Philips Coral Care Gen 2: CoralVue hosted Q&A with Luc Vogels

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If anyone is considering new lights and has the Philips Coral Care Gen 2 on the short list take a look at the video below. CoralVue hosted a live stream yesterday that can be found on FB and Youtube with Luc Vogels. A Philips Engineer who is one of the primary reasons why the Gen 1 light was created if I caught it correctly in the video. Most of this is already known but for clarity sake it is important to watch as he describes why they went with the spectrum they did.

As you may or may not know there are a few reviews by fellow hobbyists and businesses who , and unfairly, box the unit into a specific reef type such as mixed, soft, or lps only. It couldn't be further from the truth because the person doing the review may favor a more blue look which this light isn't designed to provide. It is the more natural high noon look and feel. So expecting a Radion or heavily leaning blue spectrum from it means you turn off or down the whites which reduces par and lower than expected blue look and feel compared to others. If that makes sense.

I do not own these lights but have been aware of the Gen 1's over a few tanks I do follow and always thought they are amazing. The Gen 2 pick up where they left off and make the overall form factor more appealing and lighter. The thermal management and passive cooling is attractive and should be considered by all due to our water composition (salt). Out side of this probably the biggest attractive item is the integrated driver which removes the power bricks we all have come to dislike. This is huge in my opinion because we have so many external power sources with pumps, power heads, and lights it is somewhat dangerous - more so for those of us who are lazy and bad at cable management :)

Anyway tl; dr - if you are considering a new light or have these on your radar and had second thoughts grab and adult beverage, or not, or a cup of coffee, or not, and take an hour out to give it a view. Honestly has some good information even if you are not interested.

@Carlos@CoralVue - hope you don't mind me sharing this.

 

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Thanks
 

ingchr1

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You work at Philips also? :D

I do agree, there are a few reviews out there that do not seam to be fair to what the light is and is not. Put a bit of a damper on the launch and probably negativily affected sales.
 
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You work at Philips also? :D

Lol! Well played. No, I don't. In fact I don't even own the lights. I own Kessil and a DIY multi channel array setup if truth be told. However I have been stalking the Gen 1 lights for a while and was watching the Gen 2. I'm a fan but with 1 still in college can't pull the trigger on them. Saving - so maybe early next year. We shall see. I am a fan though, yes.

I do agree, there are a few reviews out there that do not seam to be fair to what the light is and is not. Put a bit of a damper on the launch and probably negativily affected sales.

I agree. It did. There are some folks in the US that have the Gen 1's and have amazing success. How much of that is lighting compared to say just good reef keeping skill I do not know. However, I am not going to lie and say I was disappointed by a few vendors not doing a better job of explaining the light, how it works, why it works as designed, and trying to use it with a spectrum it isn't intended. Sort of like me trying to hammer a nail with my shoe...

Anyway well played and thanks for keeping me in check :) Maybe you and I got off on the wrong foot! All the best to you and yours. Hope you have a great 2021.
 

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You work at Philips also? :D

I do agree, there are a few reviews out there that do not seam to be fair to what the light is and is not. Put a bit of a damper on the launch and probably negativily affected sales.
It’s shocking how much bad information is out there now. It’s almost like propaganda.

Competition and choice is a good thing but it seems like everyone wants to narrow the field down to one option because that’s what they use and it’s “the best “.
 

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Anyway well played and thanks for keeping me in check :) Maybe you and I got off on the wrong foot! All the best to you and yours. Hope you have a great 2021.
Hope you have a great 2021 as well!

I didn't detect anything in the other thread being on the wrong foot, maybe a misunderstanding on the data I was looking for though. I wasn't the one who made the post in reference.
 
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Hope you have a great 2021 as well!

I didn't detect anything in the other thread being on the wrong foot, maybe a misunderstanding on the data I was looking for though. I wasn't the one who made the post in reference.

Ah, you are right. Quick wit though.
 

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Thanks. I enjoyed watching this video from the designer and Carlos‘s viewpoint. I think they did a great job of showing this is on the right track for LED lighting for tanks with a lot of SPS. However, even after watching the video I am still concerned about the weight and overly white color (maybe because of the other videos I watched). It makes me wonder if they are consider a “USA” version, or something like that.
 

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big units...anyone with a tank under 125 gal is not having these..
 

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Thanks. I enjoyed watching this video from the designer and Carlos‘s viewpoint. I think they did a great job of showing this is on the right track for LED lighting for tanks with a lot of SPS. However, even after watching the video I am still concerned about the weight and overly white color (maybe because of the other videos I watched). It makes me wonder if they are consider a “USA” version, or something like that.
If mounted properly, what would make the weight a concern? Was fixture weight a concern with prior fixtures or did that start with this fixture? Where did the weight concern originate from? What's the weight of this compared to an Atlantik V4 or ATI Powermodule?

What makes the spectrum (overly white) of this light a concern over other options? Is it coral health, visual appeal, combination of both? Why are we (USA) driven to such blue tanks? What is the percentage that prefer a blue tank compared to more white? I personally prefer more white. To me the tank looks much more natural, crisp and the fish look better. At the end of the day there are a couple of hours where I just run my XHOs for pop however.

big units...anyone with a tank under 125 gal is not having these..
If the tank dimensions fit the spread of the light, why not?
 
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If mounted properly, what would make the weight a concern? Was fixture weight a concern with prior fixtures or did that start with this fixture? Where did the weight concern originate from? What's the weight of this compared to an Atlantik V4 or ATI Powermodule?

What makes the spectrum (overly white) of this light a concern over other options? Is it coral health, visual appeal, combination of both? Why are we (USA) driven to such blue tanks? What is the percentage that prefer a blue tank compared to more white? I personally prefer more white. To me the tank looks much more natural, crisp and the fish look better. At the end of the day there are a couple of hours where I just run my XHOs for pop however.


