Love the way the fixture looks!! Can't wait for the readings. You have given me much to think about, I am in the process of upgrading my aquarium and was planning on getting the AI LED. Now after seeing this one I am having second thoughts. The readings and the cost will probably be the deciding factory.

Below is the non scientific Vertex Illumina SR 1200-200 PAR measurement taken with a Apogee Quantum Meter. My tank is 18" tall and the fixture is 6" above the surface.


White 100% - Blue 100% - Royal Blue 100%

759 about 5mm below the surface

484 On left frag rack

392 At top right coral colony

242 Center of Red Monti

227 Center of Clam

185 Front Elegance Coral

214 Bottom right middel of tank

148 Bottom rear of tank


http://i390.photobucket.com/albums/o...00-200_PAR.jpg

that just blows me away that those little LED give off that much PAR.

How high is that light from light to bottom of the tank.

what was the par on the T-5's

I hope that this light has promise not like the other one wit the problems it had with
warranty
circuits boards
LED's
and unit blowing up

Hey Mike, can you show that from the end of the tank to give an idea of the front-to-back spread?

Here ya go Shrimpchips

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...ghlight=vertex

OK I don't want to seem down on these lights but it seems (in addition to previously voiced concerns about irregular refraction at the non-planar air-water interface, light attenuation due to longer path through the water for reflected light compared to light focused by optics, and incomplete reflection from non-pristine interior tank walls) eggcrate would be out of the question considering the wide dispersion angle with no optics. When light is more or less vertically entering the tank eggcrate doesn't seem to have much effect but with the wide spread of light coming from this fixture a large amount of the light would be blocked by the eggcrate.

Wow the shimmer is indeed back! Pretty cool demo.

Great point about the eggcrate but In my opinion the clear netting looks far better anyways and would accomplish the same thing with little to no effect on light transmission for ANY lighting system.

Who cares what effect egg crate has on light spread? First and foremost it's ugly as sin. And if you have a trimless tank obviously aesthetics was one of your concerns. And if you don't have a trimless tank then put a canopy over that puppy and your jumping fish concerns are pretty much moot. The interaction with egg crate is hardly a reason to slag a fixture.

I am not slagging the fixture in fact I am hoping to buy either one of these or the AI unit but I am not brave enough to be the first to put my money down. Just pointing out the apparent pros and cons that are apparent.

What is the clear netting, does anyone have a link.

Any updates??? Im starting to lean towards led's these days. I keep mainly SPS in a 24"deep tank. Thanks in advance:smile: