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Old 03-31-2013, 05:02 AM
Magma Magma is offline
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Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Calgary, AB
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I have been researching these since the start of January on another forum and various websites. Finally found a few people on another forum who actually use these and have for a while now.

One user has the D120's with just Blues and Whites as well as the D120 Full Spectrum model. Which was great I thought I would really find out which one was better and what the par numbers where.

Now take in mind PAR readings are LED's can be skewed really easy and some people wont even count the numbers. So I figured why not hear from the people who use them.

Heres what they found:
The 250 watt halides, 8x54 watt t5 with new, high end lamps, and the Taotronics (D120) or similar have all scored about the same PAR directly under the fixture.

Everyone who I talked to who owned the unit said the same things.
1. Super Bright
2. Noticed growth and change of corals within month of use
3. Fans run a little loud at times
4. Make sure you get the dimming versions!
5. Warranty and Customer service is GREAT!

I will also mention a few people said they run hot and they are hard to get the colour balance you want. I can say after having them they dont run hot at all and they dont take much to change the colour more to your liking. As for fan noise I dont notice it, its really not loud at all.

Few people have LED's burn out and the company has offered to repair them or just them out replacement LED's at no cost which seems to be what most people do as the units are really easy to open up and repair.

I also found out that it doesnt matter if you use the full spectrum or just the White/Blue combo coral growth is about the same. Some people dont like the more purplish tone the full spectrum ones give off. Myself I like that look so I went in that direction.

I have mine set about 10" off the water and set at 50%. It took a few days of slight increments to work up to 50% as I have heard from other users they can bleach corals out really easy.

Each unit has 2 power cords, one for blues one for whites and most people seem to run the whites for 8-10hrs and blues for 10-12hrs.

They dont have a controller for them but I have seen a few threads on RC about "hacking" a controller to use on them.

I dont really know what else to mention so if you need more info just ask I can point you in the direction of a really long read lol.

Basically summed up they are great units for a good price. Im a strong believer in the idea that not everything in this hobby has to cost a fortune in order for it to be good. These are going to do a great job on my tank as I already notice my corals are open wider and looking healthier.
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