Silent Lights Poll

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Having tested the Blades, I'm intrigued. Mind sharing if you have paid wholesale, paid retail, or if they have been provided to you?

I purchased them at a discount. The discount was not a lot larger than typical Black Friday type of sales.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Congrats on finally deciding!

Care to share your reasons for choosing them?

Also, please share what your plans are on mounting.

I discuss these details in my build thread, but in short, these are the reasons:

1. I want light that is very quiet, so no fan is good.

2. I want light that mimics shallow water, which means much whiter than many reefers choose, but also with uv/deep blue.

3. I want some degree of spectrum control.

4. They must fit into my existing canopy.


3 x 48” freshwater blades and 1 48” coral glow blade seem to fit all these needs on paper.

I don’t get them until next week, so cannot say anything more about them.

My mounting plan may change, but the idea is to use the mounting clips to hang them from 2 stainless steel rods mounted front to back, and they can then slide forward or backward as needed.

 

[TelegrahamTested LLC]

but also with uv/deep blue

For clarity's sake, the Blades have no UV diodes, but the Glow does have violet.

 

[oreo54]

For clarity's sake, the Blades have no UV diodes, but the Glow does have violet.

Well to annoyingly split hairs here.. yea there are no UV leds. There are 405nm led. 2 per panel and believe there are 5 panels.

Now as a ONE sided "compare" Luxeon 405nm LED's (often listed as NUV i.e near UV) have approx.......

Electrical characteristics:
An actual output of 0.725 watts at 500 mA x 3V
Out of which a teeny portion is "true UV"
19.5% of the 2.46 micromoles/sec

Of course I doubt they used Luxeon chips.

And NO Guarantee my math is right starting w/ just using the energy content of 395nm.
Therefore, the energy in a micromole of 395nm photons is approximately 3.03 x 10^-1 J/micromole .
.303W/ micromole x .48micromoles = .145w/sec x2x5 = 1.45W/sec/4ft light
of UV-a approx without doing any fancy calculus and just assuming 395nm is the average energy.
A possibly good enough guess.
Math wiz-es feel free to jump in :)

Yea calling 405nm led "UV" is a stretch but there is UV. It's a NUV :)
And again, whatever brand they chose and its efficacy will make or break my estimate.


NOW the big issue, and I believe you shot the spectrum i that there is little evidence of 405nm leds nor actually 415 either. The 415 that looks like 420 may be my error though..

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

For clarity's sake, the Blades have no UV diodes, but the Glow does have violet.

Well, we can call it whatever, but the AI coral glow has light in the 390-460 nm range. I decided it was low enough to do what I wanted, including exciting nearly all of the fluorescent pigments described here:

How to Make Corals Colorful, Part One: New Information, With Particular Attention to Blue-Green Fluorescent Pigments

Light intensity and its spectral characteristics play important parts in promotion of coral coloration.

reefs.com

How to Make Corals More Colorful - Part Two

This month, we'll look at the most populous coral pigment category: Green Fluorescent Proteins (or GFPs). In addition, we'll examine how light intensity and spectral qualities affect GFPs.

reefs.com

see also:

Wayback Machine

 

[TelegrahamTested LLC]

The amount of UV generated by the Glow is like saying the drips at the bottom of my water bottle will move the hydration needle. The Blade's UV, what you noted to be 390-400, equates to the drips at the bottle of my water bottle.

This is a Glow I measured. The tall line is 400nm. Lights with UV channels should have UV diodes. This light does not check that box.

This is GHL Mitras Lightbar 3 Coral Pop. It doesn't need the tall line.

 

[spsick]

This is GHL Mitras Lightbar 3 Coral Pop. It doesn't need the tall line.

Have you got some LB3 in your hands to test? It’s too bad that one has such a gap in 420-435 range. I really want to pivot to just LB3 (I have a Deep Ocean) but struggling on combo. I guess that’s the advantage of channel control but that means turning down a bunch of channels to get the violets balanced.

Sorry Randy this is derailing your finished thread.

 

[Garf]

I miss the buzz of halides. RIP

 

[oreo54]

Have you got some LB3 in your hands to test? It’s too bad that one has such a gap in 420-435 range. I really want to pivot to just LB3 (I have a Deep Ocean) but struggling on combo. I guess that’s the advantage of channel control but that means turning down a bunch of channels to get the violets balanced.

Sorry Randy this is derailing your finished thread.

