LED Switch moving away from Orphek

Hi Guys,

So I wanted your help since I am sure among us someone must have bought the Aqua Illuminations SOL fixture.

So a lil background first, I bought the orphek fixture and it has been nothing but problems suffice to say that they had to send me a new drive once and I am having to get a second one because its not working properly. So I am fed up with this company and I want to change fixtures, which brings me back to my question. what is the main difference between the White and the Blue Sol Fixture? And what is the spread if I am trying to cover my tank which is 48*20*25?

Any insight would be appreciate it!

Thanks!!!

 

The main difference between the sol white and sol super blue is the number of blue leds.

SOL white: 2white, and 1 blue per puck. (8pucks)
SOL Super Blue: 1 white, 1 blue, and 1 royal blue per puck (8 pucks)

As for spread, i think ideally you would want to have 3 fixtures. You could probably get away with two, but 3 would be best imo.

 

Everything skurious said is spot on. The optics are a mix of 40* and 70*. For a 48" long tank, 2 should be fine. If you are going SPS dominant, 3 might be necessary. I have mine hung 14" from the water, running whites about 50%. I have mine over a 40 breeder. The ability to control many things is great with this fixture. I have the Blue module, with T5HO and LED accent lighting for full spectrum.

 

One other thing that's pretty cool about the fixtures are that you can change out the optics for either all 40s or all 70s to get the best possible spread and or penetration for your tanks needs.

 

or you may want to consider the ecotech marine radion ive heard nothing but good things about it so far and ive already preordered mine and it releases soon so itd be worth the wait. but the two main reasons id say go radion over sol is that one. the spread is a lot wider one radion can cover a 2'x2' area where as AI recomends 1 brick per foot and two. the radion is full spectrum it can create any color under the sun plus you get the benefit of having corals with reds yellows and oranges pop more because they include red leds along with green, blue, royal blue, and cool white for a total of 34 leds running at 118 watts. the sol comes in at 24 leds at 75 watts so you wont have any problem growing your corals

 

An advantage you'll get with an AI Sol fixture over a Radion is a proven track record...which I think this buyer is looking for. Much like Orphek, results are yet to be seen.

 

I doubt a single Radion can cover a 2x2 area for SPS. I haven't seen an independent PAR contour plot of the Radion yet. From Sanjay's testing of the SOL, the coverage is lousy for SPS, if just 1 unit is used, as only 6" area over 300 PAR @ 24". If 2 are used, the coverage is very sufficient for SPS, for about 36" or so, as the PAR sums and the combined PAR is great.

24W of the Radion is red and green, which are for looks not coral growth, so, if we subtract that, then we have 130W-(8x3)=106W. So, 106/75=1.4 therefore, the potential coverage area could be about 40% higher. So, for a single unit, 1.4 * 6" = 8.4" or if you combined two, you should get about 50", so, then the 24" coverage might be reasonable. Of course a lot depends on the optics and tank depths etc... So, real coverage will vary. However, the point is, if you have 40% more power, using the same LEDs, you can cover about 40% more area, if using the same optics and same tank, at the same depths etc... Not 1' vs 2' which is 100% more area regardless of manufactures claims.

I might still go with the Radion you'll loose efficiency wasting up to 24W with the red and green, but get better color rendering.

 

Thank you guys so much for the insight, I was looking at the radion but since its new I am kinda nervous about it, although coming from a company that made the vortech gives me peace of mind. The only other difference is that I can almost buy 2 Sol units for every 1 Radion.. So i was thinking I might need to buy either way two Radion units fro my tank at least, which would almost be about 4 Sol units.... then is it worth it to have 2 units or the possibility of 4?

 

Assuming, you sand bed is a few inches tall and you are not hanging the AIs more than a few inches a over your tank, 3 should be fine. I think 2 radions would work, but that is more of a guess. 3 AIs would be a bit less expensive than 2 Radions (although not by much after the controller and hanging kit) and they are tried and tested as FOD mentioned. We know you can keep quite a bit with 3. So, that is something to consider. I think some people may still prefer 4 though due to the center brace or to make sure every inch is covered LOL. I think that Ecotech products are very good though and the color should be better due to the red and green. So, it's a personal preference really, at least assuming two would be sufficient.


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I wholeheartedly agree with the suggestions mentioned so far, however:

Could you please provide some insight as to what was bad/troublesome/problematic with the Orphek fixture? Simply for the sake of mystery and seemingly lack of user experience with them. Thanks.