[nkambae]

Has anyone seen or used these yet?

http://www.eco-sell.com/services/es...Type=Category&CatID=1&II=KR92-48S110V&lang=us

Is just a slightly lower priced (without all the bells and whistles) of the Solaris? It seems to me to be another variation of many low power leds instead of the newer high power Crees and Luxeons. I dunno. The web site doesn't give any info on LED power, spectrum, or PAR values that I could find.

And now to veer onto a slight tangent: is this the future of aquarium lighting?

http://www.plasma-i.com/

http://glassbox-design.com/2009/eco-friendly-plasma-lighting-technology-reaches-aquariums/

http://glassbox-design.com/2009/aqua-illumination-luxim-plasma-light-emitter-impresses-with-spread/

What say you all?

stu

 

[DarkCobra]

Those plasma lights are indeed very, very nice.

They're powered by a magnetron, similar to the one in the heart of every microwave oven.

The STA-40 they're building these prototypes around costs about $1,000.

 

[j-gens]

the sta 40 looks sweet they said they can be had with the driver for around $600

 

[PlecoFanatic]

wow, those plasma lights are sweet!

 

[bennyca]

stu[/quote]

This may help. roud:
Those pics are from Buller100 member of RC.

 

[bennyca]

more....

 

[nkambae]

so...

It looks looks buller100 has about $1500 worth of light fixtures on top of his tank. Or we can go with the sta40 and driver with a diy or retro-fit fixture for about the same price. :icon_eek: My oh my, this hobby doth get expensive!! I'm hoping that, as more players get into the market and lawsuits get settled, prices for the newer technologies will start coming down a bit.

I am interested in trying out some of the new toys but they ARE spendy. Which is why I keep coming back to the forums. I hope to learn enough about the latest and greatest breakthroughs to avoid spending a lot of money foolishly on things that don't work or are not any better than current technology.

So back to my original question: Does we know what kind of LEDs Eco-lamps is using? Spectrum analysis?

Bennyca, I am guessing that the second pic of buller100's tank has par measurements superimposed over the pic. If so, it looks good to me. I'm sure the lights would be quite good enough to grow just about any plants I might want to try. But at $600 a pop for the 70 watters. I'm not so sure.

stu

 

[davocean]

I've been running the eco lights for about 4-5 months now as part of beta test.
I took a PAR meter and got 1350 at bulb, but it drops penetrating through water at depth.
I got a PAR of 50 at 24" deep.
I'm not sure what bulbs they used, that's not my gig, and they were trying to keep details to a min till they hit market.
As for a reef, right now they are fine for a mixed reef w/ sps up high, and low light needy corals at bottom, like shrooms.
Will this be the new thing?
I'm pretty certain eventually EVERYTHING will be LEDs.
My friend does stage lighting, and says thats the plan, and they already are beaming a heavy spot 30-40', it's just dialing in colors to make skin look natural for vid.
PAR at depth could be achieved w/ certain reflectors and lense covers, but as of now they look a bit spotlighty.
It will get there soon.

 

[davocean]

Pics

 

[MoonFish]

I've been running the eco lights for about 4-5 months now as part of beta test.
I took a PAR meter and got 1350 at bulb, but it drops penetrating through water at depth.
I got a PAR of 50 at 24" deep.
I'm not sure what bulbs they used, that's not my gig, and they were trying to keep details to a min till they hit market.
As for a reef, right now they are fine for a mixed reef w/ sps up high, and low light needy corals at bottom, like shrooms.
Will this be the new thing?
I'm pretty certain eventually EVERYTHING will be LEDs.
My friend does stage lighting, and says thats the plan, and they already are beaming a heavy spot 30-40', it's just dialing in colors to make skin look natural for vid.
PAR at depth could be achieved w/ certain reflectors and lense covers, but as of now they look a bit spotlighty.
It will get there soon.

For now, you have to sacrifice lumens to get warmer tint and CRI with a given emitter. The angry blue ones are more efficient and apparently cheaper.

 

[ashappar]

the plasma fixtures at full power are something closer to the color temp that we are looking for in planted tanks. sweet! too bad for the reefers wanting bluer light though.. hopefully some nice reflectors and cheaper kits will pop up soon. Really interested in plasma lighting since I first saw it being sold for floodlights.

we used to use magnetrons to drive UV cure bulbs for a print process in a past job. Those things were **bright** and nasty radiation to watch out for. I'd imagine these fixtures arent so tricky.

 

[davocean]

For now, you have to sacrifice lumens to get warmer tint and CRI with a given emitter. The angry blue ones are more efficient and apparently cheaper.

What makes them "angry"?

 

[bennyca]

It looks looks buller100 has about $1500 worth of light fixtures on top of his tank. Or we can go with the sta40 and driver with a diy or retro-fit fixture for about the same price. :icon_eek: My oh my, this hobby doth get expensive!! I'm hoping that, as more players get into the market and lawsuits get settled, prices for the newer technologies will start coming down a bit.

I am interested in trying out some of the new toys but they ARE spendy. Which is why I keep coming back to the forums. I hope to learn enough about the latest and greatest breakthroughs to avoid spending a lot of money foolishly on things that don't work or are not any better than current technology.

So back to my original question: Does we know what kind of LEDs Eco-lamps is using? Spectrum analysis?

Bennyca, I am guessing that the second pic of buller100's tank has par measurements superimposed over the pic. If so, it looks good to me. I'm sure the lights would be quite good enough to grow just about any plants I might want to try. But at $600 a pop for the 70 watters. I'm not so sure.

stu

I have been looking LEDs for my 48" tank, it looks good to me too.
But the price is over my budget. :icon_frow

 

[j-gens]

i think the sulfur plasma lights are friggin awesome... now just need to find a place that sells them

 

[dhavoc]

the manufacturer sells beta test kits, they contain 2 versions of the STA40, one is the one that reefer was testing with a ~6k output, and another version thats more akin to 5k (too yellow for my taste). light and driver is $650 ea, plus 28w power supply $250, and controller $100. i am going to get a sample to test out in my companies whse. 400w, 9.5A of power looks like it can replace 800w of flourescent lighting currently there, and with a more natural color spectrum to boot. i am most interested in the fact that the mfg claims very low uv and ir output, so it wont fade your stuff as fast, or degrade plastics etc.

 

[j-gens]

wouldnt we want the 6k for our tanks?