[Ron99]

Originally Posted by BlueTang<3

Thanks Ron i have been on the fence between vertex and aqua illuminations for some time. The finish and controller and software on the vertex is mind blowing vs what comes with the aqua illumination for now. The aqua illumination says on reef central that there are a few issues with poor unsealed connectors on the light and a little sketchy on warranty. But seeing the vertex is not in the states who knows what its flaws are. It is interesting the differences in the lights optics no optics cree vs rebel diodes. I would almost be tempted to try 2 12" and compare them side by side but ...I am big on looks in a fixture and i like the vertex more but thats just looks. I have the other big ones Ati powermodule t5's Geiseman metal halides so i would like to try leds. It is some interesting pros and cons for optics vs no optics. One thing that i am worried about it the shadows that i have seen on reef central from lights with optics. An y line in that article “On shallower tanks, I’m a proponent of using straight LEDs without secondary optics,” he states. “I’ve found that achieving a sufficient amount of light for high-light corals is possible, there will be no flashlight effect, no spotting, and more uniformly colored shadows.” Being my rag tank is only 10" deep this is something that finds me leaning towards the Vertex. I want to thank you for taking the time to educate us on the different versions on leds i find it to be interesting. One this that worries me tho is the increase in technology so quick in this hobby ill buy a led and something new and better will come out.

No worries. There are alot of misconceptions out there and we are still learning as this technology is new to our hobby (although not really new technology in other applications). yes, the article is correct that you can achieve good results without secondary optics on shallower tanks. For good PAR at depth you either need a ton more LEDs or to use optics. I have not noticed any spotlight effects in the tank with my array. It comes down to how it is set up. If I hold my hand under it just above the water then I can see a spotlight effect on my hand but everything blends well by 1 or 2 inches down into the water and since I have nothing that high up in the tank there is no spotlighting. That is pretty much a non-issue if the array is properly thought out.

As for advances in the technology that is going to happen no matter when you buy in. LED development is following what they call Haitz's Law (the LED equivalent of Moore's law for semiconductors) and LED lumen output has been doubling every 18 to 24 months with costs coming down as well. They figure that will not slow down any time soon.

Originally Posted by albert_dao

Hi,

Thought I'd chime in on this one:

The Vertex Illumina was designed from the ground-up as an open platform which will offer seamless integration into the soon-to-be-released Vertex Cerebra network. This network, the heart of which will be the Cerebra, will take the fundamentals of reef/aquarium equipment (eg. pumps, lighting, dosers, etc) and connect them all into one user-friendly, ever expanding network. This is something that no other lighting unit can offer. What exactly is all this 'fluff' you might ask? Well, off the top of my head, these are some of the developments currently under way:

- Fully synchronized tidal/photo cycles, as close as you will ever get to replicating the oceanic seasons in your living room. Moon cycles that run in tandem with surge cycles and beyond.
- Real-time weather simulation, not lighting, but current too. Imagine, with the advances in dosing pump and refrigeration technology, can you imagine increasing the amount of liquid food additives during a storm surge?
- Fully customizable color channel control to parallel the seasonal spectral shifts (this will become even more powerful with the release of the auxiliary modules, including RGB/UV-Cyan, etc).

These are features are very real and innovative options for the ultimate simulations. Pending some upcoming beta testing, they should be available nearing the end of this year/beginning of 2011.

As it stands, the Illumina has undergone nearly three years of R&D. There are no cheap parts or labour put into the product. The entire assembly was designed and assembled with the "buy it once, never look back" frame of mind and I have not had a single issue with any of the hundreds of fixtures that I have sold over the past few months. Every unit, every LED pad is hand tested.

Regarding the performance - the document leaked earlier this year was part of a much larger article which contains all the PAR and spectral data. This article is awaiting final drafts and editing prior to publishing.

@ Ron99

If someone from Vertex were to post here regarding this unit, you would know it (Hi).

Personally, I cannot engage into the debate of spectral efficacy as it is not a field of research to which I have applied myself. However, I am confident that, with the spectral testing being done and the impending publishing of the article being just around the corner, the Vertex Illumina will easily stand apart from the crowd in its ability both exceed the expectations and impress with its array of exclusive features.

I will refrain from making an analogy between this and the rather obvious car market. I think we're all a little more intelligent than that. I will however state that, having seen all the offerings from every manufacturer out there, this is by far the most unique and exclusive illumination offering from any manufacturer. There is no other lighting product out there as polished or feature-rich as the Illumina and this gap will only become larger as the Cerebra and auxiliary modules are released.

Hi Albert. I know I sound totally down on this unit but that's not the case. I am sure it is extremely well built with high quality components. For the record, the Luxeon Rebel LEDs are excellent emitters. Your software features are also very comprehensive (although personally I would probably never use things like weather effects and cloud cover etc.). It's great to see the technology gaining a foothold and companies trying different things.

However, I stand by my position that the design choice in terms of LED configuration is an issue. I firmly believe that you could have achieved the same or better performance in terms of coverage and PAR output with more even coverage over a users tank using fewer emitters in a more spread out configuration. That would reduce the production costs somewhat, reduce the retail price for the end user thus increasing market penetration and also used less electricity thus making the unit "greener" and reducing your product's carbon footprint which is a big issue for many people these days. I think that these considerations would have made your unit an absolutely outstanding product instead of a somewhat compromised one that will not work as well for deeper tanks or ones that are wider front to back.

If you want to talk about reconfiguring things for Gen 2 let me know