Have you considered a mix?
Reefbreeder v2 bars have an almost "pure" 430nm one.
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/6dzk...xlsx?rlkey=mcwahow1pnw63ilfvtne5bwmv&e=1&dl=0

LumenBar V2 48"

The LumenBar V2 includes a fully programmable dimmer and timer. Every LumenBar V2 is IP65 water-resistant, and has an ultra-thin 1" width and height. The LEDs are all 3watt Epistar chips run at a lower wattage for optimal efficiency. These are the perfect add-on for any LED or T5/MH system, and...

reefbreeders.com

Anyways all the spectrums are here..
https://www.aquariumcomputer.com/products/ghl-illumination/mitras-lightbar-3/

 

[spsick]

Have you considered a mix?
Reefbreeder v2 bars have an almost "pure" 430nm one.
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/6dzk...xlsx?rlkey=mcwahow1pnw63ilfvtne5bwmv&e=1&dl=0

LumenBar V2 48"

The LumenBar V2 includes a fully programmable dimmer and timer. Every LumenBar V2 is IP65 water-resistant, and has an ultra-thin 1" width and height. The LEDs are all 3watt Epistar chips run at a lower wattage for optimal efficiency. These are the perfect add-on for any LED or T5/MH system, and...

reefbreeders.com

Anyways all the spectrums are here..
https://www.aquariumcomputer.com/products/ghl-illumination/mitras-lightbar-3/

Yeah I have, as I already have a Quanta Pro Meso Blue that will get in the mix if needed. The GHL are so darn slick, and just needing 1-2 power supplies and full control is huge.

It’s interesting how different the spectrum Jim posted looks compared to the one on GHL site for the Coral Pop.

 

[oreo54]

Yeah I have, as I already have a Quanta Pro Meso Blue that will get in the mix if needed. The GHL are so darn slick, and just needing 1-2 power supplies and full control is huge.

It’s interesting how different the spectrum Jim posted looks compared to the one on GHL site for the Coral Pop.

Oh yea.. didn't catch that as obvious as it is..

"A man with a watch knows what time it is. A man with two watches is never sure"

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

The amount of UV generated by the Glow is like saying the drips at the bottom of my water bottle will move the hydration needle. The Blade's UV, what you noted to be 390-400, equates to the drips at the bottle of my water bottle.

This is a Glow I measured. The tall line is 400nm. Lights with UV channels should have UV diodes. This light does not check that box.

This is GHL Mitras Lightbar 3 Coral Pop. It doesn't need the tall line.

You are picking at my use of the term uv/deep blue. I have no idea why you care what I call it. It has some uv and it has some blue. If you don’t think it has enough uv to call it that, then don’t.

I carefully examined available spectra of the fanless light options. I am well aware the gHL has more intensity in the sub 400 nm range. I elected against it for other reasons based on user reports of issues with the software and some other comments, but it is also a very good choice for what I want. I’m not sure that it is better. Maybe it is and maybe it’s not.

 

[Reefering1]

Schrodinger's light!

 

[TelegrahamTested LLC]

You are picking at my use of the term uv/deep blue. I have no idea why you care what I call it. It has some uv and it has some blue. If you don’t think it has enough uv to call it that, then don’t.

I carefully examined available spectra of the fanless light options. I am well aware the gHL has more intensity in the sub 400 nm range. I elected against it for other reasons based on user reports of issues with the software and some other comments, but it is also a very good choice for what I want. I’m not sure that it is better. Maybe it is and maybe it’s not.

This ain't a you thing, Randy. This is a marketing thing. We, the hobbyists, accept the "UV" channels that aren't UV channels. I'd like to see the industry just call it violet. Why round up (in this case down)?

To be clear, this wasn't an AI vs GHL thing. I don't care about that, but what I do care about is an expected level of truth in marketing. Ecotech added 395nm to their previous UV channel. AI added the same 395nm to the Edge. The Blades are still enjoying their BS UV. Had you said violet/deep blue instead of "uv/deep blue," I would have rolled on by.

Regardless, have fun! It'll be an interesting journey for us all to follow. Hope to learn from your learning.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

In the end, I am not certain the low nm light is even going to cause noticeable fluorescence or pigmentation differences in a pretty much white light tank, but all I can do is see what happens. :)

I do understand the claims concerns, but I guess I'm becoming numb to it after seeing so many direct color claims of trace elements. lol

 

[TelegrahamTested LLC]

In the end, I am not certain the low nm light is even going to cause noticeable fluorescence or pigmentation differences in a pretty much white light tank, but all I can do is see what happens. :)

I do understand the claims concerns, but I guess I'm becoming numb to it after seeing so many direct color claims of trace elements. lol

A totally fair point.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

FWIW, I got the AI Blades today. Since the tank just has water in it, I'm not mounting them yet (would need demounting to add rock next week) but I'm happy with the look, as best I can judge it in a non tank setting. They got set up to the myAI app easily enough. :)

 

[Red_Beard]

Awesome, you will have to post pics! And yes, their app is fantastic, definitely no complaints there.

 

[Hairyteeth]

I would vote against the ors3s o have them and have problems with the blue plus firing on me x2