ECORAY 60 LED Lighting

[nkicks1]

Been doing a lot of research on various LED reef solutions. Ecoxotic pops up everywhere i look, and im starting to come across a unit called Ecoray 60 and 60D. Anyone own this unit? Know anything about it?
Its a fraction of the price of most of the top sellers.
Ive been running an Odessy (SP) 3 x 250w MH for the past 4 years with no issues and regular buld replacement. Made the purchase because of the price difference verse its high end competitors. Due for another 300 bucks in bulds, so im going to just make the switch to LED!

 

[2quills]

What watt are the LED's?

 

[2quills]

It's a 64 bulb fixture that is 64 watts = 1 watt per bulb. That's not very powerful. I believe that the LED arrays that most people are using for their reef tanks are at least 3 watt bulbs drivin at 750mA -1000mA.

 

[nkicks1]

"# Brighter than Metal Halide, 500+ PAR in center at 24"
PAR Value at center is approximately double that of 250W Metal Halide HQI. However, the light spread is narrower. For best results, we recommend one Ecoray 60 for approximately 13" x 18" area. Do not be confused with many low power LED units in the market claiming large coverage area for similar wattage, these units generally produce 40-50 PAR at 24" (on tenth the PAR of Ecoray 60). These low power LED units are more suitable as T-5 replacements."
30 White High Power 1 Watt LED, color temperature 5500 K - 6500 K
30 Blue Actinic High Power 1 Watt LED, Wave Length 450-470 nm

 

[nkicks1]

There is another company offering one for the same price that is a bit different. ($329)
LED quantity: 119pcs x 1 Watt LED (71 White + 48 Blue)
LED configuration: BridgeLux 1watt LED
Color: White and Blue mixed, White: 14000K(14000-20000k),
Blue: 460nm
Dimension: 15.75” x 8.38” x 2.80” Or 400X213X71 mm
2" depth - 1537 Par
12" depth - 423 Par
24" depth - 182 Par
Does not seem to be a name brand for them on any the sites i see them on...
Titled "Aquarium Coral Reef Tank High Power LED Grow Light 120W"

 

[2quills]

They sound pretty good. I think those par readings were done with the fixture about 3.5" from the waters surface. I'd be currious to see what they are with the light mounted a little higher off the tank. The performance information on them is a little vague and not very complete...however I did notice they are selling an ecoray 180W fixture with 2 watt bulbs for about $600.
Only drawbacks I can see other than they are new and don't really have a proven track record yet with many hobbiests are...
They don't seem dimable...(that i've seen)
They are made in China...(so if the LED's last much more than 10,000 hours I'd be suprised).
No ability to replace a bulb if one or more burn out.
May have to buy multiple fixtures depending on size of tank...(not too big a deal).
I was just curious about them because they are new. I plan on building my own array so that I can customize it for my tank and for the same price of these fixures I can build one that's much more powerful and adjustable. The price is seems fairly reasonable on them though for a plug and play...but it's one of those things that I wonder if you get what you pay for...ya know?
Keep us posted if you do get them. I'll be interested to see how they turn out for ya.

 

[nkicks1]

I have no real issue with "china made" with them still stating 50k hours +. Heck, half the products in the world are shipped out of china. I just don' want junk...
Ecoxotic and AquaIllumination have a huge monopoly on the demand of these types of units. Was hoping to see a decrease in price by now from both. These to companies are nearly half the price, and probably going to get at least my business for a test unit.
Anyone have any other product they recommend?

 

[2quills]

I agree...it's about time they start bringing down the prices.
Make sure you keep updates...

 

[reefraff]

I have tested PAR over a 1 watt fixture and don't believe there is no way in heaven or hell they are getting those numbers with 1 watt LED's. You want a fixture using 3 watt LED's. Those numbers are pretty close to one I checked with 3 watters and that unit was using 40 degree optics which makes a huge difference. None of the prebuilt stuff I've seen out of China are using optics. I will say the 1 watt fixture I tested was made in China and while I couldn't open it up to look it seemed to be well made.

 

[jonas]

Replaced two 250W MH HQI with 4 ecoray 60D. Been very happy. Much more intense and better colors (and save 260 watts of electricity). The PAR number (500+ at 24" from middle of the light) is real deal. I didn't believe it at first but I tested myself with Apogee. At $339 each, you owe it yourself to test it.

 

[reefraff]

So says the person who's only 2 posts on Saltwater Fish is to tout this system.

 

[igotmaddfish]

I'd like to make a comment about the 60D second generations. Usually don't complain when a product fails. But when it happens 3 times in the exact same way I feel the need to speak up. Purchased 2 60D Ecoray second generations. Fixture looks very nice out of the box. Color was nice, lighting was not the brightest at 64 watts but got the job done especially on a small or shallow tank. You would want to stick with the recommended spacing (4 units needed on a 6 foot tank) since there is virtually no spread. One of the two units I purchased failed immediately with half of the white lights going out. Returned the box to the vendor who replaced the unit and assured me that the units are long lived and that it was a fluke. Fast forward to about a year and a half later. Two weeks ago half of the white lights in one of the units goes out. Last night I noticed a flicker in the other unit and this morning half of the white lights are out in that fixture. The box claims 50,000 hours which is obviously not true now that I have witnessed 3 units exhibiting the same fail. That or I have really bad luck. I think 10,000 hours is a much better estimate of the life of the units. The website says they will offer a discount on the new generation units if you trade your old broken unit in so they must have known this to be a problem and making an attempt to make it right. The newer units are upgraded with better spread and are going for about 30% more than the older generation so I am looking at another $400 to replace the 2 fixtures that already cost me $558. And whose to say the new fixures arent going to burn out after another year? Maybe you just get what you pay for.