dublo8
08/10/2010, 03:03 PM
So, there I was looking to upgrade my lighting from a 2x65 coralife pc ficture to a 4 bulb ho t5 fixture. Just like everybody else I was looking to save a little cash. I already had another 4 bulb t5 fixture from sunlight supply but I wanted to try something a little different and move one fixture to another tank. So, I decided to check out aquatraders despite what other have said and the rumors floating around. I also looked into fishneedit.com as I have heard good things with them. i ended up going with aquatraders just because of price and the fact that it included 4 night time led's.
The build quality is pretty descent I would give it a 7 out of 10. Immedietly after unwrapping the bubble wrap from the fixtue I noticed that the housing is the exact same housing as my coralife fixture only flat black. literally exactly the same including the flip up mounting legs on off switches etc. no difference except this unit doesn't have any fans installed in the fan slots....but guess what. I have an extra pair of fans from my coralife fixture. guess what I'm gonna do later. lol
Now for the inside. I removed the splash guard to get to the bulbs and remove the bubble wrap surrounding them. the endcaps are not hard mounted to the chassis they are only plug in ends held by wires. the bulbs themselves are held in by metal clips. The reflectors are descent but nothing amazing. they are highly reflective but I doubt that they are of any significant quality. However the bulbs were easy to remove/put back in and the endcaps seem to contact well. The wiring on the inside of the chassis (yes I already took it apart) are roughly 8-10 gauge wire. pretty descent if you ask me. i also saw no signs of any stray wires or anything that could cause a fire as some people have reported from years ago (which was on the metal halide fixture i remind you)
Now for what everybody wants to know. how well does it light the tank? Very well indeed. I could immedietly see the difference in light over my PC lamps. The bulb are there own branded bulbs. 2 odyssea 12k and 2 460 actinics. Also 4 blue led's for night viewing which are cool since I didn't have any before but when i have to feed my acans, sun corals etc I had to use a flashlight and the coral didn't care for it. they do like the led's though. I dont have a par meter to measure but my built in eyeball sensors say there is definetly a difference over my 130watts of pc bulbs. I however will be replacing the bulbs here shortly to 2 blue+, 1 fiji purple and 1 actinic white.
I wrote this review to try and dispell some of the myths out there about this lighting company. I dont know of alot of people that have these lights but the people who do say they are junk probably dont own them and only read somewhere about the problems they have. I am not saying this is the best light out there or anything of that nature. However, for the money its a winner in my book. Like the old saying goes. if you please ten people only one person will say so, if you displease ten people 9 people will say so.
Happy reefing:fish1:
The build quality is pretty descent I would give it a 7 out of 10. Immedietly after unwrapping the bubble wrap from the fixtue I noticed that the housing is the exact same housing as my coralife fixture only flat black. literally exactly the same including the flip up mounting legs on off switches etc. no difference except this unit doesn't have any fans installed in the fan slots....but guess what. I have an extra pair of fans from my coralife fixture. guess what I'm gonna do later. lol
Now for the inside. I removed the splash guard to get to the bulbs and remove the bubble wrap surrounding them. the endcaps are not hard mounted to the chassis they are only plug in ends held by wires. the bulbs themselves are held in by metal clips. The reflectors are descent but nothing amazing. they are highly reflective but I doubt that they are of any significant quality. However the bulbs were easy to remove/put back in and the endcaps seem to contact well. The wiring on the inside of the chassis (yes I already took it apart) are roughly 8-10 gauge wire. pretty descent if you ask me. i also saw no signs of any stray wires or anything that could cause a fire as some people have reported from years ago (which was on the metal halide fixture i remind you)
Now for what everybody wants to know. how well does it light the tank? Very well indeed. I could immedietly see the difference in light over my PC lamps. The bulb are there own branded bulbs. 2 odyssea 12k and 2 460 actinics. Also 4 blue led's for night viewing which are cool since I didn't have any before but when i have to feed my acans, sun corals etc I had to use a flashlight and the coral didn't care for it. they do like the led's though. I dont have a par meter to measure but my built in eyeball sensors say there is definetly a difference over my 130watts of pc bulbs. I however will be replacing the bulbs here shortly to 2 blue+, 1 fiji purple and 1 actinic white.
I wrote this review to try and dispell some of the myths out there about this lighting company. I dont know of alot of people that have these lights but the people who do say they are junk probably dont own them and only read somewhere about the problems they have. I am not saying this is the best light out there or anything of that nature. However, for the money its a winner in my book. Like the old saying goes. if you please ten people only one person will say so, if you displease ten people 9 people will say so.
Happy reefing:fish1: