Orphek or AI

[southerner2]

Looking for lighting for my new 120. Thinking about AI SOl and Orphek PR-156 LED Reef Light

What do you guys think....The wife has given permission for either....

http://www.aquaillumination.com/

http://orphek.com/index-8.php

I'm leaning towards the Orpheks. I like the way that tank looks with them.

[TJSlayer]

The orpheks look great but are not dimmable, the AI's are dimmable - huge benefit.

May want to check the reeftech lights (prometheus) as well or possibly the Pythons from Pacific Sun.

Check this out..
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=74046

[southerner2]

Yea, your right not dimmable.......Guess I will just stick with my MH.....wait a minute....those aren't dimmable.....Guess i will throw those out too.......My PC on my nano aren't dimmable....in the trash they go.....

Really????

Why is dimming such a big deal....people use this one argument for this fixture or that fixture....Very VERY few fixtures have any sort of automatic ramping on their dimming features....

i'm more concerned about the look, coverage and results.....I refuse to 86 anything just because it doesn't have dimming....

We've done very well for all these years without dimming....I don't think at this point dimming is something that I am ready to base the health of my system on....

As for shock on the corals...the argument that ramping eases the daily cycle for our tanks make sense to me...I'm not totally ignorant on logic but man....at every step with LEDs all I hear about it dimming.......

Still waiting to see a truly grown under LED tank with big colonies.

[mitchemi]

Have a look at the Maxspect product. They are just about to release the G3 version with Cree led's. I have bee running the 230W version for the last year and I think it has done very well. I have a deep (36 inch) tank. The G3's will be dimmable.....I bought a 110 fixture for my frag tank as well from Finsreef in the US but you can also buy them from the canadian distributor.

[sphelps]

Best feature of LEDs IMO is the dimming functions which allow for color control and various other features/special effects. True not needed but that could be said for a lot of things...
If that doesn't concern you then you know not to worry about it but I wouldn't ask for other peoples opinions if you don't care to hear them, most people these days wouldn't buy an LED fixture without some kind of dimming control.

[lastlight]

Yea, your right not dimmable.......Guess I will just stick with my MH.....wait a minute....those aren't dimmable.....Guess i will throw those out too.......My PC on my nano aren't dimmable....in the trash they go.....

Really????

Why is dimming such a big deal....people use this one argument for this fixture or that fixture....Very VERY few fixtures have any sort of automatic ramping on their dimming features....

i'm more concerned about the look, coverage and results.....I refuse to 86 anything just because it doesn't have dimming....

We've done very well for all these years without dimming....I don't think at this point dimming is something that I am ready to base the health of my system on....

As for shock on the corals...the argument that ramping eases the daily cycle for our tanks make sense to me...I'm not totally ignorant on logic but man....at every step with LEDs all I hear about it dimming.......

Still waiting to see a truly grown under LED tank with big colonies.

I totally agree. I prefer to at least be able to turn my lights on in a sequence to not startle the fish but my T5s are instant on and I don't ever see the fish go into a panic. mh warm up so they have in a way built-in un-dimming lol...but when they abruptly turn off at night I never see issues.

[freezetyle]

Best feature of LEDs IMO is the dimming functions which allow for color control and various other features/special effects. If that doesn't concern you then you know not to worry about it but I wouldn't ask for other peoples opinions if you don't care to hear them, most people these days wouldn't buy an LED fixture without some kind of dimming control.

exactly color control is a big plus. if you are really concerned with looks go with a maxspect (interchangeable leds) or reeftech/pacsun(added neutral white). i think they might produce a better look over orphek/ai

[intarsiabox]

Yea, your right not dimmable.......Guess I will just stick with my MH.....wait a minute....those aren't dimmable.....Guess i will throw those out too.......My PC on my nano aren't dimmable....in the trash they go.....

Really????

Why is dimming such a big deal....people use this one argument for this fixture or that fixture....Very VERY few fixtures have any sort of automatic ramping on their dimming features....

i'm more concerned about the look, coverage and results.....I refuse to 86 anything just because it doesn't have dimming....

