Awsome T5 Pendants By Fauna Marin

[trilinearmipmap]

Originally Posted by Canadian

As someone whose profession is dependent upon critical analysis of research, and as someone who both publishes and critically appraises randomized controlled trials for a living, I can't help but be critical of those "tests".

Part of my job includes reading and acting upon the results of randomized controlled trials, the majority of which are severely flawed in many respects.

Grim's tests are flawed, as are almost any other trials I have looked at of anything else. I will take the information in these tests, as well as experience from other hobbyists, into consideration when choosing equipment. Unfortunately it takes a year or two for sufficient hobbyist experience to be out there for a new product. Hence the tests. Obviously there will be severe flaws in any testing of aquarium equipment. The testing is not randomized or blinded. No one has the time or money to hang 200 T5 pendants side by side and grow corals under them for a year.

I'm looking for an 8-bulb 48" T5 fixture which is silent, reliable, has a splash guard bulb shield which is easy to remove and clean, is set up for easy bulb changes, and has an easily adjustable hanging fixture. It must not have light bleed/glare into the surrounding room. I'm looking for a 30% improvement in light output compared to my current T5 Tek-light which has served me well for the past several years. I'll need either a year of hobbyist experiences and testimonials, or some comparative testing, before I buy it. And I'm expecting a price between $800.00 and $1000.00, or I will go with the PowerModule.

In my view the over $1000.00 price niche for lights is reserved for the wealthy, or dedicated fanatical reefers. Either of these groups is likely to go with the fixture that has an established reputation as being a high-end product.

[lastlight]

I'd personally love to see some photos of the real lights. The giesemann site is particularly bad for showing renders all the time. Any chance we could see what the bodies look like? Even a shot of a shell off the assembly line from a few different angles?

I was planning to retro mh and t5 due to any decent looking fixtures having to be shipped long distances or in some cases not being very easy to even get.

[Aqua-Digital]

In regards to you wanting a years worth of testing first before purchasing our fixture, I assume you will be waiting a year, other than that to meet your criteria for testing you will have to go for the other lamp you suggest, if of course it is still available, I have struggled in research to find adequate supply chain of this unit, but maybe I am lacking somewhere.

To clear this testing up and get back to the actual lamp thread, Fauna will do the same that all other light manufacturers do in regards to product launch and new products. As there is no accurate governing body in testing such equipment other than certification testing the lamp, we (just as other main stream manufactuers) will not be giving/loaning/selling cheap to any hobbyist or such like that states they have some sort of knowledge in testing a fixture.

Why - As you have all debated, there is no warrantable body out there that ALL could trust.

So we, just like all other manufacturers, will use buyer feedback to decide on the lamp, this is no different than geissman or other quality brands.

What we will do however is continue to answer your questions openly and make sure our dealers have access to demo units to display to you prior to purchase.

There is always a draw back with providing such open pre launch information as this, interested parties will always argue above and beyond what is feasibly possible for a manufacturer to agree to.

Please keep your great technical questions about this important fixture coming

[Aqua-Digital]

Hi Last Light

I hope to have true pictures in the next 10 days, and i agree clear percise pictures are very important and something I will make sure is made available

[Canadian]

Originally Posted by trilinearmipmap

And I'm expecting a price between $800.00 and $1000.00, or I will go with the PowerModule.

In my view the over $1000.00 price niche for lights is reserved for the wealthy, or dedicated fanatical reefers. Either of these groups is likely to go with the fixture that has an established reputation as being a high-end product.

An 8 lamp 48" ATI Powermodule without lamps is $900 USD from ReefGeek - your only real option for getting a new fixture. You're going to pay the currently hefty exchange rate, duty, brokerage charges, and shipping charges on top of that (in addition to GST and PST which you'd pay for any light purchased within BC or from the US) which is going to far exceed your $1000 ceiling. I guess I'm confused that you take issue with the "over $1000.00 price range" while at the same time saying "or I will go with the PowerModule" when the Powermodule will likely cost around $1300 without lamps and before tax, and you'll end up waiting about 2-3 months to get it.

And with respect to

Obviously there will be severe flaws in any testing of aquarium equipment. The testing is not randomized or blinded. No one has the time or money to hang 200 T5 pendants side by side and grow corals under them for a year.

Obviously no one is going to go to that trouble. The problem is that the "testing" you wanted done by Grim is so far from being even remotely valid or even reliable that it's laughable that you would suggest you would base a purchase decision on his "testing." As far as I know he has one sample of each of the fixtures he tests and a few samples of various reflectors, ballasts and lamps. You keep talking about hanging 200 pendants side by side and growing corals under them for a year but that is so far from the "testing" that Grim does that I'm utterly confused. He measures PAR of lamps and reflectors and takes pictures of the color emitted by lamps. To date I've never seen him perform any comparisons of coral growth or coloration with respect to fixture, lamp, ballast, or reflector design.

