Dave Fason's Nano Box Reef 12" LED unit

[DHaut]

Thought the RC community would be interested in my review and experiences with a new entrant into the LED world: DaveFason and his Nano Box Reef units. I've been in the hobby close to 4 years now and have used PC, MH, T5, and now LED lighting over my tanks, and I have never been happier with a unit or a lighting type than I am with Dave's 12" LED fixture.

From Dave's site:

"12" Custom CNC Housing
12 Rebel ES LED's
Active Cooling
Nano Box Driver

I also included the Ryujin controller which allows for sunrise/set, clouds, and storms, plus color mixing.

The craftsmanship on this thing is superb. I feel like i could hit it with a hammer and it wouldn't skip a beat (but I'm not trying!). The fan is quiet, and the Rebel LEDs render color better than any I've seen (I've used a couple different Cree LED units over my tanks before - this is way better). Couple pics:





************ did a feature on the units recently: NanoBox 12 LED reef light is a cute little package from NanoBox Reef, and Dave has his own youtube channel with some nice action vids: YouTube - ‪DaveFason's Channel‬‏

I took one vid of my tank with cloud sims. My crappy iphone 3 camera doesn't do the color changes justice:



I highly recommend Dave and his LED units. They are high quality, and his customer service is some of the best in the hobby. A couple more shots under different color mixes:

Cyph under all blue:



Blasos during the day:



Geekout ahead!

Dave had a buddy of his do a spectral analysis on the Rebel LEDs vs. the popular Cree LEDs:

Originally Posted by DaveFason

The fight of the night! Rebel vs. CREE. With so many people debating over which LED is better my friends Matt and Joe put the two to the test with a spectroradiometer provided by UNCW.

In the left corner we have the CREE Neutral White XP-G paired with two CREE Royal Blue XP-E's. In the right corner and the underdog we have a Rebel Neutral White paired with two Rebel Royal Blue's. The winner is.... well you check it out

Rebel Combo

Cree Combo


The amazing part about this is the Rebel LED's that they tested were OLDER style Rebels and not the new Rebel ES that Nano Box exclusively uses. Overall you get a more accurate color and a higher output.

We really hope this helps you out when choosing your LED's. We are one of the few companies that carries the Rebel ES that does not cost an arm and a leg. Plus they are not mounted on those dreadful stars!

I'm no expert, but after having used two separate Cree LED units, and now Dave's, the Rebel LEDs have a way better and more natural color rendition to my eye.

Hope this was helpful - I'm off to start a new tank thread now! My prior tank was taken down to make room for our first child that's due tomorrow.

[DHaut]

Edit: didn't know that was blocked. New reviews for this light floating around out there.