Solaris Lighting Systems/'Acrylic,Lion,Viper,et.al.'

J

jeffalight

Guest
Hi everyone,
I am also looking at upgrading my lighting. I currently have compact fluorescents. I know the price is a little high but I am seriously looking at the Solaris. The biggest benefit from my point of view is the lack of heat. Having to add a chiller to my system is just one more piece of equipment that has to be set up and running properly. I know the chiller cools the water but it adds heat to the room where it is located. There is also more noise, etc.
Some people on this board have stated that the light quality falls way short of the MHs. I believe these differences are measured by instruments and observed. Right?
So finally my questions.
Do tanks that have the Solaris system basically look as bright/good as ones with MH?
Can you keep all of the same corals, clams, etc with the Solaris as you can with the MH?
Can you really get away without needing to add a chiller?
Thanks,
Jeff
 
stimpy4242

stimpy4242

Member
First, the tests people are talking about are not the ones measured by instruments, its just their oppinions. The tests done my instruments say that they light provides I think 92% equivalency to 250w MH lights. Which means for people who normally run 150w you are way better already, and only 8% short of 250w...what does this mean...well technically it is less than 250w MHs. But for that 8% you also have NO heat, you have a symbiotic environment based on a 28 day lunar cycle with random cloud coverage throughout the days. You have a unit which does not require you to replace the LEDS on a annual or biannual basis but their life is around 7 years. I think 250w MH bulbs are around what 100-200? a piece? Plus the actinics you have to replace....costs add up....it is 40% more efficient with energy consumption...more cost savings...so while you are putting a lot of money up front it is saved over running the light through time. Go to pfolighting.com and check out the solaris light section and check out their tanks pics...
 
rabid frog

rabid frog

Active Member
250 watt mh's cost about 70.00 a bulb depending on spectrum, brand, and make. Hqi/mogul.
What about replacing the Led's? With that system, it is my understanding that you cannot replace one light. But you have to replace a whole strip? I have not seen them personally, just going off what I have read. If that is the case, the bare minimum you could replace is 1 mogul that hosues x amount of leds. I know the Led's that come with the moon light set-ups burn out regulary and those are just two lights. I understand that is may be a quality control thing, or a type of led but you are bound to have 1 or 2 leds burn out at a time and not the mogul. So what does it cost to replace a mogul.
I am by no means bashing your lighting system. If you have the cash for it, great. It is a good idea. But imo over hyped and the prices will fall once the newness wears off. Some one said that the saem hype followed t5 lighting systems.
The tests that people have done are with light meters. The leds lose al ot of spectrum at furtfher distances, and water seems to have a big effect on that. I will do more research on the subject so I am not just pulling stuff out my @$$.
 
stimpy4242

stimpy4242

Member
Yeah, if you visit this link:
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2006/8/review2
You can read a very well done study about the light itself. I think this pretty much sums it up and it was performed by an independent aquarist. I was quoting two lights because I am using a 48" system. Also you did not mention the actinics that have to be replaced as well. You can send in the strip with the burnt out LED and they will replace just that one light for you. But LEDs have about a 7year life span before they hit some percentage of output, maybe their halflife. That is an average since the white and blue are different i think blue is 10 and white is 6 so that average considering how they are run is about 7 years...plus i still think you are seeing a 40% reduction in energy consumption and no need to run a chiller and the extra energy there...i don't think the price is bad given all of that, just bad up front. Plus as someone pointed out the led light is very narrow beam so it really reduces algae build up on the walls of the tank...
 
buffett

buffett

Member
just wondering if you had any pics of your tank with this lighting, i would probably never be able to purchase one of these units, but i would very much like to see anybodys tanks with this lighting
 
rabid frog

rabid frog

Active Member
I guess there are ups and downs to every light purchase. I myself run 2-250 mh's on my 75 w/o any heat issues once i got my heaters tuned correctly. I wonder if the narrow beam of light will affect the corals on the outer edges? I guess it could also be a benefit for low light corals like sun polyps. I would be very interested in keeping up to date wtih you and see how some of the higher light demanding corals do in your system, once it gets established.
Hope your light works out for you. Keep us posted and get some pictures posted.
 
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