Reefbrite Lighting at MACNA

[iLLwiLL]

I'll get an apex eventually and would love it if I could dim the techs slowly to 1% for moons, but if not I have other options that wont look nearly as clean installed.

Wait ... your saying a a reefbrite 150w halide draws around 1/3rd the power of a radion? I'd love some more info on these. Might even have to put one over a frag tank hooked to my main with T5's and RB techs.

 

[reefwiser]

Right that's the fact. The 150 W is very low power and still giving you the power of a MH. Just want to grow my SPS. [emoji3]

 

[120reefkeeper]

I had the pleasure of meeting both of them at MACNA. Wonderful people ! There lights are just awesome!

 

[Black Pearl]

I'll get an apex eventually and would love it if I could dim the techs slowly to 1% for moons, but if not I have other options that wont look nearly as clean installed.

The Reef Brite XHO goes dark at about 8% which is bit to bright for moons

 

[427HISS]

I'm old school from back in the 90's and used halides and VHO's. When getting back into this hobby, it's all about LED's, which I just don't think these company's have it down pat,...yet.
The reason I went with the LED's is because of the lack of heat and won't need to buy new lights every 6-10 months. But now, these combo halide & led really looks wonderful, except for the price.
36" for $925 ?

They are a very nice looking unit !

With a 120g and a 125g, their priced way out of my range, even for just one tank.
Guess I'll have to stick with my un-happy eyes of LED's. Very sad......:(

 

[reefwiser]

To get the same coverage as MH with LED you would be spending way more money. Especially if you keep SPS. I know I spent the money and still was not satisfied with the growth of my SPS.

 

[427HISS]

The LED arrangements in most systems aren't close enough. I hate the disco affect and slight dark areas even in the middle.
The halide and tubes, do not have this problem.

 

[120reefkeeper]

Just so you know the reefbrite lights can be dimmed and you can place your hand on the top of the light for as long as you want. They run very cool compared to the old stuff and don't even have fans! Pretty amazing lights if you ask me! [emoji6]

 

[427HISS]

I agree, so far they look very nice, love the low heat and controllability, just not the cost. The Radions and a few other high end LED systems are also very expensive, and honestly, don't care for them.
They sure have the "name factor", which means diddly squat to me. ;)

If I could afford two of the Reefbrite's, I'd pick them over any other product.

I'm searching for home reefers video's on YouTube.

 

[427HISS]

I have a 93g cube that in time, I want to set up as a SPS dominated reef. This is a video I just found of a 93g cube, and I REALLY,....like this light !
No shadows too.

 

[120reefkeeper]

Sent you a pm @427HISS.

 

[427HISS]

Ok.

 

[120reefkeeper]

Back at ya [emoji6]

 

[reefwiser]

The problem I found with shadowing and intensity with the Radions would have caused me to buy another Radion and mount them long ways on my tank. I would then be spending way more money and could get better results with one Reef brite fixture on my tank.

 

[427HISS]

So far, I sure like it.

 

[pirate2876]

I bought a t5 retro kit after my discussion with the lady in their booth(Name?). She was very informative and answered all my questions. I really like the idea of a one bulb/two LED retro kit too.

 

[427HISS]

Can you post some pics ?

What do you like and dislike ?

 

[justingraham]

I bought a t5 retro kit after my discussion with the lady in their booth(Name?). She was very informative and answered all my questions. I really like the idea of a one bulb/two LED retro kit too.

Joy??

 

[pirate2876]

Can you post some pics ?

What do you like and dislike ?

I just mounted it yesterday after the initial light I bought somewhere else failed. Its mounted next to a Hamilton t5 retro fixture I had on my last tank. I can say the reflectors are huge and very reflectivey. I initially had a hard time getting a bulb in the pins and accidentally broke the first bulb trying to get the pins to "click" in. That may be because its a brand new fixture and the pins aren't worn in yet. I have a canopy and so mounting wasnt the best for me. The retro comes with eyelets that screw into the back of the fixture so the whole fixture kinda hangs in my canopy. I wish it just had brackets connected to the body of the fixture.

I will try for a picture later. As of now, I am extremely content with the retro kit. And I think her name was Joy. She was sweet and put up with my dumb questions.

 

[Reefbrite]

Thank you everyone for the kind words. For starters the lamp itself does get hot and I would never recommend touching a MH lamp while it is running nor attempting to do so until a sufficient amount of time has passed allowing the lamp to cool. The key is managing the heat produced by the lamp. LED's get hot, they get very hot which is why they need heat sinks, fans or both to operate otherwise they will fail. Yes the fixture housings themselves are cool to the touch as seen in the video without the use of fans and emit less heat, even downward due to the fact that they are much more efficient than older MH systems in converting electricity to light. This is also how our MH systems are able to operate the lamp at full power while using considerably less energy. On any lighting system, LED included, heat means loss. It also means wasted power. The way we reduce the downward heat vs. conventional halides is by radiating the maximum amount of light possible while minimizing the amount of light trapped in the fixture itself. This translates into more usable light further increasing the performance of the fixture.