Orphek or AI

[abcha0s]

For what it's worth, the sunrise, sunset and traveling moon are my favorite features of the LEDs I own. I don't care about cloud cover or lightning.

I wouldn't suggest that corals care the slightest bit about sunrise/sunset, but the fish sure do. The behavoir during the first hour and last hour of the day are very different. I have 12 Anthias in the tank and they actually school for the last 15 minutes of daylight. My wrasses are much more energetic when the lights start to fade. It is fascinating to watch the distinct change in dynamics depending on the light phase.

My absolute favorite time to watch the tank is the last hour of the day. My second favorite time to watch the tank is with my morning coffee as the sun rises over the reef. Simply awesome.

My final verdict on whether the money I spent on LEDs was a good purchase or not will have to wait. Ask me a year from now. However, the money that I spent for the dimming capabilities over the equivelent cost of a non dimmable solution was worth every penny.

That said, I like the Orphek lights a lot. Just not as much as the ones I bought, but then I am biased.

- Brad

[Slick Fork]

Originally Posted by abcha0s@conceptaquatics

For what it's worth, the sunrise, sunset and traveling moon are my favorite features of the LEDs I own. I don't care about cloud cover or lightning.

I wouldn't suggest that corals care the slightest bit about sunrise/sunset, but the fish sure do. The behavoir during the first hour and last hour of the day are very different. I have 12 Anthias in the tank and they actually school for the last 15 minutes of daylight. My wrasses are much more energetic when the lights start to fade. It is fascinating to watch the distinct change in dynamics depending on the light phase.

My absolute favorite time to watch the tank is the last hour of the day. My second favorite time to watch the tank is with my morning coffee as the sun rises over the reef. Simply awesome.

My final verdict on whether the money I spent on LEDs was a good purchase or not will have to wait. Ask me a year from now. However, the money that I spent for the dimming capabilities over the equivelent cost of a non dimmable solution was worth every penny.

That said, I like the Orphek lights a lot. Just not as much as the ones I bought, but then I am biased.

- Brad

Absolutely agree. When I had my large tank with the dimmable T5's the "shoulder" times were my favourite to watch as well.

Originally Posted by medhatreefguy

You're making some very big claims. I'm sure you have a good reason for your biased opinion.


-Well consider me biased then if i aim towards a better product. Claims? the only claims are your response, Go to orphek.com and compare their spectrographs to the other guys, and compare par and pur and you will find the orphek is more efficient than the Sol.

When you refer to "our site", which site are you referring to? Which forums are "our forums"?


-Sorry i am refering to 3reef, should have been a little clearer, where orphek is a sponsor and member constantly sharing their knowledge and answering questions.

I'm sure Orphek makes a good light but I have to call BS on your statement about dimming.

Please dont call bs on other people because YOU simply do not know or understand.

I don't see how you dont understand, dimming is refering to the intensity and color of the light, Look at how many people are running their Sol's at 50% and 60% because running them at 100% will burn your corals. By lowering there numbers you are also lowering the par and pur being emitted. These lights are tested at 75-90 percent power, and thats the rating for their par, But if your running the light at 50% power, you think your getting the same par and pur? Orphek designed their diodes to be run at 100% over your tank for maximum effienciny.

Any reefer's goal is to replicate all of the conditions on a natural reef, and one thing is for certain dimming is a natural occurrence as the sun rises or sets. No it may not be as essential to coral growth as the light spectrum and intensity but I am sure it's a benefit to the coral.

-Actually sunset and sunrise have no benefit to coral, please research more. The fish and inverts benefit from dusk and dawn. but one can get the same results by using a simple blue led bar for night and dusk and dawn purchased for like 50 bucks.

Southerner2 went off the deep end when someone mentioned dimming but the bottom line is when all things are equal with PAR and coverage,

-Again who said any of these lights are equal, spread is different with every light as well as par and pur.

it is the bells and whistles like control features, ability to upgrade, and form factor that will seal the deal. IMO of course.

-Its the bells and whistles they have to attach to make you consider their light because for a straight comparison between par, pur, and spread Orpheks Generations 2 diodes are the best made blue spectrum you can find for aquatics in the led field.

Just my 2 cents, OP Asked for info on the orphek and Sol,

[Slick Fork]

Anybody else find it interesting that we get two new members who spend the bulk of their first posts slamming one LED system and pumping another; often with a violent response when a feature that the "preferred" system doesn't have is mentioned? Strange resemblance to the pumpers and bashers I see on my stock market forums.

[mr.wilson]

Yeah, the T5 debate was almost as heated, then it just kinda faded away. Metal halide didn't really take off until we shifted from 6,500K Venture bulbs to 10,000k & 14,000k options. The same door is opening now with LED.

[Bblinks]

Hi Mr Wilson.
I went through Peter's build on RC but I couldn't find the pages that mention any thing about you guys going with orphek lighting. I thought you guys opted for the aquamedic 4 X 250W MH lighting fixtures due to the coverage which orphek did not provide. Just want to clarify.
Thanks for your time.
Rich

[mr.wilson]

Originally Posted by Bblinks

Hi Mr Wilson.
I went through Peter's build on RC but I couldn't find the pages that mention any thing about you guys going with orphek lighting. I thought you guys opted for the aquamedic 4 X 250W MH lighting fixtures due to the coverage which orphek did not provide. Just want to clarify.
Thanks for your time.
Rich

You guys are good We waffled on LED for a while since we had a lot riding on it. I like the Aqua Medic 4 x 250w + 4 x 39w T5 fixtures, but the wide reef formation, particularly at the canyon meant we had shadows on the reef face. it's a two sided tank so it complicated things further. We considered doubling up the MHL fixtures to go two wide from front to back, but decided to test our 6 Orphek light we bought for the frag system. We put the LEDs up at the front and back with the MHL still in the middle and there was no going back. It is entirely possible that we could have been happy with another LED manufacturers fixture as well, but I don't have any seconds thoughts after seeing the colours we are getting. Like I said, I was happy with MHL and thought we were doing well, but the Orphek fixtures even made the fish look better.

The main issue that turned Peter (Nineball) off of the other LEDs we looked at was the rapid flicker they cast. Once he noticed it, it drove him crazy and he couldn't stop focusing on it

We have two 6' MHL fixtures left on the tank, but they are being replaced with Orpheks soon. It has been a gradual transition over the past 3 months. You can see some pics from when they went in here http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...11725&page=266

[lastlight]

A direct link into that thread is worth a million dollars it's so long. I've scrolled and page jumped for a long time before I found what I wanted. The coloration on the tank does indeed look incredible. Reminds me of what I have right now with maybe just slightly less blue.

[mr.wilson]

Originally Posted by lastlight

A direct link into that thread is worth a million dollars it's so long. I've scrolled and page jumped for a long time before I found what I wanted. The coloration on the tank does indeed look incredible. Reminds me of what I have right now with maybe just slightly less blue.

I took some long overdue pics yesterday and will post them on the RC thread today. Maybe I should start a picture thread here to keep it Canadian content.

The friendly people at Reeftech are sending me a 200w Prometheus LED to try out. It should be here today or tomorrow. I can evaluate most of the aspects of the light pretty quick, but coral pigmentation takes a few weeks or longer to show. For the people who like control features, it has everything you would want.

[ensquire]

Here is a Canadian distributor
http://www.goreef.com/Orphek-LED/