We've done very well for all these years without dimming....I don't think at this point dimming is something that I am ready to base the health of my system on....

As for shock on the corals...the argument that ramping eases the daily cycle for our tanks make sense to me...I'm not totally ignorant on logic but man....at every step with LEDs all I hear about it dimming.......

Still waiting to see a truly grown under LED tank with big colonies.

Ever think there is other reasons for dimming? Dim the white bulbs for a more blue effect or increase the white and dim the blue for growth. You ask for peoples opinions on these two fixtures and then trash their comments, if you don't want a dimmable fixture then take the AI's off your list and don't bother people for their opinions anymore.

[TJSlayer]

As others have already said dimming is more about the ability to control color and output intensity.

Other wise the only way to contol intensity is to raise or lower the lights from the surface of the tank, and if your ok with that than it may not be a deal breaker for you.

But with all the other choices in lighting if your nt happy with the color you simply change the bulb, not quite that easy with LED, and at least with the dimming aspect you can increase or decrease the basic color spectrums.
more/Less Blue vs more/less white.

As far as the sunrise, moon phase settings, storms, clouds, etc; and having dozens of different light intensities throughout the day those are what I call fluff features. None are really "needed" but some are pretty cool.

But when it comes down to it the way I made my decision is to look at what my budget was, and I purchased the light with the most features, and wattage I could get for the money.

Ultimately it's your cash so get what is important to you, but I think the dimming option is a must unless you can change individual LED's easily otherwise you may get it and decide you hate the color etc.

That said there are many users of the orphek lights that are quite happy, and I believe they will customize it to a certain extent for you as well, but once it's done, I'm not sure how easily you could change things around if your not happy.

The AI option has everything so I would go that way over the Orphek, but then again for the same cash you could go with the prometheus by reeftech as well which is even better when I was digging into the specs and such.

Many choices out there just depends on your budget and needs...

TJ

[mr.wilson]

I have an AI Sol with a dimmer. It was fun to play with to establish what colour I wanted, but after 10 minutes I had no further use for it. I have a profilux controller but the lightning and cloud effects are not of any interest to me.

I also have some plasma lights from Straylight with dimmers. If I dim the light it becomes more blue, but at the cost of most of the PAR. I leave them at full power as most users will. They are horribly yellow but I'm using them for mangroves and Chaeto.

Dimming a light to acclimate new corals only stresses out your old corals. As someone else mentioned, raising the light will give you the same drop in intensity while spreading the coverage.

Dimming also alters the spectrum of the light so the advertised CRI, PAR and PUR numbers go out the window. Dimming alters the milliamps available to the LED chip from the driver. This means you may for example end up with proportionately higher amounts of yellow light in the 520-630nm range which will cause nuisance algae problems. This isn't necessarily what would happen, but you certainly won't get the same peaks and lows that are measured in the spectrograph of the light at full power. Drivers are sized specifically to LEDs to get peak performance. Even optical lenses are matched to peak performance to get the most out of the LEDs. Many LED lights are not bright enough in the first place so dimming is really a moot point. By the time you get the light high enough above the water's surface to get good coverage there really isn't much left to dim in many cases.

I use 450 nm blue light for dawn and dusk and turn the white lights on and off in sequence, right (rising in the East) and left (setting in the West) to follow the pattern of the sun. Obviously you can't do this if you are only using one fixture, but most people are using three or more.

Lighting is always a tough decision, I think tougher than protein skimmer selection and picking a wife. It's an expensive move and you're always nervous that something new will outmode what you buy. LED technology has plateaued, and broken away from its early pioneer days just a year ago. Some manufacturers are clearly better than others, but I don't think any of the brands you have mentioned here will disappoint you.

[lastlight]

To be honest I totally forgot about the ability to change the overall colour temp of the reef through dimming.

I suppose if you don't have dimming it's like buying say a phoenix 14k metal halide fixture and not being able to ever swap bulbs out.

