My Review of Orphek Atlantik V4 after 15 Months

[uglyman]

If you think it's just the Orphek lights that have this issue you are wrong. I have a Radion G3 pro that has burnt out UV/Violet leds and my previous maxspect leds had the same issue. I have seen bridgelux and luxeon UV led emitters all fail the same ways either burning out or the lenses going black. I have mentioned this issue on many threads over the years on many forums and I get the same responses that maybe I was letting the lights get too hot or I had a faulty light. I even had someone suggest I probably left my G3 upside down while it was running which apparently makes a fan cooled light overheat LOL.

My opinion is the UV/Violet leds just don't have the longevity of other diodes due to the inherent damage UV light can cause to plastics and I think a lot of manufacturers run these leds at too high a current. I think a lot of companies are pretending this issue doesn't exist because we all want full spectrum light for our corals and they hope their units will last long enough to get past warranty and then it's our problem.

I find it interesting that my 5 x Radion G2 (non pro without UV) lights are still going strong but my G3 pro has burnt UV diodes, Oh and even that TIR lenses where the UV diodes sit are toast .

 

[jschultzbass]

I have a full size V4 that this happened to a couple months ago. They offered to either replace the board or send me a diode. I said a diode would be fine. This is obviously a problem with these lights. I do love them though and don't regret buying them one bit.

 

[Vamsi]

Got one coming tomorrow

Please post a review of this light, when you get a chance. Good luck with the light. Thanks!

 

[biecacka]

V4.2 is the v4 new generation. While I do like the Orpheks I am not thrilled about having to solder anything. I’m also not pleased with their acclimation mode. I wish it slowly built up to the mode you wanted to run. I ran the acclimation mode for 5 weeks about then switched over the color and growth and stressed a few corals out in the first week. Not pleased at all. User error.....sure. But is acclimation mode really acclimation if it doesn’t change?


Corey

 

[blasterman]

I've built custom UV fixtures to replace black lights to fill large arenas, and as long as they are driven at lower currents than 500mA (for 3watt emitters) they have no longevity issues. Short wavelength LED emitters just can't take the current that royals can....at least according to chinese tech.

Also, there is only one manufacturer of domestic UV LEDs, and they aren't used on reef lights. 99.999999% of those are Epistar / Semi technology.

Since UVA is a gimmick / marketing / BS campaign on reef tanks I'm not sure what the big deal is anyways. I have a box full of 50watt 395nm chips and none of reef buddies with massive SPS tanks not running UV LEDs give a darn about adding them.

 

[SeaDweller]

Duly noted. That scratches Orphek off my list if I ever want to upgrade.

Sorry for your troubles, the fixtures look great though, right? But for the coin, I'd want them to work great from the get go. So now what?

 

[LARedstickreefer]

I've built custom UV fixtures to replace black lights to fill large arenas, and as long as they are driven at lower currents than 500mA (for 3watt emitters) they have no longevity issues. Short wavelength LED emitters just can't take the current that royals can....at least according to chinese tech.

Also, there is only one manufacturer of domestic UV LEDs, and they aren't used on reef lights. 99.999999% of those are Epistar / Semi technology.

Since UVA is a gimmick / marketing / crap campaign on reef tanks I'm not sure what the big deal is anyways. I have a box full of 50watt 395nm chips and none of reef buddies with massive SPS tanks not running UV LEDs give a darn about adding them.

I’ve also read both about uv leds. Best not to put them in these fixtures. Another RB would be much more useful.

 

[sawdonkey]

I still wouldn't go with any other lights other then Orphek. My corals responded in a few weeks compared to when I had Radions with t5s.

When I spoke to them they acknowledged there was an issue with some units and told me they have addressed the issue.

I ordered another Compact for my Frag tank and 2 UV Bars for my 240 Cube.

I would mostly agree with this. When these lights work, they really work. I’ve grown out about 40 frags into sizable colonies over last year.

 

[CJBuckeyes]

Am considering pulling the trigger on three v4 full size, but now I'm unsure.

I can't find any info on where the company is based. Someone mentioned talking to customer service in Hong Kong.. is that where they're from?

 

[lexinverts]

Am considering pulling the trigger on three v4 full size, but now I'm unsure.

I can't find any info on where the company is based. Someone mentioned talking to customer service in Hong Kong.. is that where they're from?

I believe they are based in Brazil.

Orphek LED Lighting. We want you!

Orphek LED Lighting seeking new retailer partners in the UK.... Calling all Marine Retailers in the UK and Eire. Orphek, the global leader in LED aquarium lighting is looking to partner with stores across the UK to service our customer base as we launch our latest version of the...

www.ultimatereef.net

Orphek - Brazil Manufacturer

 

[mtraylor]

I have had these lights going for a little while and the colors and spread is amazing so far. Im hoping my fixture has the fix in it. I realky want these to work out as the size and spread is freat for the size of my aquarium. Will see.

