Maxspect Ethereal Review

[Akutila]

Got three of these installed over my 260 g tank with hanging wire kits and here are my first impressions after short two day of testing. I'm not dealing with the tank side installation arm, since I'm not using it.

Pros:

• The color spectrum and color adjustability are very satisfying. With the six combinations of different color blending you can really get the spectrum to your personal preference
• The shimmer effect is very nice for LED - light. It's not as good and natural as with those good old HQI - fixtures, but definitely better than with traditional LED - fixtures containing dozens of lens-equipped LED's
• The color blending is really working. It's not blending the colors 100 % as you can see some multicolor "disco effect" on the sand area on far edge of the spotlight, but it's still very good
• When they are running on reasonable settings (<70 %) on room temperature, the fans are off and the fixtures are dead silent
• Overall building quality is as impressing as stated in previous reviews

Cons:

• The fans are rather noisy when running the fixtures at high power. The fans seem to have only two settings: on and off, and they are not adjusting the speed to match the heat load of the fixtures
• The fixtures or the ICV6 controller do not come with detailed instructions to set up the WIFI - connections or to use the app. The app itself is giving you some hints of using it, but doesn't come with any detailed manual. For installation I had to refer to videos made by Coralvue on YouTube
• The Android app is pretty clumsy to use since it's apparently in the early phase of development. There are some bugs, for example when you want to adjust the Photo-Period settings, you cannot overwrite the previous setting unless it's already selected. If you select the old setting to save the new one, it's discarding the new setting and applying the old one. It's also draining the battery of the phone/tablet like thirsty giraffe if you don't remember to shut it down after making the adjustments

So far quite impressive lights regardless of the early stage problems with the app. I think this product has quite a lot of potential as long as they can improve the app. Of course only time and long term user experiences shows how well the LED's are holding up with the heat load of 16,25 watts per LED unit.

I can post some pictures after it gets dark outside, so you can see something else than my window reflection from the front glass

 

[Akutila]

With the six combinations of different color blending you can really get the spectrum to your personal preference

Sorry, five combinations of course.

 

[Akutila]

And here are the photos I promised, although the colors are not quite representing the reality since I only have phone to shoot photos with. Also the color "disco" is way more visible in the pictures than the naked eye can see. So don't worry, the blending is much better in reality.

One more thing about the "mood lights": In previous reviews they are not seen as a good choice for a moonlight, but IMO they are doing that job pretty well. I especially like the option to adjust the moonlight color to white instead of blue, since the natural moonlight is cold white. Something I still miss is the adjustable intensity through the night and even monthly moon cycle, but I cross my fingers for the manufacturer to update the software to have some features like this in the future.

Here are couple of shots with streams and return pump turned off:

 

[ramabama]

So I am having to upgrade my lighting. I currently run 2 Hydra 26 but I am getting a bigger tank. My options are add one Hydra 26 or go a completely different direction. Anyone had to deal with support (warranty, general help) on these? If so were you satisfied with the support?

 

[lambchops]

So I am having to upgrade my lighting. I currently run 2 Hydra 26 but I am getting a bigger tank. My options are add one Hydra 26 or go a completely different direction. Anyone had to deal with support (warranty, general help) on these? If so were you satisfied with the support?

Maxspect support it's pretty good. They respond fast on their website and they see more than willing to help.

 

[Reef man 89]

So I am having to upgrade my lighting. I currently run 2 Hydra 26 but I am getting a bigger tank. My options are add one Hydra 26 or go a completely different direction. Anyone had to deal with support (warranty, general help) onthese? If so were you satisfied with the support?

I have had to deal with Maxspect support. When I first set it up the plug for the icv6 controller was making a really really high pitch noise. So I contacted Coralvue and they sent me a brand new plug that day. So from my experience they are very very quick to help you out with any problem you have. Carlos is a very nice guy and easy to work with.

 

[Reef man 89]

I am useing there app on the iPhone and I think it works great. I had to watch the video on how to use the app but after I watch it set up was a breeze. I am very happy with the Ethreal led

 

[TechnicalFisher]

Anybody care to share some information on settings and light placement? I'm running mine about 12" above a 24" deep 50g cube and have been having problems frying a few sps that are placed higher in the tank, particularly using the factory settings on the ICV6 app. I've dialed thing back and some corals have improved, but I feel like I'm really playing a guessing game on settings. Unfortunately there's not a lot of info out there on settings folks are using so any information would be much appreciated.