[TJSlayer]

That's exactly my point about dimming for color control... :)

[lastlight]

It's sorta like getting married if we want to take it a step further. Hmmm...

[southerner2]

Ok, firstly I apologize for my outburst. I do respect opinions. Thats why I asked.

I am most concerned with getting a quality fixture. To my eyes the whiter and brighter the tank the better. I really want SPS and LPS.

[freezetyle]

Ok, firstly I apologize for my outburst. I do respect opinions. Thats why I asked.

I am most concerned with getting a quality fixture. To my eyes the whiter and brighter the tank the better. I really want SPS and LPS.

Like Mr. Wilson said. there are so many quality fixtures out there you cannot really go wrong. You said you wanted the most light aesthetically pleasing fixture. The orphek might do that for you, but if you do not like the color rendition then you just dropped tons of money on something your not going to be happy with. Depending on tank size AI's can get pricey, maxspect you can change each individual led until you are happy with it (plus the new G3 series is coming, so you might get a G2 model cheaper since dimming is not important to you).

or go the DIY route and save a bunch of money ( if you have a canopy)

[lastlight]

or go the DIY route and save a bunch of money ( if you have a canopy)

It seems that a lot of ppl that go DIY choose higher quality components than are in many of the fixtures. Then source and ship a heatsink or two. My impression of DIY LED reminds me of building computers. People assume you spend less doing it but you usually build a sweet rig that costs more than a pre-built. Is this not true at all?

[mr.wilson]

A year ago it was absolutely true that a DIY LED was better than an off the rack model. The aquarium lighting industry cannot turn on a dime; once a company has commited significant R&D money on a technology they can't drop it and change to the newest components. There are UL/CSA issues as well as the American patent and supply restraints. The current third generation LED cannot be emulated with a DIY project. Drivers are tuned to custom Phosphor coated high Kelvin chips and lenses are custom ground. Heatsinks are getting high tech and incorporate quieter fans. A year ago Cree or Luxeon LEDs were much brighter than the older outmoded Philips, but now you can get LEDs engineered for reef lighting rather than 6-7000k task lighting with some blues thrown in to drown them out.

Deciding on overall colour isn't as mysterious as some make it out to be. Just like MHL, you can have white, blue or half way between. You mentioned Phoenix 14000k bulbs, I would call them blue, as they are really 16000k compared to Ushio 14000k. You cannot make your lighting more blue or more white with dimming features. You cannot add, you can only subtract. This would be the same net effect as using a filter over a MHL light.

It sounds modular to be able to mix and match LEDs but to what end? Because of the limitations of product availability, drivers and optics, you are limited to colour changes only. Popping in one or two red or green LEDs will get you a few square inches of inappropriate light. It will not change what your corals get and will likely give you nuisance algae problems.

Most of the components and assembly of LED lighting is done in China and there is nothing we can do about that. What we can do is pick lighting products that are engineered for the aquarium industry and not a task light LED chip in a mass produced body with generic lenses, drivers and PCBs. This limits us to last years DIY technology.

[shootingstar]

Thank you Mr Wilson, very well said.

[southerner2]

I ended up going with the Orphek PR-156 light for my aquarium. It was important to go with LED for the energy savings but I also wanted to make certain that I had a fixture that would stand the test of time. I think I went with the best choice. A lot of the decision was made on looking at the tanks posted on the net and seeing both lights in action. This pic shows what I am mainly talking about. I found it on a German forum. Didn't translate well but it's pretty self explanatory.
IMHO
1. There is a definite difference between the corals under the AI and the Orphek colorwise.
2. Stuff under Orphek has color and life, the AI stuff is dim and grayish/blue.
3. The AI lights appeared dim so I PM'd the owner and he told me that he had them at 100% and that's why he started looking, because he felt the AI were too dim. When he found Orphek he tried a few and has since switched entirely over.

http://i1104.photobucket.com/albums/h338/Orphek/German%20Reef/3Orphekt4AI-2.jpg

http://i1104.photobucket.com/albums/h338/Orphek/German%20Reef/3Orphekt4AI-11.jpg

http://i1104.photobucket.com/albums/h338/Orphek/German%20Reef/3Orphekt4AI.jpg

[lastlight]

I've never seen a more compelling product comparison pic the difference is unreal!

