Next Generation LED Lighting

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Originally Posted by editour2

Are those par readings with or without focal lenses?

Hi Editour

Sorry I didn't get the chance to respond to your PM. I will try to answer your question here.

The PAR values are without optics (focal lenses). ReefTech along with Pacific Sun and Vertex have all gone the no optic route.

Optics are used to increase the light intensity by focusing the light. This has the benefit of increasing efficiency but has the disadvantage of creating a spotlight effect.

The question is - do you really need to increase the efficiency? The answer in my opinion is "no". The lights are already efficient enough and generate enough PAR to keep even the most light demanding corals, so there is no point to the use of optics.

It could be said that optics allow you to reduce the power consumption of the fixture, but the savings is not significant and you may need more LEDs to cover your tank, so any savings in power is likely lost.

For larger tanks, optics impede the ability of the light to spread across the tank.

In my opinion, optics are remnants from the days of 1W LEDs. With the more powerful and more efficient LEDs, they are not necessary nor desired.

BTW - Thanks for posting. When you get your lights please let us know what your experience and opinion is. There are lots of us here that are very interested in hearing more about the lights. We hope you will come back to update us.

- Brad