 

[Reef man 89]

I have mine about 12in above water on a 24in deep tank and I don't turn up my blues over 60 percent. But to be honest I am still trying to find the best setting for my tank.

 

[PEP12]

Hi Disaster 999 been looking at your thread on Maxspect Ethereal Leds, a year has now passed, have things met your expectations on growth etc. I am currently looking into getting Leds for my second tank and these look very interesting your reply would be most appreciated

 

[Akutila]

New app version and new firmware seems to have been released. The GUI of the app is now way better than the old one and doesn't have those profile saving issues that almost drove me mad while trying to adjust the profile settings. And now you can add time points for moodlight too to use it as moonlight for preferred part of the night. Although I didn't find a way to adjust the intensity of the moonlight program...

 

[Oldreefer44]

Having given up on Razors due to constantly replacing lenses and wiring connections etc. I will want to see if they have upgraded their quality and workmanship before investing in any of their lights for now.

 

[Reef man 89]

New app version and new firmware seems to have been released. The GUI of the app is now way better than the old one and doesn't have those profile saving issues that almost drove me mad while trying to adjust the profile settings. And now you can add time points for moodlight too to use it as moonlight for preferred part of the night. Although I didn't find a way to adjust the intensity of the moonlight program...

I love the new firmware. Makes add new time points so much easier no more having a head ache trying to add a new time point in the middle of your time cycle. Also adding the easy set up to select what type of coral you have in your tank is a nice feature as well.

 

[TechnicalFisher]

I have mine about 12in above water on a 24in deep tank and I don't turn up my blues over 60 percent. But to be honest I am still trying to find the best setting for my tank.

Thanks Reef Man. Anyone else care to share settings? There’s surprisingly little out there on this light and still trying to dial mine in.

 

[jedimasterben]

This is what I've got over my 36g cube tank. Only running one Ethereal now, though, but I had the same settings when I had both over the tank.

 

[GaryM1966]

Seriously looking at getting these lights, how are people still feeling about them?

 

[jedimasterben]

Seriously looking at getting these lights, how are people still feeling about them?

My preproduction units are still humming along. One of them had a fan die that I haven't gotten to replacing yet (well, I mean, it's been like a year since I noticed it, maybe I'll get around to it ) but I only notice a drop of about 2% PAR as the unit heats up, so I'm not terribly worried.

 

[Reef man 89]

Seriously looking at getting these lights, how are people still feeling about them?

I still like them a lot had no problems with them now and it been over 2 years with them. I just upgraded to a reefer 250 and plan on buying another one for more coverage.

 

[pfoxgrover]

I have 4 on my 240g tank and they are working great. I had one power supply die on me though ( been running them for 2 years and one of them was used, might have been that one with the bad power supply). An easy fix.

I have 5 more waiting to go for a tank upgrade. Going to put 8 of them over a 60" x 60" x 24" 375 gallon tank that I built. Still finishing the stand, needs powder coating and finishing of wood stand coverings. The 9th one is going on an SCA 50 gallon cube that I am building for softies and seahorses.

I ran into Howard from Maxspect at the last California Reefapalooza and asked him why Ethereal lights are not more popular. He said that was the million dollar question. He also said that they are a small company and implied that they don't have the advertising resources of the main aquarium LED vendor. I asked what was next for these lights and he mentioned the smaller version that is now in beta testing and said they plan to integrate the WIFI into the lights but not change the actual lighting part.

Personally I think that a lot of the other vendors are admitting defeat when they cover there $800 plus led light in a translucent plastic sheet that reduces par by as much as 20%, a major fail from my point of view. The approach of the Ethereal is much better in my opinion.
Thanks @jedimasterben for recommending them to me!

 

[Reef man 89]

that’s is so true. All the big retailers only talk about the big 3 ecotech/Kessil and AI. I wish they would talk about different lights beside the same old ones. I do believe that these lights can be a top runner. They just need help in marketing them. Plus that they don’t kill the wallet.