 

[PhilSD211]

I looked at my unit with replaced LED's last night and all looks fine with nothing burnt out since I replaced them few month ago.

When I upgraded to the Orphek Compact V4, it was the advertised "full spectrum" including the infar/reds that got me to pull the trigger and switched out my cheap Chinese 165watt black boxes.

I got a hold of a par meter over this weekend and measured the par outputs. The Chinese black boxes and the Orphek were putting out about the same par! I was surprised to say the least. When I returned the par meter to the guy, I saw he was running mostly all Chinese black boxes on blue only. His corals all look fully open, happy and amazing! So it's got me rethink if "full spectrum with reds" is beneficial at all. Sorry, bit off topic.

Anyway, if i were to do it over, I probably would just hook up a bunch of dimmable black boxes.

 

[hart24601]

I couldn’t disagree more with UV on a reef fixture. I won’t buy an LED unless it has near UV or UV, however I have seen a lot of posts about UV LEDs failing, not just Orpheks, but I am bummed it’s still a problem and hoped with the expensive of top tier fixtures it would be better by now. I have also run black box fixtures and it grows coral (I won the 2014 acro contest here at reef2reef using mostly them – sadly it seems to be deleted now) the colors don’t compare to increased spectrum lighting even if the par is similar.

 

[Hair Algae Wizard]

Very disappointing. I came very, very close to purchasing 3 of these lights, but given the issues, and the fact replacement parts have to be shipped from Europe to the United States, I opted for Radion's. They too are not without issues, so I hope I get a good batch.

 

[Scurvy]

To you folks that have bruned out UV diodes, were you running them at 100% intensity or above even 75%? Just curious as I havent had any issues in 3 years now however Ive never run channel 3 above 85% and channel 4 at a high of 75%.

 

[LARedstickreefer]

I couldn’t disagree more with UV on a reef fixture. I won’t buy an LED unless it has near UV or UV, however I have seen a lot of posts about UV LEDs failing, not just Orpheks, but I am bummed it’s still a problem and hoped with the expensive of top tier fixtures it would be better by now. I have also run black box fixtures and it grows coral (I won the 2014 acro contest here at reef2reef using mostly them – sadly it seems to be deleted now) the colors don’t compare to increased spectrum lighting even if the par is similar.

What’s the deal with UV? I do understand it’s useful to corals, but has anyone been able to show that leds are able to supply useful UV output? No doubt MH can supply it, but leds?

 

[hart24601]

What’s the deal with UV? I do understand it’s useful to corals, but has anyone been able to show that leds are able to supply useful UV output? No doubt MH can supply it, but leds?

Dana has chimed in a few times about it and feels it's useful to include. It's clearly not the same amount as MH where if the UV shield breaks it can kill the coral, but there is output. You can look at his light reviews to see he clearly finds output below 400nm in LEDs.

I asked him this same question a while back:

Is there any Value to UV-A lighting

It would be interesting to see what response there is to levels of UVB in our reef aquariums. Clearly, scientifically and anecdotally, lighting plays a dramatic role and clearly UV wavelengths, at least those readily available to us reef aquarists do affect, at least, coloration. If you go to...

www.reef2reef.com

Here you can see one of the orphek bars with UV in it and it's all below 400nm.

Orphek Atlantik V4 PAR & Distribution

Dana any updates??

www.reef2reef.com

 

[LARedstickreefer]

Dana has chimed in a few times about it and feels it's useful to include. It's clearly not the same amount as MH where if the UV shield breaks it can kill the coral, but there is output.

I asked him this same question a while back:

Is there any Value to UV-A lighting

It would be interesting to see what response there is to levels of UVB in our reef aquariums. Clearly, scientifically and anecdotally, lighting plays a dramatic role and clearly UV wavelengths, at least those readily available to us reef aquarists do affect, at least, coloration. If you go to...

www.reef2reef.com

What I’m most interested in is how to judge a particular light based on the uv leds speced. How do we know when someone is just tossing in some leds as a gimmick vs actually enhancing the corals?

 

[hart24601]

What I’m most interested in is how to judge a particular light based on the uv leds speced. How do we know when someone is just tossing in some leds as a gimmick vs actually enhancing the corals?

It's a better question for @Dana Riddle however if I remember correctly he has measured photosynthesis activity in the upper UV spectrum.


With the huge amount of spectrum corals can be impacted from and to bring other non-fluorescence colors out for us to see I am personally a fan of adding LEDs until a smooth spectrum chart is formed with no big dips and valleys (except with blues high than greens and reds if you want the pop). I for a long time was only interested in spectrum which really grew coral, mostly blue, violet and white, however when I moved to LEDs with more complete lighting the reds and other colors appeared much nicer to my eyes – just for an example.

 

[Dana Riddle]

Here's an 'action spectrum' (usually oxygen production by wavelength) of zooxanthellae isolated from a stony coral. Although this chart goes down to only 390nm, it should be obvious that UV is useful in photosynthesis.