solaris lighting I want your opinion

[beaupierce]

So,
Solaris is a new lighting company with LED technology. What's your opinion??? Cost effectiveness????? How do corals do under them?? All your knowledge please...

[pdfb55]

I'm about to order an H4. I haven't owned one yet but what i've seen they look awesome. PFO says the H4= 400 MH and the G series= 250 watt MH but from what i've read its really like the H is 250 and the G is VHO lighting.

[beaupierce]

How much are they??? I have a show 125 what size/model??

[Mattmcf]

my lfs has one on display... they look awesome! expensive, but if you look at the long run they are actually preferable. They have something like a 10 yr burn time on the leds. you gotta figure with halides you need to replace every year. Also the solaris uses no where near the same electricity as the halides. To make it even sweeter, the unit comes with a very sophisticated timer built into them. Oh, did i mention the money you will save by not needing a chiller because they put off nearly no heat. The only thing is, are you willing to shell out the $$$ up front? they are a bit pricey.

[seastar12]

From what I've heard they're Ok. Never personally had one, though.

[Chibils]

Like MH vs. T5, they have their pros and cons. Don't know too much about them, since they're something like $2500 apiece and LED is a relatively new technology to aquariums (unfortunately; from what I've read, Solaris's technology is outdated, but no one else is willing to take the plunge into such a "new" tech). I'd wait a few years personally before getting LEDs, because right now you're paying Solaris's R&D costs and hopefully someone else will give them more competition in the future.

@Mattmcf: I don't remember what thread it was in, but it was a debate with some of the rc lighting gurus. LEDs are just about as efficient as other lights, meaning they convert ~90% of the energy to heat, but heatsinks can be attached very easily because LEDs are incredibly compact.


That's all what I've picked up here on rc, by no means a comprehensive scientific study (though I'm sure Grim/Sanjay/etc. probably know more about it).

[skozzy1]

led's do not produce heat. Possibly the power supply, but not the lamps.

[Musho3210]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10823915#post10823915 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by skozzy1
led's do not produce heat. Possibly the power supply, but not the lamps.

my LED flashlight gets pretty darn hot.... Like where the bulb is....

[skozzy1]

The theory says it should not be the diode. I know it sure LOOKS hot. I personally have not had an led that was over 1.5 watts, but maybe a setup that produces an equivilent of 400w MH will produce some heat. Again, I would tend to suspect the powersupply as the source of any heat involved.
I too am very intrigued by this technology but want to see some real world results. Pretty cool stuff man.

[hahnmeister]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10823915#post10823915 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by skozzy1
led's do not produce heat. Possibly the power supply, but not the lamps.

That is false. LED's produce just as much, if not more heat than any other bulb on the market. Their advantage lies in that they can have heatsinks attached directly to the backside of the 'bulb' or diode, and on the higher power units, they MUST have the heatsinks or they would melt themselves. This enables the system to conduct the heat away faster than regular glass bulbs which need air convection to cool.

http://www.personal.psu.edu/sbj4/aquarium/other-pics/power-conversion.gif

FWIW, the PFO I4 series will be shipping in late October. The stats loop the most promising. The reluctance by many people to accept them as a performance lighting will fade as time goes on and the LED's improve... and improve they will very fast.

http://www.solarisled.com/

Now I just wish the spectrum wasnt so '20,000K'. I wish they had interchangable LED's so I could replace the rather blue 'superwhites' for some more green and red LED's... or some 3000Ks. I just dont dig the 'monochrome blue' look anymore. I like my blue... but balanced with some daylight seems to make the corals just color up better.

[allengy]

There is another company making LED aquarium lights called Aquaillumination or something like that. I did see that thier leds are in replacable banks. About the same price as Solaris.

[skeeter-doc]

LED's seem pretty rediculous in price to me, and just as anything, will eventually come way down in price. I do not have one, but I have seen them, and their prices, and I will not be nuying them anytime soon, that's for sure!

[m2434]

I previously had a 250W MH retrofit kit I bought for $150. XM bulbs online are maybe $65 and I replaced them once a year. Over 10 years, thats $800 in costs. If there is really any savings in heat and electricity, is it going to save you $1700 over 10 years (Assuming the thing even last 10 years, with cheaply produced modern-day electronics, I'd be suprised if it lasted 5...)

[Chibils]

Right now, people buying Solaris are paying their R&D, as well as the markup you get for buying the only "big" dealer in reef LEDs.