[abcha0s]

southerner2

Can I ask what your association with Orphek is?

Where can us Canadian's source the Orphek lights?

- Brad

[nc208082]

Ive been a member at 3reef for a while now, Orphek the company is a sponsor on our site and is the best of all LED companies out there. They come on our forums all the time and answer any ones questions. They also have the best emitters for our hobby as well as being one of the few companies that makes their own bulbs specifically for reef systems. More than AI's use of cree. They dont dim because they dont need to, they built them right.

Marine Depot carries their stuff, they ship up here.

Orphek.com their canadian distributers is reefwholsalers i believe

[phi delt reefer]

reef wholesale is not their distributor unless it changed a couple weeks ago.

the only place that sells them online in Canada is GoReef out of Quebec.

[viperfish]

Ive been a member at 3reef for a while now, Orphek the company is a sponsor on our site and is the best of all LED companies out there. They come on our forums all the time and answer any ones questions. They also have the best emitters for our hobby as well as being one of the few companies that makes their own bulbs specifically for reef systems. More than AI's use of cree. They dont dim because they dont need to, they built them right.

Marine Depot carries their stuff, they ship up here.

Orphek.com their canadian distributers is reefwholsalers i believe

You're making some very big claims. I'm sure you have a good reason for your biased opinion. When you refer to "our site", which site are you referring to? Which forums are "our forums"? I'm sure Orphek makes a good light but I have to call BS on your statement about dimming. Any reefer's goal is to replicate all of the conditions on a natural reef, and one thing is for certain dimming is a natural occurrence as the sun rises or sets. No it may not be as essential to coral growth as the light spectrum and intensity but I am sure it's a benefit to the coral. Southerner2 went off the deep end when someone mentioned dimming but the bottom line is when all things are equal with PAR and coverage, it is the bells and whistles like control features, ability to upgrade, and form factor that will seal the deal. IMO of course.

[lastlight]

Wonder if there were forums when halides started out in the hobby? Be interesting to see if that produced as much bickering and argument. I think people had gotten bored of arguing about skimmer technology and LED has filled a void LOL. Regardless of biases I'm impressed by the orphek's colour output (at least as captured in the photo)

[albert_dao]

Wonder if there were forums when halides started out in the hobby? Be interesting to see if that produced as much bickering and argument. I think people had gotten bored of arguing about skimmer technology and LED has filled a void LOL. Regardless of biases I'm impressed by the orphek's colour output (at least as captured in the photo)

Hey Brett, hommie (I can call you that right?). Do a search on HOT5's circa 2002-2003 and lol yourself dizzy :D

[lastlight]

Hey Brett, hommie (I can call you that right?). Do a search on HOT5's circa 2002-2003 and lol yourself dizzy :D

Haha yeah why did I forget about that? I was there to enjoy all that =)

[viperfish]

Wonder if there were forums when halides started out in the hobby? Be interesting to see if that produced as much bickering and argument. I think people had gotten bored of arguing about skimmer technology and LED has filled a void LOL. Regardless of biases I'm impressed by the orphek's colour output (at least as captured in the photo)

I agree the colour does look awesome, and pictures never do justice so I'm sure in person they are amazing. I think the reason LED tech is so perplexing is because there is no apples to apples comparison of each of the LED's, a lot of the information out there is based on opinion and not fact. When I purchase my two Illumilux fixtures, I researched until I just about went cross eyed and in the end I was more confused than when I started. I really do think Vertex has nailed it with the Illumina and a person would be hard pressed to find a better fixture out there with more features (I am just a consumer by the way, not trying to promote one over the other) but they are insanely overpriced. Since LED tech seems to be following the same trend as any other electronics such as AV gear or computers, the LED fixture worth thousands today is paperweight tomorrow. I'm still a halide person, I do use LED for supplemental lighting and I have to say it looks better than halide and certainly better than the flat looking T5, and I would love to go all LED right now, I just think it's a little early and MH is still the economical choice.

