InWatter Stingray LED Review

Well I have the blues set at 70% and the whites at 65% and everything seems to be loving it. Some of the fans came on yesterday but they are extremely quite so all is great. Will try to get a better video and some more pics up today.

Todd

 

Here are some updated photos and and improved video

http://www.denpaul.ca/SALT/INWATTERSTINGRAY.wmv

 

Very nice! LEDs are awesome aren't they. I'm only drawing 40 watts with the two Sols and have more light than my old 2x250w MH at 500 watts with none of the heat or evaporation.

 

Looks great you have an amazing tank

 

Thanks guys, and yes I'm really liking them temperature hasn't changed more than 1/2 degree all day now, tank stays right at 74.5 to 75 degrees.

 

Well after the fist week here are my observations so far:

- Less algae film build up on glass (had to clean 2 times instead of three or four) I beleive this is simply be cause of the more focused light.
- Temperature swing on tank is pretty much non-existant now. Wasn't bad before with the T5's but was still about 3-4 degrees from moring until it peaked, very slowly but still there.
- Color - incredible - so far everyone wh has seen the tank is comenting on how good it's looking and asking what I did. (People that I haven't told about the light to get their reaction) But the color is really nice very happy with it there as well.
- Positive coral responses - so far everything is responding very well to the light, I even have a small piece of a yellowish green leather that shrivelled up many months ago and became detached, it has still been in the tank for 6+ months and I was just going to throw it out as it a colorless blob, but I have noticed that it's starting to grow again, so I will keep a close watch on this. Would be pretty cool if it recovers.

Any questions just ask.

Todd

 

Well just finishing up week two and everything's doing great, cleaning glass twice a week as opposed to every second day, and corals are all responding great.

Scooter Blenny sits around more than usual now doing nothing so not sure if he's sun tanning, sick or just not happy about the light.. But otherwise everything else is loving it....

 

Well a quick update and so far so good. Everything still loves the light, no ill effects what so ever…

Had a good question brought up in discussions with people who have come to view the light, as well as in PM's so I checked with Inwatter and will let you know how they are setup with it (Which made a lot of sense to me) and it may give others the idea to check with their light supplier...

First question is what to do if they change the design of the light down the road and the current panels become different than the newer ones. This has never been an issue with MH or T5 as they are bulbs and will be readily available, and will be for a very, very long time. Even if a light manufacturer pulls the plug, the bulbs will be available no matter what.

Inwatter has said very simply that if they for some reason change the basic design that they would make the current panels available to everyone to stock up on if they didn’t want to try replacing individual leds (which didn’t sound like a real simple option) The panels are currently priced at $75 per unit (2 per foot of fixture)

Seems like a great plan to me and for the paranoid type you could stock up on a complete set of “bulbs” for the light for $600, which may sound expensive but it’s the equivalent of 5 years or more of bulbs…..

May be something to consider down the road…

Some others have said that as long as the LED’s were available it should be relatively simple to replace or at least that it could be done, but I’m not that confident in my soldering ability so I think I would just by the replacement panels myself….

 

Well Monthly Update time Light is working fantastically.

Would post more pictures but nothing muchhas changed, but will try to grab a few more in the next week or so.

Cheers
TJ

 

I am up to 85% white, 80% royal blue and 75% blue and the Kill A Watt meter shows 122.3 watts. The corals are happy and everything looks good. My power bill last month was $127 with taxes and everything compared to $348 one year ago same month. Of course its not all the aquarium lights but a large portion is that since I also changed out the nano to LEDs too and reduced the air conditioning load between the two tanks going to LED which also reduced the evaporation rate and load on the AC too.