Fan noise issues. Any Orphek iCon owners out there?

[Dave-T]

I am in the process of setting up a 210 gallon, 72 inch long tank. We are planning on using 5 Orphek iCon lights. My LFS lent me a unit to try out. My concern was the fan, that it would be too loud. The tank will be right next to our kitchen table, so we will be particularly sensitive to noise from it. So I set up the light and turned it on, and... epic fail. It's just way too loud. Not even close to being acceptable. I love these lights, but if they're this loud it ain't going to work. Anyone else have these lights? It's so loud that I'm hopeful I have a defective unit. I wouldn't think anyone would find this acceptable, outside of a dedicated fish room.

Here's a link

 

[blaxsun]

I've heard the Neptune SKY are fairly quiet - at least more so than the Radions I currently run.

 

[WVNed]

Do you have the light at 100%
It says fan speed is controlled by light percentage.
With 4 over a 72 inch tank I dont think you will run them at 100%.

 

[Dave-T]

Thanks for the replies!

@WVNed - I tried turning them all the way down to 50%, and the fans are still just as loud.

@blaxsun - I haven't tried the Skys. I was looking at them. But at this point I think I want to stay away from any active-cooling (fans) lights. Will that limit my choices too much? I think I was too hopeful to think we'd be ok with fans next to the kitchen table. ATI Stratons look nice, no fans there. But no shimmer either. So Stratons with some Kessil A360s? Or light bars with A360s? Or something else...?

I should say something about my tank. It will be 72x28x28. I'm a newbie at this, so in the beginning I'll have whatever corals will survive. But ultimately I want to have an SPS dominant tank. So lighting is key!

 

[Oldreefer44]

I have 3 Stratons over a 72 inch tank. I added 2 Orphek bars to get shimmer. Looks good and no noise.

 

[WVNed]

I am building a 180 right now. On my 240 I just went with MH/T5 because I got tired of trying to pick LEDs. Way cheaper too.'

Now I am doing it again. How many? How High? I only need 2 or 3 for 72", why do all the tanks pictured have 6 or 8 then?

I chose 3 Kessil A360X in a T5 hybrid. 510 watts total. The A360s and T5s have the same mounting height.
I hope they will will do what I want.

 

[hart24601]

I upgraded mine to the icon with new fans, so not exactly the same situation but should be same components. I can barely hear mine over the powerheads. I put my hand over them to make sure they were blowing air…. If I stick my head next to the fixture I can hear them but not very loud particularly for the air they move.

Of course perhaps our hearing differs but I am not sure the unit you got is representative of the fan noise.

 

[Dave-T]

I have 3 Stratons over a 72 inch tank. I added 2 Orphek bars to get shimmer. Looks good and no noise.

What are the overall dimensions of your tank? Are the light bars between the Stratons, or are they down the long sides of the tank?

 

[Dave-T]

I upgraded mine to the icon with new fans, so not exactly the same situation but should be same components. I can barely hear mine over the powerheads. I put my hand over them to make sure they were blowing air…. If I stick my head next to the fixture I can hear them but not very loud particularly for the air they move.

Of course perhaps our hearing differs but I am not sure the unit you got is representative of the fan noise.

@hart24601, How many iCons do you have? I can still hear my single iCon from across the room, about 30 feet away. I do have very good hearing. When I started this thread, I was hopeful I had a defective unit. But I'm starting to doubt that. One weird thing is that the fans run at a constant speed, starting when you first turn the light on. What's up with that? They should run at variable speed, and only come on when the light is actually getting hot. Seems like a dumb design that they run all the time... They do track the temp, it shows it in the app. (and there's a bug in the software - it shows temp in degrees C, even if you sent it to show fahrenheit)

And I'm actually hopeful we will have little to no noise from the powerheads. I've seen tanks where you don't hear the pumps. What are you hearing from yours? Are they pointed up towards the surface?

 

[hart24601]

@hart24601, How many iCons do you have? I can still hear my single iCon from across the room, about 30 feet away. I do have very good hearing. When I started this thread, I was hopeful I had a defective unit. But I'm starting to doubt that. One weird thing is that the fans run at a constant speed, starting when you first turn the light on. What's up with that? They should run at variable speed, and only come on when the light is actually getting hot. Seems like a dumb design that they run all the time... They do track the temp, it shows it in the app. (and there's a bug in the software - it shows temp in degrees C, even if you sent it to show fahrenheit)

And I'm actually hopeful we will have little to no noise from the powerheads. I've seen tanks where you don't hear the pumps. What are you hearing from yours? Are they pointed up towards the surface?

i just have one icon. I assumed the fan speed is variable I think it said they were, but I would never be able to hear well enough to tell. I have 6 powerheads in the 3x2x2 tank and I think they all make a bit of noise - tunze, vortech, Nero but I don’t notice it. Of course I sleep with a fan on for white noise too so a silent tank has never been my goal. Of course I don’t want anything silly loud, but I don’t notice noise unless next to tank listening for it.

