AquaIllumination Blade Announced

[ScottD]

Also to me it looks like the refugium light has the best spectrum for coral growth

I was kinda curious about that as well. My only thought though is by the time you decrease the red channels to get it visually nice are you taking out the extra spectrum?

 

[rtparty]

Yes let’s compare worst case scenario T5 with best case scenario led.

You can grab a couple LED bars from Amazon for $40 each too but you aren’t comparing like for like at that point

There’s always a way to do things cheaper. Not all of us are in a race to the bottom

 

[rtparty]

I was kinda curious about that as well. My only thought though is by the time you decrease the red channels to get it visually nice are you taking out the extra spectrum?

It also only comes in 12” IIRC

 

[Andreas' Reef]

Your doing the Lord's work my friend, blessings on you and your household.

A lot of people say that the lights on the bio cube are too white. I added 2 blue reefbars. Here is before and after:


lights on full blast without reefbars:

here is full blast with the reefbars

 

[ScottD]

It also only comes in 12” IIRC

Yep good point

 

[piranhaman00]

You can grab a couple LED bars from Amazon for $40 each too but you aren’t comparing like for like at that point

There’s always a way to do things cheaper. Not all of us are in a race to the bottom

Good luck with them

 

[ScottD]

Yes let’s compare worst case scenario T5 with best case scenario led.

What would you consider a better case scenario with T5s?

 

[nereefpat]

What would you consider a better case scenario with T5s?

Generally, I've found that bigger tanks pencil out worse with LEDs, especially 'puck' style LEDs like Primes. To light a 6x2x2 180 with AI Primes, for example, would take enough of them to be silly. A 5 foot 6-8 bulb T5 would light a 180 very well.

To compare a 5-6' tank needing a 5 foot T5 fixture with 6 bulbs (longest Blade is 57" and longest T5 is about the same) with 3 of these Blades:

6 bulb Sunpower:
New Fixture - 672$
6 New 80 watt bulbs - 150$. 4 sets = 600$
480 Watts
Total with 4 sets of bulbs over 5 years, assuming changing bulbs every 15 months = 1272$ over 5 years

3 57" Blades:
Grow x 2 + Glow x 1 = 1670$
360 Watts
Total obviously = 1670$

Electric and electric rates complicate things. For me, I run my lights for 9 hours a day at about 11 cents per KW*Hr. So for me to light a 125 or 180, assuming saving 120 watts with the Blades over the T5s:
(120 Watts / 1000 Watts per KW) x 9 hours x $0.11 = 11.88 cents per day = 43.36$ per year = 217$ over 5 years.

Final total including new fixtures and new bulbs for T5s including electrical savings of LEDs:
T5 = $1489
3 Blades = $1670

That's actually closer than it usually is when comparing T5s to Name Brand LED fixtures on medium/large tanks. So, financially that may make sense for some reefers. It certainly makes more sense than buying 12 Primes or 6 Radions or whatever it takes to light a 125/180.

 

[Midrats]

The price is the least interesting aspect of these new lights to talk about.

 

[ScottD]

Generally, I've found that bigger tanks pencil out worse with LEDs, especially 'puck' style LEDs like Primes. To light a 6x2x2 180 with AI Primes, for example, would take enough of them to be silly. A 5 foot 6-8 bulb T5 would light a 180 very well.

To compare a 5-6' tank needing a 5 foot T5 fixture with 6 bulbs (longest Blade is 57" and longest T5 is about the same) with 3 of these Blades:

6 bulb Sunpower:
New Fixture - 672$
6 New 80 watt bulbs - 150$. 4 sets = 600$
480 Watts
Total with 4 sets of bulbs over 5 years, assuming changing bulbs every 15 months = 1272$ over 5 years

3 57" Blades:
Grow x 2 + Glow x 1 = 1670$
360 Watts
Total obviously = 1670$

Electric and electric rates complicate things. For me, I run my lights for 9 hours a day at about 11 cents per KW*Hr. So for me to light a 125 or 180, assuming saving 120 watts with the Blades over the T5s:
(120 Watts / 1000 Watts per KW) x 9 hours x $0.11 = 11.88 cents per day = 43.36$ per year = 217$ over 5 years.

Final total including new fixtures and new bulbs for T5s including electrical savings of LEDs:
T5 = $1489
3 Blades = $1670

That's actually closer than it usually is when comparing T5s to Name Brand LED fixtures on medium/large tanks. So, financially that may make sense for some reefers. It certainly makes more sense than buying 12 Primes or 6 Radions or whatever it takes to light a 125/180.

I definitely agree that the blades could be a more economical choice for a light source than the traditional puck style lights, like you highlighted. Especially on bigger tanks. They’re also appealing to me as well as I’ve been struggling with what to do on my tank as its foot print is 36”x36” and everything is designed for 24”.