[Aqua-Digital]

Very interesting, just been on RG web site and they have removed ATI from the site.

Wander why

I can not find anywhere in the whole of North America selling this fixture.

So back to the Great new fauna fixture then

Canadian also brings up a valid point here that is a direct benefit to all Canada consumers. The Fauna products are purchased in Euro's converted into CAD and as such not effected by the inflated USD, so you really will pay less than you would for any comparible unit coming out the States for sure, including no import Tax or crazy shipping prices

The biggest benefit for the canadian consumer is stability in retail price. We are getting more an more enquires from new European manufacturers seeking a canada based distributor exactly for this reason.

[Canadian]

Originally Posted by Aqua-Digital

Very interesting, just been on RG web site and they have removed ATI from the site.

Wander why

I can not find anywhere in the whole of North America selling this fixture.

So back to the Great new fauna fixture then

Canadian also brings up a valid point here that is a direct benefit to all Canada consumers. The Fauna products are purchased in Euro's converted into CAD and as such not effected by the inflated USD, so you really will pay less than you would for any comparible unit coming out the States for sure, including no import Tax or crazy shipping prices

The biggest benefit for the canadian consumer is stability in retail price. We are getting more an more enquires from new European manufacturers seeking a canada based distributor exactly for this reason.

I don't know what you're seeing when you go on reefgeek.com but unless I have a cached version of the site in my browser the ATI Powermodule is still on reefgeek.com for sale. If it's not showing up when you go to the site either my browser is keeping a copy of the site in my temporary files despite me deleting all my cookies and temporary files or you're not following the "T5 Fluorescent" link and only looking at the home page.

If Greg has discontinued selling the ATI lights (which at this point I don't see any evidence of) I would guess after speaking with Greg a couple weeks ago that it would be due to protracted wait times causing a considerable loss of sales. Additionally, and you and Fauna Marin might not be aware of this, Greg is now building his own dimmable T5 lights which are reported to possibly be ready for early 2009. So there will be another new kid on the block at about the same time that Fauna Marin comes out with their offering. And that new offering will also be dimmable with what have been reported to be some of the best reflectors available (and they'll be made in the USA).

[Aqua-Digital]

Nope looked on two pc's definately not there which sort of confirms my research

Yes i saw the module they have built and dimmable, but working on Dali, which will only work on their controller. The Fauna Light with its dimmable option will naturally work on the GHL as being the most likely partner with its advanced lighting control that no other controller comes close to matching, so much so aquarium illuminaton chose the GHL as its main stay LED light controller. But also the Fuana system will work on other types of systems as well.

There will be an option to purchase the GHL Light II controller with interface with the dimming light units for those who dont have a GHL at a special reduced price, this will give you full light control and climate moon pahsing aswell as temp control and Tunze stream control as well So we are working on some very advanced lighting packages for everyone.

Now you did not think we would get left behind did you

How the fauna Dimmables work will not be released right now due to competition, but we hope to have the first batches early next year

Following on from that later next year will also be Dali BUT only once the technology has settled down and of course GHL have intergrated the control with the ProfiLux (possibly with the awaited Profilux III)

The other issue I see, again is price, North American fixtures for the Canadian market will hold a 20% uplift premium due to exchange rate as mentioned in my previous post.

I have not researched more on the RG unit but from the photos it looks more like retofit than pendant, but could be wrong.

I think next year will see some great lighting options for everyone to choose from, you just need to decide, do you want USA technology (usually with European parts anyway) or European technology throughout. Thats not for us to decide, only you the buying public

[Aqua-Digital]

Some more info for you

Light switching - one powerline from Fixtures to a control unit at the moment is planned that you can control every pair.

Sizes are planned to be -
24 Watt = 650 mm
39 Watt = 950 mm
54 Watt = 1250 mm
80 Watt = 1550 mm

Standard - width with 6 tube units will be 395mm then add a further 100mm per extra tube.

We have chosen as retail standard the following

24w = 6 tube
39w = 8 tube
54w = 10 tube
80w = 10 tube

Anyone wanting different than the retail standard is no trouble but falls into custom order with approx 6 week delivery

Supply - earliest supply from Fauna can be the first week in January. I think but more around the 15th January due to holiday times. Please allow sea Freight shipping time to get to retailers.

Dimming - This will follow on in second wave of production

[Powertec]

Most ballasts can fire more than 2 lamps at a time.
If you are paying 75 for ballasts find a new manufacturer.
Considering most ballasts come from only three different suppliers in the world a compariable replacement is easy. Advance, workhorse ballasts for example come from GE manufacturing faciltiy