!!!!Putting Phillips new Coral Care Gen2 LED to the test!!!!!

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Battlecorals

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I finally got my hands on the Phillis Coral Care Gen 2 LED fixture and got the light mounted up this Morning. I had initially intended on swapping one of my halides out for this but decided to take advantage of an open space over my T5 system to pit it against an ATI 6 bulb SunPower running 3 tropics, one actinic, one blue plus, and one purple plus.

My first impressions of the light are very positive. I like the fact that it is all contained and does not employ a remote power supply. This coupled with a heavy-duty heat sink makes the fixture a little heavier than your typical LED. But it's a "good" heavy and the unit has an extremely solid feel to it. Perhaps my favorite feature of all is that it does not have any fans. This is a huge deal to me as I am literally in a constant state of replacing fans on my numerous fixtures. T5 and LEDs alike. Excellent work on that detail.

Overall I can see that Phillips really focused on even and well-blended light distribution more than most, if not all other commercial fixtures which definitely sets this apart. The opaque diffuser seems very effective. The visible similarities between the T5 spread and very evident and I don't see that there was much of a compromise in par achieving this, which again is a huge plus to me. Mounted at the same height as the T5, I am seeing par at the water surface around 500-550 which is exactly what I am seeing under The T5's. Check my IG for a quick video of these measurements.


I plan to relocate a handful of random SPS colonies from various sections of my main system under this guy and will report my observations and anything interesting I come upon for sure. So far I can say with certainty that I am impressed already and can't wait to see how well this grows and colors up sps.


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shblink

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this should be exciting seeing one of the biggest SPS vendors with the CoralCares. I have them on my tank as well and love them. But my tank is still new with very few corals at the moment but it will be full blown sps reef
 

Fourstars

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Been thinking about replacing my halides with these, so glad you went first. How does the par compare with your Halide lite tanks? I like the fact they have passive cooling and the light looks well blended. Keep us updated!
 
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Battlecorals

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Been thinking about replacing my halides with these, so glad you went first. How does the par compare with your Halide lite tanks? I like the fact they have passive cooling and the light looks well blended. Keep us updated!

I'll have to be honest. The Phillips, 1 to 1 doesn't really come close to my iwasakis on m-80s in the lumenbrite reflectors. I initially wanted to swap out fixture for fixture, but I'm pretty certain I'll have to run two rows of 4 LEDs to get closer in coverage and intensity to the 4 halides I am running now.

I couldn't get away with mounting the Phillips as high as I have my Halides without realizing a significant reduction in PAR. Having said that, if I were running radiums on say an electronic ballast, I'd probably have swapped them out 1 for 1.
 

1guydude

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Noice. Looking fwd to hearing ur results.
Good to see a big name like phillips making reef tank lights. Even better to see positive results off the back start get go. Out of the box so to speak.
D
 

gonzo620

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Following. Had the choice between these and g5s. Went with the g5s.
 

Oiva

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I love my G2. They are not as strong as the other brands out there but they do deliver great color and growth.

but i chose these over T5 and Ecotech/ai for several reasons. And yeah i have owned and used most brands out there.
 

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Battlecorals

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Do you know how many watts this is pulling and is it dimmable? Cant wait to see your results!


Hi there.

great questions as well. It says 170 watts on the box and I'm guessing that's at full power. There is a breakout box style controller that I'm sure allows for any sort of spectrum and cycle programming. The fixture has a second cable with two soldered ends that are intended to be used with the controller. I am not using it though. It's running on a simple mechanical timer, on/off with all channels at 100%
 

Jeremy@CoralVue

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Thank you Adam for taking a look at these CoralCare fixtures. When I first got my hands on one I knew these would be something perfect for applications like yours. That and I know you like to be tidy as possible, so the elimination of fans and remote PSU is two great features outside of the creative light blending the CoralCares produce. Look forward to your results.
 
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