Plasma LEP - why wasn't it a big success ?

[tkeracer619]

Radiums are originally for landscaping lights to illuminate large buildings in pretty colors.

Used to be front page, now its bottom of the list.

Bulbs for niche markets are NOT effected by the government mandates.

Guys our lighting is NOT made by the small companies, they are made by big companies. As the big companies shut down manufacturing lines the small company has less time to make runs on the machinery. So they have to make more bulbs at a time and stockpile them. They make them in batches. Same bulbs different phosphors.

I am a manufacturing engineer, I understand how this works, I do it for a living. Industry is how we get our bulbs, they just make runs of specialty bulbs for us. If that plant shuts down there won't be anyone to make it. That said... they aren't going anywhere for a long time, they will however become more expensive and the variety of bulbs will naturally shrink as time goes on.

[jedimasterben]

Originally Posted by tkeracer619

Radiums are originally for landscaping lights to illuminate large buildings in pretty colors.

Used to be front page, now its bottom of the list.

Bulbs for niche markets are NOT effected by the government mandates.

Guys our lighting is NOT made by the small companies, they are made by big companies. As the big companies shut down manufacturing lines the small company has less time to make runs on the machinery. So they have to make more bulbs at a time and stockpile them. They make them in batches. Same bulbs different phosphors.

I am a manufacturing engineer, I understand how this works, I do it for a living. Industry is how we get our bulbs, they just make runs of specialty bulbs for us. If that plant shuts down there won't be anyone to make it. That said... they aren't going anywhere for a long time, they will however become more expensive and the variety of bulbs will naturally shrink as time goes on.

[jestronix]

Wow time to steer the ship back, I'd still love to see and hear about some plasma driven tanks. I'm pretty impressed by this halide / plasma tank http://youtu.be/KcUfApvnseM makes for an interesting mix.

[jedimasterben]

Originally Posted by jestronix

Wow time to steer the ship back, I'd still love to see and hear about some plasma driven tanks. I'm pretty impressed by this halide / plasma tank http://youtu.be/KcUfApvnseM makes for an interesting mix.

IMHO it makes for a very bad mix. The color temperature difference there looks atrocious. Regardless of whether the corals are healthy or not, it just looks bad.

[sirreal63]

Originally Posted by jedimasterben

IMHO it makes for a very bad mix. The color temperature difference there looks atrocious. Regardless of whether the corals are healthy or not, it just looks bad.

This is the tank, you will note is was a TOTM here. Look at two years after that video was shot and say it looks bad, in your opinion. When you do, please show your tank that looks better.

http://reefkeeping.com/joomla/index....k-of-the-month

This would be your opportunity to backpedal.

[jedimasterben]

Originally Posted by sirreal63

This is the tank, you will note is was a TOTM here. Look at two years after that video was shot and say it looks bad, in your opinion. When you do, please show your tank that looks better.

http://reefkeeping.com/joomla/index....k-of-the-month

This would be your opportunity to backpedal.

Did you not read my post? I said regardless of the corals, the lighting is atrocious. I don't care who the tank belongs to or how many times it has been TOTM, the drastic change in color temperature is not appealing in any way. IMHO.

Also notice that in the TOTM profile photos, the lighting is uniform and it looks much more appealing.

[sirreal63]

Power changes also change the look with plasma.

[jestronix]

I still like it, eye of the beholder I guess. Look at the CRI when plasma its on a photo shoot vs a video too. So who's going to be the first to get hold of the new 500w plasma,s dim them down and run a nice 10k or 14k tank with them. I hate windex style but that's just me, I'm starting to think it's kelvin ruining plasmas party for reef tanks. Imagine they bought out a 20k adjustable kelvin plasma tomorrow, that would really stir the pot.

[jestronix]

I'll be getting my mittens on a 300 gavita LEP plasma next week, time to finally test these out . I am getting the supplemental bulb which cuts out a lot of the red spectrum. Mind you, it will still have the full spectrum uv to infra.

Plan is to run this over a 36x36x20 cube tank to maximise the coverage. I plan on running the unit as my midday sun lights, over a four hour period. Led will run the other 8 hour periods.