For my electrical costs the leds would be even closer as I’m double the rate you used to calculate the electrical costs. The other thing that clouds the electrical cost is the fact that the leds are dimmable so probably aren’t going to use the full wattage.

They do have a 66” blade.

 

[piranhaman00]

And that’s using the sunpower, I am lighting my in process 6x4 with 2 4ft 8 bulb T5, paid 120$ each ,

 

[Tamberav]

I wish BML was still in the aquarium light business. They had awesome light bars and that was 7 or 8 years ago. They even had an option to pick your leds for the light strip. I had 3 over my 75 and they would grow anything and mimicked my previous T5 setup.

Ya I was thinking how the hobby started out strong with bars... Build My LED probably the best one... there was also exoexotic back then. The hobby came full circle again although probably not as nice as BML.

8 bulb Sunpower is $560. 8 bulbs is $200. So $760 and will use 192w with zero control except for on/off. Annual bulb replacement is $1000 over 5 years at current pricing. You’ll also need to factor in ballast replacement. Say only one goes bad in 5 years, that’s another $50 and hours of your time.

6 bulb Sunpower is $500 plus $150 in bulbs. So $650 and will use 144w. Annual bulb replacement is $750 over 5 years at current pricing.

3 Blades (2 grow and 1 glow) is $650. Uses 120w. No bulb replacement and no ballast replacements. Maybe a power supply goes bad. No idea the cost but let’s say $50 like a ballast. 10 minute swap.

5 year cost to run each:

8 bulb - $1810 plus electric
6 bulb - $1450 plus electric
Blades - $700 plus electric

Yep, when you actually compare like for like the Blades are over 50% cheaper.

Well that is assuming that the blades will hold up, aka no bad leds, no bad lenses. With an ATI, the home user can replace all parts so technically it should last until they don't make t5 bulbs anymore unless you use it as a surf board.

You can also technically get used ATI's and save a ton upfront since that fixture has been out a long time.

Also very few people keep their led's 5 years. They will probably have a blade 2.0 in a few years and people generally upgrade so you can kiss any savings goodbye. Now some are still running older LED's but that isn't the norm.

The comparison of money for led vs t5 is always a meh... it is like "under these perfect conditions" type scenario.

Buy LED's if you like LED's but don't buy them thinking it is a great way to save money.

If a person goal was to save money, they would be talking about things like reefi and quanta bars and so on... you know... things BRS pretends don't exist and never makes it in their comparison videos because they do not sell them $$$$

 

[nereefpat]

And that’s using the sunpower, I am lighting my in process 6x4 with 2 4ft 8 bulb T5, paid 120$ each ,

It's probably more fair to compare a "nice" T5 fixture to this new LED fixture. You could compare Viperspectras to to Dimmable Sunpower, but that wouldn't make much sense either.

I run a 12 year old Tek T5 fixture. At this point, it costs me nothing to run in terms of depreciation. There's almost no chance that any LED fixture would last half that long. I do have to spend about 120 bucks every 18 months on bulbs.

 

[Atherial]

So if someone already had the current led marine lights and wanted to improve par, could they add one of these blades in the middle and have enough light to grow sps?

 

[nereefpat]

I definitely agree that the blades could be a more economical choice for a light source than the traditional puck style lights, like you highlighted. Especially on bigger tanks. They’re also appealing to me as well as I’ve been struggling with what to do on my tank as its foot print is 36”x36” and everything is designed for 24”.

Yeah, 3 x 3 is a little tough with LEDs, since you're typically having to have at least 2 rows of traditional LED fixtures.

They do have a 66” blade.

I missed that. That would be a good option to cover the length of a 6 foot tank.

 

[Ryebreadiest]

Cost is always a bit of a rabbit hole, you can make arguments for and against and there are so many options.

Im still disappointed the grow is only blues and whites. Treasure corals did a video and 2x grow over his large mixed reef were giving 300 par at SPS height and 200 on the sand bed (aka perfect for a mixed reef) but needing to add a glow as a third light to get better color is a bummer.

 

[WallyTime7]

You would think they would have the mounting options ready to go before the product..
HERE'S THE NEW LINE-UP BUT PLEASE WAIT ON HANGING THEM.

 

[Hooz]

Im still disappointed the grow is only blues and whites. Treasure corals did a video and 2x grow over his large mixed reef were giving 300 par at SPS height and 200 on the sand bed (aka perfect for a mixed reef) but needing to add a glow as a third light to get better color is a bummer.

That really is my only complaint, but it's a big one. I like every single other thing about the Blade.

 

[Ryebreadiest]

You would think they would have the mounting options ready to go before the product..
HERE'S THE NEW LINE-UP BUT PLEASE WAIT ON HANGING THEM.

Ok so I’m it the only one who couldn’t find the longer legs on the website

 

[SpyC]

Every video I have seen of these new lights shows them sagging after a few feet. Makes me nervous they'll actually hold together and not fall i to the tank.