For all the China box haters out there. You might want to see this.

[bobman]

A friend from my local reef club has what is the so called top of the line in T5 your beloved ATI fixture. It is 10 months old and he started to have an issue with it so he opened it up to see what was going on and lookie what was found on the inside of the fixture.



Thats right these ATI fixtures are now being made in China. That makes these fixtures nothing more than a hydrofarm with some fans in it and triple the price tag. Same with you black boxes everyone says they are crap but I see some really nice reefs out there running them at a fraction of the cost of your AI and other LEDs out there that I am willing to bet are mostly made in China as well.

Just wanted to leave this here to show you that sometime you get what you paid for but at a certain point you are just paying a higher price tag for the same stuff with a different brand slapped on it.

 

[Lowell Lemon]

I am shocked I tell you just shocked!!!!
Not really.

 

[bobman]

Me either I was a little since ATI claims there stuff is from Germany and well thats just not true. However it was more for everyone that says dont buy the junk that comes out of China as it is garbage well a lot more than they think actually comes from China.

 

[Tom Blevins]

it's only the box.

 

[cb684]

I still love my iPhone.
And yes, it is made in China. ;-)

 

[Sabellafella]

Im not a black box hater and ive seen way wayyyy to many raceways/tanks/wholesalers thrive more compared to highend leds. But t5s are bulbs regardless of where its made.i gaurentee 10000% if you were to open any hobby made lighting system, there is atleast a few important parts that are made in china

 

[Sabellafella]

And i do get what i payed for. I rather have 98% reflective light comming from my reflectors, and controlled auto bulb cooling all with one power cord for the extra 400 bucks instead of diy. Maybe its just me as i dont kno electrical work, and would burn my house down if i tryed

 

[Aussie paul]

Maybe 5 years ago you would be abit wottied about lights LED lights made in China but these days they can keep up with the best of them and with the price tag who cares if they die after 2 years you can buy another and still not come close to the top brands

 

[bobman]

Lol fans are simple and can be run on 1 power cord for an extra 400 clip on fans work just as well. Bulbs are not just bulbs as far as color and most T5 reflectors I have seen are all 98% reflective. I cant see where a 400 price tag comes in beside decent reflectors but there reflectors are not anything special. Individual reflectors are all you need.

 

[Sabellafella]

Lol fans are simple and can be run on 1 power cord for an extra 400 clip on fans work just as well. Bulbs are not just bulbs as far as color and most T5 reflectors I have seen are all 98% reflective. I cant see where a 400 price tag comes in beside decent reflectors but there reflectors are not anything special. Individual reflectors are all you need.

Oh no there more then that lol. 600-1500$

 

[bobman]

I Know that I was saying for a decent t5 fixture ATI is about 400-1000 buck more and I don't see where that price is worth it

 

[Salty1962]

Are we talking about T5s or LEDs?

 

[Bunnee911]

Are we talking about T5s or LEDs?

Yes

 

[bobman]

I am honestly talking about everything in the hobby. Its just the China box LEDs get the worst rap from what I can tell. I was just trying to point out that every time I hear don't buy the crap from china that most everything we buy came from china in some form or another. Just because it was assembled here in the USA or wherever does not mean it was not made in China. But if it was assembled here the price tag is the only really difference

 

[saltlife757]

I have 3 Chinese black boxes on my 180. Corals have never been brighter, and fish have been acting normal. Only down side was that i needed to get a timer for it which made me have to travel alllllllllll the way to the hardware store. That's 30 minutes of my life I will never get back haha.

It was a great purchase

 

[jackson6745]

A friend from my local reef club has what is the so called top of the line in T5 your beloved ATI fixture. It is 10 months old and he started to have an issue with it so he opened it up to see what was going on and lookie what was found on the inside of the fixture.



Thats right these ATI fixtures are now being made in China. That makes these fixtures nothing more than a hydrofarm with some fans in it and triple the price tag. Same with you black boxes everyone says they are crap but I see some really nice reefs out there running them at a fraction of the cost of your AI and other LEDs out there that I am willing to bet are mostly made in China as well.

Just wanted to leave this here to show you that sometime you get what you paid for but at a certain point you are just paying a higher price tag for the same stuff with a different brand slapped on it.

What internal part of the ATI fixture is that? Do you have a zoomed out pic?

 

[bobman]

I don't I didn't take the pic it was from a local reefer in my reef club. I believe it was on the inside of the casing

 

[bobman]

But looking at a ATI ballast from premium aquatics it appears to have the same sticker on the ballast as well but the pic is to small to read

 

[bobman]

We also has another member take apart his fixture that's a few years old and it don't have made in China in it. It would appear this has been done in the last 18 months or so there abouts. So if they are making there fixtures now in china why does the price not reflect it

 

[ATI North America]

Folks I am not sure what all the chatter is about, ATI Fixtures are still made in Germany... Are some of the components sourced from other countries? Of course. Has anything changed with your beloved ATI (as the OP put it, thanks by the way) no, its made from the same stuff it has always been made from.