[southerner2]

I am a rookie reefer. Check my post and look at my tank. I am not running a very elaborate system and it is slow in coming. I am planning to upgrade to a 120g or so in the next year and wanted a system that I could "take with me" to the new tank. I went back and forth with the AI/Orphek thing for a long time (months). There are a lot of differences between the two and dimming is only one of them and that didn't matter to me because I knew I wouldn't play with it after the first day or two.

WHAT I BELIEVE- people spend a lot of money on their tanks, an inordinate amount of that money goes into the lighting systems. The last thing that most of us will do is to admit that the 1000's we dropped wasn't the best purchase possible. Most people will never admit that they didn't make the best choice. It's hard to spend that money and I only spent $850. Imagine people buying 3 or 4 lights and then realizing that oops...I should have bought..........take my coralife skimmer for example (ugghhh) it still hurts to think about it.

For me the all the hype around the LED thing boils down to success of tanks. It is true that most of the systems out there were grown out with MH and then switched to LED....It's just a fact for now because the tecnology is still new. So, I had to look, listen and evaluate for myself. The biggest thing that did it for me is when I saw tanks from my own marine society that had either AI or Orphek. Several of the guys in our club have AI and one guy and his wife went with Orphek. In talking with both "camps" The thing I found was they were both happy. I asked a lot of questions, algae growth, coral growth, feeding response to moonlighting, on and on and on....these people probably thought I would never leave their homes.....The couple even had my wife and I stay for dinner.....hahaha

In the end I went with Orphek beacause of a few factors:
1. Less DT algae under the Orphek
2. I like the color better. This is both about the color of the water and the coloration of the corals. I didn't like blue water. I liked the bright vibrant colored corals.
3. Coral growth- The couple with the Orphek saw better growth in their system and the amount of new growth visible on their colonies was impressive. The AI tanks had some growth as well... just not as much.
4. Apparent quality and long term reliability. This was obviously an opinion thing on my part I offered to disassemble their fixtures, they politely declined so I had to just look and touch and read.

I realize that the first 3 could be as much a result of the individual systems I saw the lights on as anything. However in my search I found a couple of tanks that gave me what I needed....a true side by side comparison. This tank really "did" it for me.....

[viperfish]

I am a rookie reefer. Check my post and look at my tank. I am not running a very elaborate system and it is slow in coming. I am planning to upgrade to a 120g or so in the next year and wanted a system that I could "take with me" to the new tank. I went back and forth with the AI/Orphek thing for a long time (months). There are a lot of differences between the two and dimming is only one of them and that didn't matter to me because I knew I wouldn't play with it after the first day or two.

WHAT I BELIEVE- people spend a lot of money on their tanks, an inordinate amount of that money goes into the lighting systems. The last thing that most of us will do is to admit that the 1000's we dropped wasn't the best purchase possible. Most people will never admit that they didn't make the best choice. It's hard to spend that money and I only spent $850. Imagine people buying 3 or 4 lights and then realizing that oops...I should have bought..........take my coralife skimmer for example (ugghhh) it still hurts to think about it.

For me the all the hype around the LED thing boils down to success of tanks. It is true that most of the systems out there were grown out with MH and then switched to LED....It's just a fact for now because the tecnology is still new. So, I had to look, listen and evaluate for myself. The biggest thing that did it for me is when I saw tanks from my own marine society that had either AI or Orphek. Several of the guys in our club have AI and one guy and his wife went with Orphek. In talking with both "camps" The thing I found was they were both happy. I asked a lot of questions, algae growth, coral growth, feeding response to moonlighting, on and on and on....these people probably thought I would never leave their homes.....The couple even had my wife and I stay for dinner.....hahaha

In the end I went with Orphek beacause of a few factors:
1. Less DT algae under the Orphek
2. I like the color better. This is both about the color of the water and the coloration of the corals. I didn't like blue water. I liked the bright vibrant colored corals.
3. Coral growth- The couple with the Orphek saw better growth in their system and the amount of new growth visible on their colonies was impressive. The AI tanks had some growth as well... just not as much.
4. Apparent quality and long term reliability. This was obviously an opinion thing on my part I offered to disassemble their fixtures, they politely declined so I had to just look and touch and read.

