Tank Gadget The Home of the Aquarist Geek

Reef Builders brings us a bit of insight into the MH setups offered by Current USA.

There have been some murmurings as of late within the industry about Current USA’s future plans. Recently retailers have been told that several metal halide series have been discontinued and that they should be removed from inventory. What does this recent development tell us? A lot actually.

When browsing Current’s website you can clearly see the Sunpod HQI and Sundial HQI lines have been listed as discontinued. These two lines were once the bread and butter in Current’s lighting arsenal as it represented a large portion of their sales. It is no surprise really, metal halide systems were popular back in the glory days of reef keeping.

Reefers were demanding these high output systems to replace their older and less powerful PC lighting systems. Along with that though, this growth was spurred on by the rage of popularity that hit the SPS type of corals. SPS corals became popular because if properly maintained they can grow like weeds, and to because of their bright colors which can be easily maintained by the average hobbyist. Because of those reasons SPS became popular. It was ingrained into people’s heads that if you wanted to keep SPS successfully you had to have a metal halide unit. So off people went by the thousands buying up Metal Halide systems to keep their prized SPS colonies alive.

Most hobbyists were completely happy with either a 70 watt or 150 watt metal halide fixture/ballast. After all you would not need anything larger then that. But after time, the 150 watt system turned into the 250 watt system. Soon thereafter the 250 watts turned into 400 watts. Hobbyists had all this massive amount of lighting power and growing corals like hot cakes. Life was good.

Well it was, up until the power bill came. Everyone started to realize that these metal halide lighting systems were really bright and powerful but like most all things had drawbacks. One of the biggest was power consumption. These lighting units just ate up raw power for lunch, and then some. You would hear reefers talk back and forth on how much their power bill cost from the previous month, and ways to make the metal halides more efficient. Then out came the “advanced reflectors” which were advertised to make your metal halide light output more efficient which would mean that you would have to run the lights less due to increased efficiency which would in turn reduce your electricity bill.

Then, the industry wanted efficient lighting, it was tired of these metal halide energy wasters. We looked elsewhere for efficient lighting, and the first place we found was Germany. Germans knew a thing or two about efficiency. The T5 high output lighting systems which originated over there were more efficient then metal halides and transferred less heat to the water to boot. T5’s didn’t catch on at first, you had your naysayers who said that you couldn’t keep SPS alive with T5s. In time, though, that claim was proved false and the popularity of the T5’s caught on.

It hasn’t been until recently that LEDs have became a popular option with hobbyists looking for a cheaper and more efficient lighting system. LEDs had year of year growth with market share and were continuing in popularity. However, thanks to a Patent Troll the LED’s have taken a backseat for the time being, but we would imagine that it won’t be to much longer before another company starts aggressively going after the LED market, a market that is seeing increased interest with the current economy.

While we don’t have  any information that leads us to believe that Current is develiping LEDs it certainly is a possbility. And we like the most of you out there wouldn’t mind that one bit.

via Current-usa may be shifting manufacturing focus away from metal halide lighting | Reef Builders.

As reported on Reef Builders Eco Lamps is a hoping to release their new LED lighting, By the looks of it, it should be an easy sell, if they don’t price themselves out of the market.

That’s a lot of LED’s!

A few points from the PDF

Superior Performance – Capable of producing as more powerful than a 250W metal halide system
Save Energy – Up to 60% versus comparable 250W metal halide system
Long Life – LED Life expectancy is approximately 50,000hours (5+ years life)
Low Heat – Generates a fraction of the heat of a comparable 250W metal halide system
Cooling System – Fixture is cooled by blowing air across heat sinks located in both sides of the fixture
Programmable Timer – Control daylight, Blue Light and moon light cycles automatically
Upgradeable – Modular design allow end user to combine the fixtures that can increase the luminosity

I’d better start saving my pennies. (I’m due for a new fixture!)

Linked from: http://www.reefbuilders.com/2009/06/22/eco-lamps-led-aquarium-lighting-kr92/

WavePoint offers competitors a run for thier money.

This fixture that holds 4 bulbs offers something that most others dont.

Almost fully sealed unit for extra protection of the reflectors and bulbs and a fanless system for a quiet room.

The reflector for each bulb has 14 polished surfaces for maximum reflectivity.

Available in the 3 standard sizes (wattage) of 24(96), 36(156) and 48(216) inches the prices range from $300+ US for the 24 inch to $400+ US for the 48.

The fixture also comes with bulbs, 2x Sun Wave and 2x Blue Wave. As for the bulbs they have available, there is quite an array.

The lamps, as you can see, come in all colours of the aqua rainbow.
You can see details of the bulbs at thier site here.

The bulbs listed are:

• BLUE WAVE Super Blue Actinic 460
• REEF WAVE Super Violet O3 Actinic 420
• CORAL WAVE Coral Growth Accelerator
• RED WAVE Super Coral Generator
• SUN WAVE Super Daylight 12,000k
• TROPICAL WAVE Full Spectrum Daylight 6,500k

Also offered is the retrofit kit that includes everything found in the fixture except the housing.

• Reflectors
• endcaps
• power supply
• bulbs
• canopy mounting bracket.

No word on the pricing but expect it to be a bit less than the fixtures (which are already very reasonably priced!)

I know, not exactly new but WOW talk about nice lights.
Introduced in February 2009, these come in dimmable or non dimmable, 6, 8 or 10 tube formats. 24-80 watts. These are not low end lights, starting at about $1200 US.  Design is sharp and sleek, as would be expected by German a manufacturer!

Check out some specs:

• Digital electronic ballasts
• Automatic moon lights
• Electronic controlled fans
• 98% grade reflectors
• includes suspension kits
• GHL ready dimable model available

Visit Fauna Marin here.