If the tank dimensions fit the spread of the light, why not?

This is a bit of a generalization but if I had to guess "when" the US went to the more blue look would be around the time of Ecotech's reef wholesale coral lab paper (below). I tend to agree with your assessment of a high noon look over a reef which is more warm or white in color similar to MH bulbs. In fact my first tank I ran a 2 x 175W MH configuration with PFO ballasts with 2 x 48" SVHO actinic on ice cap ballasts. The actinic came on first and turned off last but the MH made up the high noon look and feel.

Regarding weight. Gen 1 was a large unit. As you said though if mounted correctly it isn't a issue. In fact you can search here for the Gilroy 425g build thread as Terence over at Neptune runs the Gen 1. He has a pretty amazing SPS tank. I recall reading through his build a long time ago that he searched a lot of lighting before settling on the Gen 1's. He is very happy with them. On the Gen 2 I saw someone here use 80/20 aluminium rails and it mounts up perfectly from what I recall. Also Gen 2 is lighter than Gen 1.

On the last comment (not yours - but somebody else) regarding smaller tanks. Actually this light would work amazingly well for a 24" cube or similar tank like a 65g cube. There would probably be little to no light spill and provided more than enough par that you wouldn't need to run it at peak intensity meaning the life span of the light is two fold increased.

 
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Thanks. I enjoyed watching this video from the designer and Carlos‘s viewpoint. I think they did a great job of showing this is on the right track for LED lighting for tanks with a lot of SPS. However, even after watching the video I am still concerned about the weight and overly white color (maybe because of the other videos I watched). It makes me wonder if they are consider a “USA” version, or something like that.

Comment in bold is why I posted the video and made the comment about people who review the light not understanding the spectrum or design.

If a hobbyist prefers the more blue look then this light is not the right choice. It is as simple as that. If you try and bend the fixture to a color spectrum that is heavy blue then you will have to turn off, or dim, the lights that create the whiter and more natural look. Sort of defeats the purpose. If you look at the example below you can see the LED spread across the spectrum. To get the more blue look you are disabling a lot of extra LED's. Doesn't make financial dollars and cents to me.


CoralCare Gen2 LEDs Used:
  • 12x Luxeon C 470nm
  • 22x Luxeon C 450nm
  • 4x Luxeon C PC-Amber
  • 4x Luxeon C Cyan (490nm)
  • 6x Luxeon UV U1 415nm
  • 20x Luxeon V2 6500k
 

ingchr1

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..Regarding weight. Gen 1 was a large unit. As you said though if mounted correctly it isn't a issue. In fact you can search here for the Gilroy 425g build thread as Terence over at Neptune runs the Gen 1. He has a pretty amazing SPS tank. I recall reading through his build a long time ago that he searched a lot of lighting before settling on the Gen 1's. He is very happy with them.
But seams to have some strong criticism of the weight and states that the market for them will only be for certain types of tanks (see posts #54 and #56):

 

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But seams to have some strong criticism of the weight and states that the market for them will only be for certain types of tanks (see posts #54 and #56):


I personally do not want to hang such heavy lights above my tank. I think it is just a disaster waiting to happen, at least for me. In my case, I don’t have a way to hard mount the fixtures. I do think they could “lighten” the weight up, at least some.
 

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Comment in bold is why I posted the video and made the comment about people who review the light not understanding the spectrum or design.

If a hobbyist prefers the more blue look then this light is not the right choice. It is as simple as that. If you try and bend the fixture to a color spectrum that is heavy blue then you will have to turn off, or dim, the lights that create the whiter and more natural look. Sort of defeats the purpose. If you look at the example below you can see the LED spread across the spectrum. To get the more blue look you are disabling a lot of extra LED's. Doesn't make financial dollars and cents to me.


CoralCare Gen2 LEDs Used:
  • 12x Luxeon C 470nm
  • 22x Luxeon C 450nm
  • 4x Luxeon C PC-Amber
  • 4x Luxeon C Cyan (490nm)
  • 6x Luxeon UV U1 415nm
  • 20x Luxeon V2 6500k
Yes. I think you are correct. It is not the right light for me, as-is. However, In my opinion, I think they may be limiting their market in the USA, where they could change the spectrum some to make it more blue, kind of like Ecotech does.
 

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...I do think they could “lighten” the weight up, at least some.
Enough to satisfy those with the concern? At what weight would that be?

In the video they go over why the fixture is the weight it is. I'm not sure that they could reduce it while maintaining thier stated design goals of function and reliability.
 
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Yes. I think you are correct. It is not the right light for me, as-is. However, In my opinion, I think they may be limiting their market in the USA, where they could change the spectrum some to make it more blue, kind of like Ecotech does.

Hard to say if they are limiting their market share. Kessil - and their Kessil logic default is somewhat similar and they are selling amazingly well. Again if the blue is what you are after then there are better lights as you already pointed out. I can pretty much say with 100% certainty that they are not going to change their LED composition. They have invested a lot of time and money (RnD dollar) with their choices and have scientific data to back it up.

Time will see I guess.

Designers tank:

Field test report:
 

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Enough to satisfy those with the concern? At what weight would that be?

In the video they go over why the fixture is the weight it is. I'm not sure that they could reduce it while maintaining thier stated design goals of function and reliability.
Already went from 10kg to 7kg.
Changing material of the heat sink (and dramatically increasing price), stripping out the electronics and returning to power bricks, or fans is probably the only way at this point to reduce weight.

LED diodes are getting better at handling heat but not exponentially.
 
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