I realize that the first 3 could be as much a result of the individual systems I saw the lights on as anything. However in my search I found a couple of tanks that gave me what I needed....a true side by side comparison. This tank really "did" it for me.....

Well said southerner2. You were very fortunate to have physical set ups to view before making your decision, most have only internet pictures and reviews to base their order on. We all know how seldom pictures recreate the actual colour spectrum of tank lighting. One thing for sure, it will be interesting to see how LED evolves over the next short while!

[abcha0s]

For what it's worth, the sunrise, sunset and traveling moon are my favorite features of the LEDs I own. I don't care about cloud cover or lightning.

I wouldn't suggest that corals care the slightest bit about sunrise/sunset, but the fish sure do. The behavoir during the first hour and last hour of the day are very different. I have 12 Anthias in the tank and they actually school for the last 15 minutes of daylight. My wrasses are much more energetic when the lights start to fade. It is fascinating to watch the distinct change in dynamics depending on the light phase.

My absolute favorite time to watch the tank is the last hour of the day. My second favorite time to watch the tank is with my morning coffee as the sun rises over the reef. Simply awesome.

My final verdict on whether the money I spent on LEDs was a good purchase or not will have to wait. Ask me a year from now. However, the money that I spent for the dimming capabilities over the equivelent cost of a non dimmable solution was worth every penny.

That said, I like the Orphek lights a lot. Just not as much as the ones I bought, but then I am biased.

- Brad

[Slick Fork]

For what it's worth, the sunrise, sunset and traveling moon are my favorite features of the LEDs I own. I don't care about cloud cover or lightning.

I wouldn't suggest that corals care the slightest bit about sunrise/sunset, but the fish sure do. The behavoir during the first hour and last hour of the day are very different. I have 12 Anthias in the tank and they actually school for the last 15 minutes of daylight. My wrasses are much more energetic when the lights start to fade. It is fascinating to watch the distinct change in dynamics depending on the light phase.

My absolute favorite time to watch the tank is the last hour of the day. My second favorite time to watch the tank is with my morning coffee as the sun rises over the reef. Simply awesome.

My final verdict on whether the money I spent on LEDs was a good purchase or not will have to wait. Ask me a year from now. However, the money that I spent for the dimming capabilities over the equivelent cost of a non dimmable solution was worth every penny.

That said, I like the Orphek lights a lot. Just not as much as the ones I bought, but then I am biased.

- Brad

Absolutely agree. When I had my large tank with the dimmable T5's the "shoulder" times were my favourite to watch as well.

[nc208082]

You're making some very big claims. I'm sure you have a good reason for your biased opinion.


-Well consider me biased then if i aim towards a better product. Claims? the only claims are your response, Go to orphek.com and compare their spectrographs to the other guys, and compare par and pur and you will find the orphek is more efficient than the Sol.

When you refer to "our site", which site are you referring to? Which forums are "our forums"?


-Sorry i am refering to 3reef, should have been a little clearer, where orphek is a sponsor and member constantly sharing their knowledge and answering questions.

I'm sure Orphek makes a good light but I have to call BS on your statement about dimming.

Please dont call bs on other people because YOU simply do not know or understand.

I don't see how you dont understand, dimming is refering to the intensity and color of the light, Look at how many people are running their Sol's at 50% and 60% because running them at 100% will burn your corals. By lowering there numbers you are also lowering the par and pur being emitted. These lights are tested at 75-90 percent power, and thats the rating for their par, But if your running the light at 50% power, you think your getting the same par and pur? Orphek designed their diodes to be run at 100% over your tank for maximum effienciny.

Any reefer's goal is to replicate all of the conditions on a natural reef, and one thing is for certain dimming is a natural occurrence as the sun rises or sets. No it may not be as essential to coral growth as the light spectrum and intensity but I am sure it's a benefit to the coral.

