Has Orphek listened to us?

[editour2]

No Gateway needed. Was told that it's wi-fi and Bluetooth....

 

[GillMeister]

Just got the email from Orphek. The upgrade kit is now offered at 180 dollarinis per fixture.

I'll be ordering soon.

 

[Forty-Two]

Just got the email from Orphek. The upgrade kit is now offered at 180 dollarinis per fixture.

I'll be ordering soon.

That sounds not too bad. That gives me hope that the new model will be reasonably priced and not inflated due to being ‘new’

 

[robbous]

its out finally........ anyone plan on up grading the PC Card inside?

New product launch Atlantik iCon (intelligent connectivity) control system •Orphek

New product launch Atlantik iCon (intelligent connectivity) control system,How to upgrade any older version of Atlantik to the newest launch, the Atlantik iCon control system.

orphek.com

 

[VanDalsenReef]

its out finally........ anyone plan on up grading the PC Card inside?

New product launch Atlantik iCon (intelligent connectivity) control system •Orphek

New product launch Atlantik iCon (intelligent connectivity) control system,How to upgrade any older version of Atlantik to the newest launch, the Atlantik iCon control system.

orphek.com

Yes. Just emailed them. Will hopefully know when I can order them asap

 

[robbous]

Yes. Just emailed them. Will hopefully know when I can order them asap

can't wait to read how they new upgrade works

 

[Russell G]

I saw the notice about the new control boards and contacted them about possible package upgrades for the new board and the LED’s. Mine were made back in 2017 so I thought it would be worth checking to see about upgrading. The response I got was this:


“Since your lights were made, we have improved the LEDs considerably and now use gold plated wires internal to the LEDs. The new Atlantik Icon has 6 channels, moon cycle and requires no gateway, it is controlled with Bluetooth.

To upgrade your lights to the current Atlantik Icon, the cost would be 425.00 per light. This includes the Icon control board, four fans, one Icon LED PCB with LEDs installed. This comes with a one year warranty so you are basically changing to a new Atlantik Icon with warranty. No gateway is required!!”

The only thing that sucks is my PC card on one light went out in December. I was on the old gateway and they didn’t have the WiFi cards that can connect to it anymore so I had to upgrade the WiFi card on my second light. When I installed the WiFi card, something went wrong and the Pc card took a dump. In the end, I had to swap out both Pc cards during that event. So now I’m running on the V2 cards but older LED’s.

Im getting ready to move the lights to a new tank I just set up and getting the lights in and out will probably be difficult so I am seriously considering just upgrading everything all at once and be set for a while.

 

[Forty-Two]

Have they released the new product with these items built in rather than as an upgrade?

 

[Russell G]

All I’ve seen so far is the PC card upgrade. I would imagine they would have it included in the new Atlantik but I have yet to see any announcement or anyone selling it yet.

 

[Forty-Two]

All I’ve seen so far is the PC card upgrade. I would imagine they would have it included in the new Atlantik but I have yet to see any announcement or anyone selling it yet.

That’s weird. Marketing fail.

you’d think they would at least address the question with a FAQ or something

 

[Russell G]

That’s weird. Marketing fail.

you’d think they would at least address the question with a FAQ or something

Yea… it’s strange. I would have expected them announce that the new lights being produced have this new system and a side note that you can upgrade your existing lights to it but instead it’s being pitched as an upgrade and no reference to the lights being produced.

Here’s the announcement they put out:

New product launch Atlantik iCon (intelligent connectivity) control system •Orphek

New product launch Atlantik iCon (intelligent connectivity) control system,How to upgrade any older version of Atlantik to the newest launch, the Atlantik iCon control system.

orphek.com

When you look at the page for the light itself, there’s no mention of the new icon control and it still referenced things like the gateway which this new system eliminates.

 

[Forty-Two]

Yeesh - kind of gives me pause as to whether I want to invest in such a disorganized company (by buying their products)

 

[robbous]

Yeesh - kind of gives me pause as to whether I want to invest in such a disorganized company (by buying their products)

the lights they make are excellent lamps I run them over my 500 gallon tank I want to upgrade but as with all new things I like to make sure there are no bugs with either the new card or the new app

 

[Forty-Two]

the lights they make are excellent lamps I run them over my 500 gallon tank I want to upgrade but as with all new things I like to make sure there are no bugs with either the new card or the new app

Have you had any of the quality issues Ive read about with the Orphek Atlantik's? I hear about LED's dying regularly, and faulty boards and endless hours of troubleshooting. I just dont have time for that. Is this still an issue or has it gotten better?

 

[Russell G]

Mine lasted 4 years before I had any issues and the only problem I had was one channel going out. The issues got complicated by the age of the lights. The new PC Card’s WiFi chip wasn’t compatible with my old gateway so I had to upgrade both WiFi cards. Something went wrong when I swapped out the second lights WiFi card and it took out the PC Card. Because of that, I had to replace both.

Before this, I had no issues whatsoever and when the lights did have issues, it was only one light at a time so at least I wasn’t left with no lighting over my tank.

On the plus side, they are repairable. With many other lights, if it goes out when you’re past the warranty period, you’re out of luck. I had around 15k hours on these LED’s before they had issues. I’m not sure how reliable other lights are but it doesn’t seem too bad to me. I can update it to the latest internals for half the price of a new light like the sky or XR-30.

 

[Forty-Two]

Regarding the release of the Orphek Atlantik Icon - Orphek confirmed to me they will be releasing one. The target is August 15th however that is dependent on manufacturing challenges due to supply chain issues (I’m guessing COVID). I didn’t discuss price.