I am sure the orphek uses standard computer fans since I replaced them, if they were really that loud, and idk if yours is typical, you could very easy swap them out with a ultra premium fan. But it seems you will need a fan less unit for your goals so ati or Phillips only.

 

[Dave-T]

For what it's worth, I used a decibel meter app on my phone, and measured the volume right next to one of the fans. It was at 50db.

 

[Dave-T]

I've been running the iCon at 100% for over an hour and the fans are still running. The listing on BRS for the iCon says "4 Controllable speed fans with high quality aluminum heatsink and top cover". According to the Orphek app, the unit is at only 91 degrees F. Surely not enough to need to turn on the fans. Something does seem wrong.

 

[stephj03]

What other LED units have you run in the past? Are you saying these are loud compared to those?

The video doesn't.really seem that loud to me to be honest.

There's no such thing as a fan that doesn't make noise....

I would look into ATI Straton, Phillips Coral Care, or Orphek LED bars. Those are fanless options.

 

[Oldreefer44]

What are the overall dimensions of your tank? Are the light bars between the Stratons, or are they down the long sides of the tank?

72 x 24 x 28. I mounted the 60 inch bars on the side angled toward the center of the tank. Used a blue plus and a UV (violet). really make the corals pop.

 

[Dave-T]

That sounds like a nice setup. Did you consider also putting some shorter bars between the Stratons? Probably overkill, but overkill is my middle name.

 

[Dave-T]

What other LED units have you run in the past? Are you saying these are loud compared to those?

The video doesn't.really seem that loud to me to be honest.

There's no such thing as a fan that doesn't make noise....

I would look into ATI Straton, Phillips Coral Care, or Orphek LED bars. Those are fanless options.

I haven’t seen any other lights. This will be my first tank. The thing that I’m struggling with is why the fans are running at all when the unit isn’t even hot.

 

[hart24601]

I've been running the iCon at 100% for over an hour and the fans are still running. The listing on BRS for the iCon says "4 Controllable speed fans with high quality aluminum heatsink and top cover". According to the Orphek app, the unit is at only 91 degrees F. Surely not enough to need to turn on the fans. Something does seem wrong.

I would disagree there and say at 100% they should be running full out and are working great to keep the fixture at only 91. Orphek had heat issues before along with other brands shortening the life of diodes so I think it’s great they are able to keep the fixture at 91 and doing as expected.

I think you might just need a fan less fixture.

 

[Dave-T]

72 x 24 x 28. I mounted the 60 inch bars on the side angled toward the center of the tank. Used a blue plus and a UV (violet). really make the corals pop.

That sounds like a nice setup. Did you consider also putting some shorter bars between the Stratons? Probably overkill, but overkill is my middle name.

 

[Dave-T]

I would disagree there and say at 100% they should be running full out and are working great to keep the fixture at only 91. Orphek had heat issues before along with other brands shortening the life of diodes so I think it’s great they are able to keep the fixture at 91 and doing as expected.

Well agree to disagree then. I'm no expert, but I know a bit about electronics. If the lights can't handle temperatures far above 91 degrees, then that's a serious design flaw. Sure, you need to make sure they don't overheat. But 91 degrees is far from overheating. And if it was, there would be no point in having electronics to vary the fan speed, which Orphek claims these lights can/will do.

 

[hart24601]

Well agree to disagree then. I'm no expert, but I know a bit about electronics. If the lights can't handle temperatures far above 91 degrees, then that's a serious design flaw. Sure, you need to make sure they don't overheat. But 91 degrees is far from overheating. And if it was, there would be no point in having electronics to vary the fan speed, which Orphek claims these lights can/will do.

That’s also not the diode temp but the heat sink temp. I know the diodes are over 91 as I have tested them with a heat gun. I’m fact depending on how the sensor is mounted it might be the air temp above the heat sink and not even the metal directly. The last orphek internal I saw the temp probe was air temp and had silicone mounting off the metal.

thankfully there are a few fans less fixtures now so that is good news for your setup, couple years ago would have been out of luck.