Solaris...LED Illumination System

Stevenmi

Active Member
I am glad someone is finally doing this!! Time to save my cash...muahahhahhh

"PFO Lighting is proud to introduce the Solaris LED Illumination System. The Solaris is the first LED System designed to replace Metal Halide and Fluorescent lighting for the Aquarium Reef Tanks. It has been in development for over two years. It will change the way Aquarists light their tanks from now and into the future.

The current design produces PAR light output levels equal to a 250W MH 20K. It uses 40% less energy than the Metal Halide Fixtures it replaces. The life of the LED's is 50,000 hours, so it almost eliminates metal halide and fluorescent bulb replacements. All heat is radiated up and away from the tank Therefore, it does not heat the water like Metal Halides or Fluorescents. This eliminates the need for Chillers. The room air conditioner needs to work 1/2 as much since the light fixture produces only half the heat of Metal Halides which saves even more energy over traditional lighting methods.

There is a built in microprocessor that controls the Solaris. This not only eliminates timers, but it allows the unit to dim the actinic blue LEDs, white LEDs, Lunar actinic blue LEDs and Lunar White LEDS independently from 0-100%. This dimming capability opens many opportunities. The light can be adjusted from 6.5K to 22K, or anywhere in between, to set the ideal color temperature. Sunrise, Daylight, Cloud Cover, Sunset, and the lunar cycle, can all be set independently.

Coral Growth has been outstanding with the new lights. There is excellent water penetration of the light. Many authors have been testing the units since early May and will be printing their results shortly."

Steve
http://www.solarisled.com/
 

Charlie97L

Well-Known Member
i've gotta wonder how effective that's going to be. it's also going to produce a ridiculous amount of heat.

i know it's been debated over and over, but i just can't see those being cost-effective, with my personal experiences with LEDs.
 

cioutlaw

Well-Known Member
Charlie97L said:
i've gotta wonder how effective that's going to be. it's also going to produce a ridiculous amount of heat.

i know it's been debated over and over, but i just can't see those being cost-effective, with my personal experiences with LEDs.

LED lights will produce much less heat, use much less power & bulbs last much longer than equivalent MH bulbs. If they keep the corals alive I plan on buying them next go around.
 

Charlie97L

Well-Known Member
cioutlaw said:
LED lights will produce much less heat, use much less power & bulbs last much longer than equivalent MH bulbs. If they keep the corals alive I plan on buying them next go around.

i read a lot about this on nano-reef.com a few months ago. i'm not convinced they will be effective, long term... yes, LEDs have a 50K hour shelf life, but that doesn't mean single LEDs won't burn out after a few weeks. that would leave gaps in the light spread, which is really an untested phenomenon in aquaria, since all of our lights dim with age, instead of spotting out.

i'm not saying it's not going to work, i just would like to see for myself, what results are like after a few years, and the reliability of the unit. because man, that's expensive. that's the other downside.

plus, if an entire spot array goes out after the warranty is up, how much would that be to replace? 2-300? i suspect we may see something similar to what is occurring on new cars. there is a model coming out of SUV thas has stability sensors to help with body roll/suspension tuning. there are 200 of these. The car costs 50,000, but the sensors are 200 each if you have to buy a replacement. that would mean roughly 50% of the cost of the car was the sensors, factoring in a reasonable profit margin on the car and parts. hard to swallow. just because most of the LEDs will run for 11.4 years doesn't mean there won't need to be replacements.

i'm all for it! i hope my skepticism is proven unfounded, we need more tech advancements... but i'll stick with MH for now.
 

iluvzigz

Well-Known Member
PREMIUM
cioutlaw said:
LED lights will produce much less heat, use much less power & bulbs last much longer than equivalent MH bulbs. If they keep the corals alive I plan on buying them next go around.
I totally agree...im gonna follow this.Led's are becoming the standard for everything ..especially automotive or transportation for that matter as charlie mentioned ...im going to read deeper into this.
 

cioutlaw

Well-Known Member
Charlie97L said:
i read a lot about this on nano-reef.com a few months ago. i'm not convinced they will be effective, long term... yes, LEDs have a 50K hour shelf life, but that doesn't mean single LEDs won't burn out after a few weeks. that would leave gaps in the light spread, which is really an untested phenomenon in aquaria, since all of our lights dim with age, instead of spotting out.

i'm not saying it's not going to work, i just would like to see for myself, what results are like after a few years, and the reliability of the unit. because man, that's expensive. that's the other downside.

plus, if an entire spot array goes out after the warranty is up, how much would that be to replace? 2-300? i suspect we may see something similar to what is occurring on new cars. there is a model coming out of SUV thas has stability sensors to help with body roll/suspension tuning. there are 200 of these. The car costs 50,000, but the sensors are 200 each if you have to buy a replacement. that would mean roughly 50% of the cost of the car was the sensors, factoring in a reasonable profit margin on the car and parts. hard to swallow. just because most of the LEDs will run for 11.4 years doesn't mean there won't need to be replacements.

i'm all for it! i hope my skepticism is proven unfounded, we need more tech advancements... but i'll stick with MH for now.

Id have to agree with ya, I want to see someone else be the guinea pig before I buy one. I would hope individual led's could be replaced easily.
 

Charlie97L

Well-Known Member
cioutlaw said:
Id have to agree with ya, I want to see someone else be the guinea pig before I buy one. I would hope individual led's could be replaced easily.

i would be willing to bet that the real long term (10+ years) costs will be equivalent to MH. now, your electric bill, that's another issue. but i can't see equipment costs being less in the long run.

but god, how much MH can you get for 900! and that's only for a 12" unit. not many people put 900 of mh over a 12" long tank.
 

billyr98

Well-Known Member
I am waiting to see this in person at MACNA and ask Dr Sanjay about it... I will bring back info.. I am very interested in this!
 
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