I also asked them about Orphek’s under a canopy. While they didn’t say this is an issue - there have been multiple questions about ventilation and space under the canopy - so I suppose there are risks with this. The canopy I’m getting has 17-18” b/w the top and the water which allows me to mount the Orphek with 15” to the water. I’ve asked my vendor is it’s possible to create some ventilation at the top to let out the heat (the tank isn’t finished being built yet)

Thus far - they have suggested 3-4 lights for a 72” tank if I want to grow SPS. I’m thinking initially I’ll go with 3 - and see how the tank develops with a 4th possible in the future.

 

[VanDalsenReef]

Regarding the release of the Orphek Atlantik Icon - Orphek confirmed to me they will be releasing one. The target is August 15th however that is dependent on manufacturing challenges due to supply chain issues (I’m guessing COVID). I didn’t discuss price.

I also asked them about Orphek’s under a canopy. While they didn’t say this is an issue - there have been multiple questions about ventilation and space under the canopy - so I suppose there are risks with this. The canopy I’m getting has 17-18” b/w the top and the water which allows me to mount the Orphek with 15” to the water. I’ve asked my vendor is it’s possible to create some ventilation at the top to let out the heat (the tank isn’t finished being built yet)

Thus far - they have suggested 3-4 lights for a 72” tank if I want to grow SPS. I’m thinking initially I’ll go with 3 - and see how the tank develops with a 4th possible in the future.

I think 3 of the compacts would be fine on that size tank. Unless it's a deeper and wider tank than 24 inches. Then get the big ones. Could add the strips especially in a hood to help. I use 2 compacts and 4 strips on my 48in tank and grow sps anywhere I see fit

 

[VanDalsenReef]

I think 3 of the compacts would be fine on that size tank. Unless it's a deeper and wider tank than 24 inches. Then get the big ones. Could add the strips especially in a hood to help. I use 2 compacts and 4 strips on my 48in tank and grow sps anywhere I see fit

Regarding the release of the Orphek Atlantik Icon - Orphek confirmed to me they will be releasing one. The target is August 15th however that is dependent on manufacturing challenges due to supply chain issues (I’m guessing COVID). I didn’t discuss price.

I also asked them about Orphek’s under a canopy. While they didn’t say this is an issue - there have been multiple questions about ventilation and space under the canopy - so I suppose there are risks with this. The canopy I’m getting has 17-18” b/w the top and the water which allows me to mount the Orphek with 15” to the water. I’ve asked my vendor is it’s possible to create some ventilation at the top to let out the heat (the tank isn’t finished being built yet)

Thus far - they have suggested 3-4 lights for a 72” tank if I want to grow SPS. I’m thinking initially I’ll go with 3 - and see how the tank develops with a 4th possible in the future.

And two kessils but really only for more shimmer

 

[Russell G]

Regarding the release of the Orphek Atlantik Icon - Orphek confirmed to me they will be releasing one. The target is August 15th however that is dependent on manufacturing challenges due to supply chain issues (I’m guessing COVID). I didn’t discuss price.

I also asked them about Orphek’s under a canopy. While they didn’t say this is an issue - there have been multiple questions about ventilation and space under the canopy - so I suppose there are risks with this. The canopy I’m getting has 17-18” b/w the top and the water which allows me to mount the Orphek with 15” to the water. I’ve asked my vendor is it’s possible to create some ventilation at the top to let out the heat (the tank isn’t finished being built yet)

Thus far - they have suggested 3-4 lights for a 72” tank if I want to grow SPS. I’m thinking initially I’ll go with 3 - and see how the tank develops with a 4th possible in the future.

That’s interesting. We’ll have to wait and see. I’m planning on upgrading the internals before mounting them in my new canopy but I wanted to see the complete lights released before so I don’t make a mistake and buy the older tech and have regrets. My canopy is going to be very similar but I’m planning on adding a fan set to try to help vent out the heat. They don’t put out a ton of heat as is but when it’s enclosed it may build up to be more.

I’m planning on using 2 of the full size Atlantik and supplementing with the bars if need be on my new 180. I’ve tested the par over the 135gal tank they put out plenty of light to grow sps but I’ll need to see how it is on a tank that’s 18” longer.

 

[Ryan Doolittle]

On the plus side, they are repairable. With many other lights, if it goes out when you’re past the warranty period, you’re out of luck. I had around 15k hours on these LED’s before they had issues. I’m not sure how reliable other lights are but it doesn’t seem too bad to me. I can update it to the latest internals for half the price of a new light like the sky or XR-30.

I understand what your saying here however when a light has as many issues just after warranty as the Atlantic V4 it makes people scared. 21 page thread of people having the same issue with the light. Personally I know 2 people who run these lights with 6 fixtures between then. 4 of the 6 have had the boards crap out between 12 and 18 months. 2 were replaced under warranty 2 were not. The other 2 lights are less than a year old.

Where I am, 2 fixtures would be $2400. That's a crap ton of money on lights only to have to spend another few hundred dollars in 18 months when the boards die.

I have run black boxes in the past, $80/fixture, and 6 years later the lights are still going strong for the new owner. They may not be as fancy but for $500 I can put 6 over my tank, have better spread and apparently they last 4x longer.

I like the Orphek lights the most for a wall to wall SPS tank, however frankly the build quality SUCKS when you start looking around and start seeing the issues with their product. I hope the new Atlantik fixes these issues but I have my doubts if all we are doing is adding blu-tooth and reprogramming the fans. In either case now I sit on the sidelines for the next 18-24 months waiting to see if the iCon fails like the V4 or if Orphek actually fixed the light.