I didn't find anyone running the 41.01 emitter over sps so this will be an interesting test. I believe the high red content of the 41.02 emitter may have been cause some retardation in sps grown and causing brown out. After looking at a number of natural sunlit tanks, there are a number of owners getting astounding colours and growth.

Check out 02manyfishes outdoor frag tank, full sun ! And look at the colours he's getting! https://youtu.be/TeNV72FL0T8

Anyway will start a new thread when it's all up and running to document the journey.

It may be a terrible failure but I always wanted to give Plasma a go who knows maybe I'll get a great result out of the 41.01 emitter and supplemental leds etc.

[oreo57]

Sounds like fun..

But as to why thay aren't more popular.. gee go figure..

[jestronix]

Originally Posted by oreo57

Sounds like fun..

But as to why thay aren't more popular.. gee go figure..

hahah yeh they aint for looks thats for sure ive seen other plasma lights for studios where they can separate the ballast. one hell of a shielded cable !

how industrial is that sh$%^ , no pretty boy minimalist lighting for my tank.

[jestronix]

Plasma at last so I mounted up the new tonight over my tiny 36x18x18 tank I usually run a 250w XM 10k par monster over this little tank for 3 hours a day. I'm thinking this plasma is punching out maybe almost double so I'll have to watch the introduction time.

Well the first thing I've noticed is I can see under all my rocks and coral branches lol so much light coming in that nothing's hidden anymore. Sort of happens when there's double the light.

The second thing is heat, very little heat heading into the tank. I can pop my hand under it with just mild warm feeling and well the cross member on the tank doesn't even get warm. The light itself puts off a fair amount of ambient heat. Long as it's not going into the tank I'm happy.

The third thing is reds are red, yellows are yellow, green is green the colour is well just like outside, there's something totally different in how clear the colours are. I can't quite put my finger in it. I'll probably flank the light with T5 actinic or blue led as this light is by nature on 5700k Ish. I'm actually really liking the colour I'm less interested in super blue tanks these days.

The fourth thing is polyp extension, everything and I mean everything in my tank extended out big time. The only time I've seen polyp extension the same was under sunlight and the 400w XM halide with T5. However it seemed to respond really quick to the light.

Early days yet, just a kid with a new toy for now time will tell how well plasma does, but for me after years of reefing, getting hold of a true full spectrum light is exciting stuff. Knowing it's not bullshit with dips or flickering is pretty neat.

But you know I can see how these lights had a hard time catching on, plasma came out when LED was at peak craze. The lights are BIG as fu#}# and are god dam ugly and heavy! 15KG! plus expensive. and maybe only 10 to 20% of reefers like the old style halide 6k look which can be fixed by some T5 or led. The other is issue is no fiddling .. I can't open an app or ramp up and down etc.

I plan on setting up a new tank build soon so I will document the tanks progress with plasma as the year rolls on. Looking at a 36x36x20 shallow cube.

Here's a couple of quick vids of the corals extending to the plasma sun turn the vol down, terrible pump noise


https://youtu.be/XYNVN3wfQ18

https://youtu.be/dVpcjxOBq2E

https://youtu.be/veW9piLtxS0

[Joe Kelley]

Very cool! I remember when they were coming out I'm glad someone if trying. PAR readings? Watts?

Joe

[jestronix]

300w or so at the wall. but par numbers would be slightly more then a 400w halide.

[jestronix]

Two weeks in and seeing some nice results. Currently just introducing the peak midday for 2 hours of plasma. I've noticed a few things, my Goni are bigger and have returned their deeper colours similar to when I first got them, on the green Goni the tips are super flouro again. polyp extension is great. One of my sps has turned to its original blue from when I first got it, it's slowly getting bluer too, general colour increase across my sps, but one or two have decided it's going to brown up, so it's a mix. But I'm noticing my wild coral are colouring up and any frags are either doing nothing or browning up. My theory is the frag colours that are shared around in the community are great under artificial lighting but when they get full spectrum tend to loose that striking colour, where as the Wild colonies are loving full spectrum.

