Wondering About the Quality of SWC Light Fixtures

[viperfish]

I'm just curious if anyone is using them and are they any good. The price is certainly right. They appear to be designed similar to the TEK fixture, only difference is they have a much lower price tag, they have built in moonlights, hanging kit, legs, and bulbs are all included included. They sound like a heck of a deal.

[lorenz0]

I have been wondering the same to. I like the switch for ever 2 bulbs and the built in moonlights.

[lockrookie]

honestly i didnt even know they sold lights till now but for me id love a 60" light foxture fro my 90 would be perfect. but id have to mod he tank to set up the lights on a timer it only has one power cord so you would have to manually turn lights on and off every day. that just wont work for me. but after some re wireing i think they would be a decent light. still nota high end light but decent. (like id ever buy high end anyways)

[viperfish]

I sent them an email last night to ask them if they had fixtures available with more than one cord. I had a reply in my inbox this morning and they said there is only one cord and multiple switches to control the lights. Too bad really, that one feature could make them an awesome fixture. I guess with a little wiring it could be controlled with timers for dawn/dusk. Even if the moonlights were seperate from the daylights it would be nice.

[wingedfish]

I'm a couple weeks into using a 48" 6 bulb. It is my first light so take my reveiw with a grain of salt.

It was shipped in a light cardboard box with white polystyrene foam packing and showed obvious shipping damage. The bulbs were shipped installed but do to damages they fell out and were rattling around in the fixture. The lexan shield slides off either way to remove/change bulbs. The tombstone block had to be repositioned to accept the bulbs again. this was all shipping issues and in now way should reflect on the manufacturer.

The light itself uses a metal reflector bent to try and form individual reflectors. The housing is well built powder coated aluminum. the bulbs that come with it are silk screened SWC blue or 10K. I have no idea who actually builds these bulbs and cannot speculate on quality as I have no meters nor comparison lights. It comes with legs and adjustable wire hanging kit. The thumbs down for me are, one cord with four switches, and noise. It has 2 2" fans that are quite noisy that come on with one set of bulbs. Again, I'm sure that the noise may not be abnormal but it is unacceptable in my living room.

Both "problems" I will mod to my liking at some point. I would definately request 3 cords for a moon/twilight/daylight pakage and pay the extra if at all possible. SWC are a pleasure to deal with and I would/will buy again. Canadian company is a big plus.

Jason

[viperfish]

Thanks for sharing Jason. I didn't know the fixture had fans, that's a bonus. Even if they are loud they can be changed out eventually. It's good to hear you like the customer service, that's a huge thing when you are mail ordering equipment. Maybe I can get a look at yours before I order one.

[phi delt reefer]

they look alot like the Catalina Aquarium T5 systems. But the older systems. Catalina's new systems have individual t5's and because they make their own you can request options (ie. individual power cords)

the bulbs in the SWC model are probably the same ones Catalina gives out, blue or white standard. Op - you should consider swapping out those bulbs for some better quality ones though b/c i have not seen them i can not say they are low quality. I am making an assumption based on what others get when they get these "stock company" bulbs.

I really hope SWC takes off in the light industry - it would be good to have a Canadian manufacturer to buy from once in a while :)

[RedCoralLethbridge]

Hey Rod

If you are looking for a higher end fixture take a look at the TEK Elite fixture we have one in our shop right now and it looks great. It has two fans and is built really well. It also has two cords. It is the 36" fixture.

Let me know what you think.

Craig

[viperfish]

Cool, I'll have to check it out.

[axe_man16]

I have this light fixture 6bulb 48". Picked it up on an ebay auction (super cheap!less than $200) It came with 18 20k bulbs. The big problem for me was the single cord it has, and one of the ballasts died after one week.

I bought a new ballast and rewired the unit. It now runs great (loud fans tho). I have it so I can run the new ballast seperatly and the other lights come on sepeate from the leds.

I also got a few different lights. 2 blue plus and a fiji purple.

[viperfish]

they look alot like the Catalina Aquarium T5 systems. But the older systems. Catalina's new systems have individual t5's and because they make their own you can request options (ie. individual power cords)

the bulbs in the SWC model are probably the same ones Catalina gives out, blue or white standard. Op - you should consider swapping out those bulbs for some better quality ones though b/c i have not seen them i can not say they are low quality. I am making an assumption based on what others get when they get these "stock company" bulbs.

I really hope SWC takes off in the light industry - it would be good to have a Canadian manufacturer to buy from once in a while :)

I checked out the Catalina website and they seem to sell some pretty cheap stuff. That Solana fixture got my attention though, 8 x 54 Watt T5 for $300, LED moonlights included. Looks like a nice fixture.

[phi delt reefer]

I checked out the Catalina website and they seem to sell some pretty cheap stuff. That Solana fixture got my attention though, 8 x 54 Watt T5 for $300, LED moonlights included. Looks like a nice fixture.



they used advanced centium ballasts so the should be just as good as any other fixture. (sunlight supply uses them and so do a bunch of others). They also do all the metal work in their facility including bending their own reflectors. I don't know if they are optimized like Tek/ICECAP/LET/ATI reflectors but for the price i think it makes it worth it.

If you call them they usually give you a better price from what i have been hearing. Give'm a ring and ask em if they have any scratch and dents or display models or any sales coming up.