-Actually sunset and sunrise have no benefit to coral, please research more. The fish and inverts benefit from dusk and dawn. but one can get the same results by using a simple blue led bar for night and dusk and dawn purchased for like 50 bucks.

Southerner2 went off the deep end when someone mentioned dimming but the bottom line is when all things are equal with PAR and coverage,

-Again who said any of these lights are equal, spread is different with every light as well as par and pur.

it is the bells and whistles like control features, ability to upgrade, and form factor that will seal the deal. IMO of course.

-Its the bells and whistles they have to attach to make you consider their light because for a straight comparison between par, pur, and spread Orpheks Generations 2 diodes are the best made blue spectrum you can find for aquatics in the led field.


Just my 2 cents, OP Asked for info on the orphek and Sol,

[Slick Fork]

Anybody else find it interesting that we get two new members who spend the bulk of their first posts slamming one LED system and pumping another; often with a violent response when a feature that the "preferred" system doesn't have is mentioned? Strange resemblance to the pumpers and bashers I see on my stock market forums.

[mr.wilson]

Yeah, the T5 debate was almost as heated, then it just kinda faded away. Metal halide didn't really take off until we shifted from 6,500K Venture bulbs to 10,000k & 14,000k options. The same door is opening now with LED.

[Bblinks]

Hi Mr Wilson.
I went through Peter's build on RC but I couldn't find the pages that mention any thing about you guys going with orphek lighting. I thought you guys opted for the aquamedic 4 X 250W MH lighting fixtures due to the coverage which orphek did not provide. Just want to clarify.
Thanks for your time.
Rich

[mr.wilson]

Hi Mr Wilson.
I went through Peter's build on RC but I couldn't find the pages that mention any thing about you guys going with orphek lighting. I thought you guys opted for the aquamedic 4 X 250W MH lighting fixtures due to the coverage which orphek did not provide. Just want to clarify.
Thanks for your time.
Rich

You guys are good:) We waffled on LED for a while since we had a lot riding on it. I like the Aqua Medic 4 x 250w + 4 x 39w T5 fixtures, but the wide reef formation, particularly at the canyon meant we had shadows on the reef face. it's a two sided tank so it complicated things further. We considered doubling up the MHL fixtures to go two wide from front to back, but decided to test our 6 Orphek light we bought for the frag system. We put the LEDs up at the front and back with the MHL still in the middle and there was no going back. It is entirely possible that we could have been happy with another LED manufacturers fixture as well, but I don't have any seconds thoughts after seeing the colours we are getting. Like I said, I was happy with MHL and thought we were doing well, but the Orphek fixtures even made the fish look better.

The main issue that turned Peter (Nineball) off of the other LEDs we looked at was the rapid flicker they cast. Once he noticed it, it drove him crazy and he couldn't stop focusing on it :)

We have two 6' MHL fixtures left on the tank, but they are being replaced with Orpheks soon. It has been a gradual transition over the past 3 months. You can see some pics from when they went in here http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1811725&page=266

[lastlight]

A direct link into that thread is worth a million dollars it's so long. I've scrolled and page jumped for a long time before I found what I wanted. The coloration on the tank does indeed look incredible. Reminds me of what I have right now with maybe just slightly less blue.

[mr.wilson]

A direct link into that thread is worth a million dollars it's so long. I've scrolled and page jumped for a long time before I found what I wanted. The coloration on the tank does indeed look incredible. Reminds me of what I have right now with maybe just slightly less blue.

I took some long overdue pics yesterday and will post them on the RC thread today. Maybe I should start a picture thread here to keep it Canadian content.

The friendly people at Reeftech are sending me a 200w Prometheus LED to try out. It should be here today or tomorrow. I can evaluate most of the aspects of the light pretty quick, but coral pigmentation takes a few weeks or longer to show. For the people who like control features, it has everything you would want.

[ensquire]

Here is a Canadian distributor
http://www.goreef.com/Orphek-LED/