So far very early in the test and I have to remain unbiased somehow and not try and prove some lighting breakthrough I still run led for 12 hours a day, full blue when the plasma is on. So this isn't anywhere near a true plasma test.

I even wondered if fish health is linked to full spectrum too ? Do they like their vitamin D ? Lol

The light is insanely powerful over this little tank, the light is about 8 inches off the water in an 18 inch tank. I think two hours may be causing light inhibition at some point. On the new tank I'll run an 3ft cube area at 20" depth so should be able to push a 4-5 hour peak.

Early days

[reefwiser]

Sounds great was the price of the units

[jestronix]

Originally Posted by reefwiser

Sounds great was the price of the units

I jumped on an opportunity to pick one up for $600 factory sealed off ebay. its the older model 300w version, should do me a decade or two.

[dz6t]

Here is an article for fast facts of plasma. Also please read the long comments below.
http://luxreview.com/article/2016/08...lasma-lighting


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[dz6t]

LEP light is technically a metal halide. Instead of using electrodes, LEP use electric field.
Technically it is a metal halide with higher efficiency.

https://gogusco.com/led-lighting-vs-...ion-vs-plasma/


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[jestronix]

only thing im chasing is full spectrum and less windex. Most of those write ups are all focused on commercial lighting and efficiency vs led.

The only popular study on LEP vs LED has some really disappointing data collection, sample mix ups, range of corals and sample time.

Without conclusive data out there around its true results in aquariums I'm interested in its real world results. im hoping for a real boost to all varieties. im currently enjoying my naivety around plasma. hopefully it turns out to have real results.

[gcarroll]

Originally Posted by jestronix

only thing im chasing is full spectrum and less windex. Most of those write ups are all focused on commercial lighting and efficiency vs led.

The only popular study on LEP vs LED has some really disappointing data collection, sample mix ups, range of corals and sample time.

Without conclusive data out there around its true results in aquariums I'm interested in its real world results. im hoping for a real boost to all varieties. im currently enjoying my naivety around plasma. hopefully it turns out to have real results.

I can see why LEP never made it. It seems it's more comparable to a 400w Iwasaki 6500k but for the 21st century. I'd really kike to see some PAR numbers for the Plasma. Over the years I have found that just because something looks bright, doesn't mean it is bright.

[dz6t]

LEP is a type of metal halide. The difference between traditional metal halide vs LEP is the way they “drive” the bulb.
Theoretically LEP is as “full “ spectrum as metal halide is.
LEP does save you some electricity but that is pretty much it.


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[jestronix]

Originally Posted by dz6t

LEP is a type of metal halide. The difference between traditional metal halide vs LEP is the way they “drive” the bulb.
Theoretically LEP is as “full “ spectrum as metal halide is.
LEP does save you some electricity but that is pretty much it.






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I don't think it's a simple as that. From what I can see LEP has a very wide and high quality Spectrum with very few peaks and troughs, from UV to infrared. Also far less direct heat is generated. I don't think commercial growers were that easily fooled when spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on their installations . I on the other hand could be fooled pretty easy

[dz6t]

LEP does not take off in horticulture either. So majority of commercial growers have already spoken. Thanks




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[jestronix]

Originally Posted by dz6t

LEP does not take off in horticulture either. So majority of commercial growers have already spoken. Thanks




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expense was probably a key factor for it not taking off, far cheaper to punch out more lower quality crops with cheaper lights. Profit is the driver here, not quality.

a number of universities launched studies into their unique full spectrum properties, not sure why they bothered

A number of commercial growers also dropped big $$$ on plasma

You might want to get in touch with this guy too and tell him he could have just used halides https://youtu.be/mnheeB2kz3c oh and these guys fell for the old halide swap too https://youtu.be/-EHN-eXGpMk

Jabs aside I think it's general principles of design are "like" halide, but it's giving out a better quality of light spectrum wise.

Anyway irrelevant of our differing views I'm going to ignorantly and blissfully put this light and my corals through a bit of testing.