[useskaforevil]

sometimes that's what happens, if you buy a projector for a home theater you pay 100-200 for a light bulb. paying for R&D is unavoidable if you want soemthign nice sometimes.

[Johnsteph10]

I'd like to see someone run the same lighting for 10 years.

LED lighting are a nice idea but their LEDs are already dated, they produce heat, and they are ridiculously priced currently.

[reef_doug]

Competetion drives product value (quality vs. price), eventually the consumer will get a better quality product for similar pricing or more affordability.

I am personally going to wait at least 1-2 yrs and until at least 3 competitors are in the arena.

[DrBegalke]

i like the solaris system.

they aren't really expensive when you compare it to a MH system that can do the same sunrise/sunset/cloud cover/etc dimming effects, like a Sfiligoi acls system.

[barjam]

What was the R&D they had to do? They use off the shef luxeons don't they? The programming was neat but one embeded developer could put that together in a month or two tops.

I looked into getting some luxeons to try to fake a shimmer effect on my t5 tank, then five minutes later I realized that was a stupid idea, lol.

[DrBegalke]

You might also consider the Galileo:
http://www.pfolighting.com/Solaris-Buy-Now.aspx

or these:

http://www.aquaillumination.com

[scarletknight06]

I dont get how the Galileo is different, and I couldnt find much info on their site. Anyone know?

Also, do we objectively know which is better between the I4 and the aqualluminations unit in terms of light output/watt ratio?

[Fishfreak218]

total bling equipment.
IMO you can get the same colors from your coral with a MUCH cheaper light. It all depends on how much money is in your budget.
This thing saving you money over time because you dont have to change the bulbs is a total gimek. How many people on here have tanks that last over 10 years?


Not much
$0.02

[hahnmeister]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10826782#post10826782 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by barjam
What was the R&D they had to do? They use off the shef luxeons don't they? The programming was neat but one embeded developer could put that together in a month or two tops.

I looked into getting some luxeons to try to fake a shimmer effect on my t5 tank, then five minutes later I realized that was a stupid idea, lol.

No, not any more. PFO has caught the eye of high output LED makers. The advantages of LED's are hard to 'quantify' still to the average consumer, esp the high output units. PFO is getting some special attention from these makers now, sending them test samples that arent even on the market, and having their engineers working together to come up with the most ideal systems. I think that the makers are seeing potential in breaking into other markets through the built in advertising that their use over reef aquariums will provide. Blue is still the most efficient spectrum for a LED to produce, so they are complimenting marketing strategies. They are getting close. All I can say is that those who are looking into 20,000K halides, you might want to look into a Solaris as long as the light spread is enough for you. Softy and LPS tanks... but the higher light SPS are still best with T5 or halide... not just for output, but for the broader spectrum as well. All blue and little else makes deepwater jacq a dull coral.

[beaupierce]

awesome stuff guys.... well it seems I should wait before making the plunge and getting Led's Right now I think I am going to stay with my Mh"S and Pc's
Cheers

[DrBegalke]

Judging from their ad in FAMA, the Galileo uses the same LEDs, but has less per foot of them and does not have the same computerized sunrise/sunset/etc. controller. I would hope that it still has independent wiring for blue vs. daylight LEDs but not really sure.

I have been researching the AI system, and I think that will be my next purchase. I like the look, how they are modular (important since LED tech is rapidly evoling, Solaris is already on their 3rd variant). Plus, I don't like how the Solaris has a those buttons/display smack in the middle of the fixture. Every FT pic I see with them, my eye goes right to that... The AI system has a controller that you plug in to the fixture, or can even be connected to a PC for programming.

[hahnmeister]

Yeah, when PFO was developing the Solaris, they had a USB connection on the unit as the original interface. I was like... 'wait, you mean I have to try to connect my computer in a seperate room via cable to this thing to control it?'... and not only that, but 'you know USB has a power supply built in, so once you get salt-creep in there, there is a very good chance you can short out the system?'

I suggested wifi myself. A controller could be linked to a wifi chip/card and controlled with a wireless router, or any computer with wifi. You could monitor and set up complex lighting combos with some software on a laptop.

Yeah, at this point, I dont think its so much that LED's cant compete output-wise... they are breaking that barrier. The price is the hard thing to justify still, as well as the market-life... within 6 months the unit is 'outdated'.

[m2434]

Well plasma TV's are ~1/10 the cost they where 7yrs ago, eventually they'll be afordable.

[Steve 926]

http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1166829

Solaris owner comments & settings

Steve 926

:smokin: