frag tank due to my lessor light needs and cost of acquisition (Maxspects were cheaper prior to gaining a US distributor and AI optics would have been tough to manage on a tank 8" deep.)
Now there are many more Chinese one-off units available. I'm also watching a unit made by a company in Israel named Orphek that's making a 120W fixture with 16K white LEDs that looks promising (sans dimming unfortunately.)
Advances are coming rapidly in reef lighting, RGB is interesting if they can get the power output high enough, Plasma shows great promise once the coloration issues are resolved (far too yellow at higher output.) OLEDS are being developed that may someday be powerful enough for reef use...
We've now got plenty of PAR, with even more efficiency gains coming rapidly. With some fine tuning of the spectral output - I believe LEDs will render MHs completely obsolete within 5 years.