Bad news for solaris owners

[mark]

not bothering to read the patent but what's so unique about putting a light fixture full of LED over a marine tank that it would be patentable?

[Buccaneer]

How do you adjust the spectrum ? if you have a 6500K cool white LED how do you change that ?

or is it in increasing the intensity of some lets say blue LED's while decreasing the intensity of lets say whites ( or vice versa ) that allows this shift in spectrum ?

[0sprey]

O_o
I had no idea until now that anyone was having problems with the Solaris. I've had mine for over two years now... no problems with it.
I have to take it apart every six months or so and blow the dust out, but that's about it...
Maybe it's because my tank is covered, so the moisture can't get in and corrupt the circuitry?

[mark]

I think if this is all true somebody should tell PFO, see Solaris is still up on their site http://www.pfolighting.com/pfoaquatics/SolarisMain.aspx

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

Originally Posted by mark

not bothering to read the patent but what's so unique about putting a light fixture full of LED over a marine tank that it would be patentable?

Well thats the thing. Anything is patentable. Any idea can be retained as intellectual property no matter how broad or absurd but the chance of solely keeping that "idea" without ever producing/manufacturing a product is slim to none. In this case the patent was applied for in 2004 and granted in 2007. In the meantime, PFO shipped they're first fixtures in 2006. So although they were selling this technology before any patent went through, they knew this could happen and this is 100% they're fault. Bad business IMO. Whether right or wrong, another company had a patent pending on this technology and PFO took a huge risk--either blowing off US patent laws or assuming the patent may not go through. They did apply for patent on they're fixtures/technology in 2006 and it has yet to be approved. Most likely will not be after all this mess.

Now if the patent holder had no intention of producing LED lights sold for marine aquarium growth, PFO would most likely have ended up getting their patent granted. Basically if you have a patent but do not act on it within 2-3 years and other companies DO produce similar products, the producing company will be allowed to patent their products. There is a lot more to it including often still paying the original patent company a percentage but thats kind of off topic.

PFO did try to sell the Solaris division of they're company to the new patent holder but they were not interested and filed the lawsuit instead. My feeling is this is just to stop them from selling anymore LED fixtures and ultimately put PFO under. Again, PFO took a huge risk when put they're entire company into one product that was already under patent pending. They really have no to blame but themselves.

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

Originally Posted by mark

I think if this is all true somebody should tell PFO, see Solaris is still up on their site http://www.pfolighting.com/pfoaquatics/SolarisMain.aspx

Well they fired almost everyone, so...maybe no one is there to update the site

[Canadian]

I'm glad J&L took them down. This lawsuit has been pending for some time and lots of industry insiders knew about it long before Reef Builders and Glassbox posted about it on their blogs. I was tempted to email J&L when they posted their most recent sale to question them about the timing of the sale given PFO is seemingly going to go belly up leaving consumers without any support. Additionally, retailers in the US were removing these lights and discontinuing sales starting nearly two weeks ago. I thought it was funny that the J&L sale was a mere 10% off for a light that was knowingly having such huge difficulties.

[Leah]

Quite a while ago I bought a m.h. coralife product and was not aware of the nightmare
that would follow. It was according to my dad a piece of crap. I was a little scared of
it to begin with. But once I got it I found some problems with the bulbs not fitting. I
phoned the people who sold it to me, many times and finally was told to talk directly
to them and proceded to get the run around, anyone ever shipped back a metal hallide
light. Those suckers are heavy. Needless to say I have it still in a storage room. Talk
about a sore spot....buyer beware.

[BlueAbyss]

If anyone is interested in LED units, you can easily build one for a reasonable price that will work efficiently for a lot of light over a smaller tank... I'm planning on building one myself for a pico-reef that I'll start a thread about soon, and there are some great threads on Nano-reef.com about it.

Unfortunate about PFO though, I was eventually going to need some MH ballasts made by them for the 20 gallon. Hope they survive!

[Whatigot]

Originally Posted by BlueAbyss

If anyone is interested in LED units, you can easily build one for a reasonable price that will work efficiently for a lot of light over a smaller tank... I'm planning on building one myself for a pico-reef that I'll start a thread about soon, and there are some great threads on Nano-reef.com about it.

Unfortunate about PFO though, I was eventually going to need some MH ballasts made by them for the 20 gallon. Hope they survive!

careful buddy, you don't want to get sued....