Since BRS hasn’t covered this yet I did a quick output comparison between a Reefbrite XHO Blue (30”) and an Orphek OR3 Blue Plus (24”). Figured I’d share my results with the community.
I’ve always been extremely happy with XHO output and spread, in fact I have them over every single reef tank as supplemental actinic lighting.
A lot of the optics on my older Reefbrites have started to deform and melt, and the output has noticeably dropped as a result. I recently saw the new Orphek OR3 Blue Plus is available and wanted to see how they stack up against the XHOs.
The OR3s have amazing build quality and a competitive price. Unfortunately, I found the spread to be very poor for my application. They advertise 120 degree optics, but they are much closer to 60 degrees. They make a very intense hot spot, if you wanted coverage with these optics you’d have to cover the tank like some folks do with the Atlantiks, or put them really high up.
Anyway, onward to the results. This is a very crude test setup, I’m sure BRS will do something much more professional in the future.
For a visual evaluation against a blank background I set them up 6” off the ground. OR3 on the left, XHO on the right:
Next I measured out from the centerline every inch and took par measurements:
Here’s a plot that I think really highlights the difference in the spread:
Finally, for a more qualitative evaluation I put them over a 3’ x 3’ frag tank. Exposure is fixed for these shots.
OR3:
XHO:
My conclusion (opinion) is that the XHO crushes the OR3 performance in my application. It has amazing spread and with very little wasted light. I’ll definitely be sticking with XHOs.
I’ve also reached out to Reefbrite about options to repair/replace the old fixtures with the optics that are going bad. Tullio himself called me back and is going to give me options to either refurbish or replace them. I don’t have any prices yet, but so far he’s been awesome to work with and has promised to help me out with these fixtures even though they are outside of warranty.
I’ve always been extremely happy with XHO output and spread, in fact I have them over every single reef tank as supplemental actinic lighting.
A lot of the optics on my older Reefbrites have started to deform and melt, and the output has noticeably dropped as a result. I recently saw the new Orphek OR3 Blue Plus is available and wanted to see how they stack up against the XHOs.
The OR3s have amazing build quality and a competitive price. Unfortunately, I found the spread to be very poor for my application. They advertise 120 degree optics, but they are much closer to 60 degrees. They make a very intense hot spot, if you wanted coverage with these optics you’d have to cover the tank like some folks do with the Atlantiks, or put them really high up.
Anyway, onward to the results. This is a very crude test setup, I’m sure BRS will do something much more professional in the future.
For a visual evaluation against a blank background I set them up 6” off the ground. OR3 on the left, XHO on the right:
Next I measured out from the centerline every inch and took par measurements:
Here’s a plot that I think really highlights the difference in the spread:
Finally, for a more qualitative evaluation I put them over a 3’ x 3’ frag tank. Exposure is fixed for these shots.
OR3:
XHO:
My conclusion (opinion) is that the XHO crushes the OR3 performance in my application. It has amazing spread and with very little wasted light. I’ll definitely be sticking with XHOs.
I’ve also reached out to Reefbrite about options to repair/replace the old fixtures with the optics that are going bad. Tullio himself called me back and is going to give me options to either refurbish or replace them. I don’t have any prices yet, but so far he’s been awesome to work with and has promised to help me out with these fixtures even though they are outside of warranty.