Captive Aquatics: An Aquarium and Ecology Blog

AquaRay's AquaBeam 500 LED Reef Aquarium Light Strip Review

American Aquarium Products (a US distributor of TMC Aquarium Products) sent over the AquaBeam 500, a wide angle aquarium LED light strip for review - and I'm impressed.  The latest generation of Cree LEDs (the XR-E and XR-G emitters) and are now viable (and excellent) LED options for reef aquarium lighting and nature aquarium lighting!

On to the review!

New from Nano Customs: Nano T5 + LED Retro Kit

The nano aquarium lighting geniuses over at Nanocustoms, Chris and Clive, have cooked up another awesome retrofit for the popular Biocube 29 and Nanocube 28:  a slick T-5 and LED retro with built in heatsink/parabolic reflectors that can be cooled with the stock hood! 

EconLux SunStrip LED Aquarium Lights

EconoLux continues their multitude of LED lighting fixtures with this nifty triplex LED strip that can be chained together, similar to the EcoXotic stunner strips but more advanced. SunStrips look very useful for nano reef aquariums, small planted aquariums, or for adding a "shimmering" effect.  The strips come in color temperatures of 6500k or 15000k, operate via a 24 volt/100 watt power supply, and can be chained together in series between 4 and 18 units in a row, depending on the size of the strips, which range from 30cm to 1.2 meters! 

Although the jury is still out regarding how effective LED lighting is at keeping corals (multiple hobbyists have reported anecdotal information of their corals not thriving/living solely under LED lighting, and Anthony Calfo's preliminary report suggest 75% of coral species cannot be kept under LED lighting alone) supplemental LED lighting for nano aquariums and nature aquariums is often desirable and useful.  Even if the technology may not be there yet, LEDs are still very promising and I'm very excited about the future of LED lighting!

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EconLux Aquarium LED Lighting Video

A video showing EconoLux's new aquaruim LED spotlights - the two side LED lights are each 60 watts, and halfway through the video a single 50w blue spotlight is turned on.  We'll be showcasing several different EconoLux LED products in the coming days!

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JBJ NanoGlo LED Refugium Light Hands-On

JBJ Lighting sent several products our way over Christmas break, and I'm almost caught up reviewing them all (see our TrueTemp review and our 28 NanoCube hands-on)!  So, on to yet another JBJ Product: the Nano GLO LED refugium light!

The NanoGLO is a magnetically mounted LED light designed for JBJ's 28 gallon Nanocube, but is very versatile and can be used on many all-in-one nano aquariums.  The unit consists of four 6500k (the perfect wavelength for macro growth) 1w LED lights in nifty parabolic reflectors.  The light produced is very intense, and penetrates well through about 12" of water.  JBJ advertises the LEDs emitting 70 lumens each, but anyone who's read my article about lighting marine invertebrates knows that lumens are a completely pointless measurement in the hobby. 

Package contents and size when compared to a regular business card

EcoXotic LED Aquarium Lighting - First Impression

After showcasing EcoXotic's awesome Panorama LED Lighting Video back in October, our new EcoXotic rep was kind and generous enough to send over a goody box full of nifty LED aquarium lighting treats!  Although a full review is forthcoming, let me just say that these are some bright, colorful, easy-to-use, and most importantly, high quality LED lights.

 

Nanocube 28 LED Hands-On

Unfortunately, JBJ's new 28 gallon LED-lit nanocube that was sent to me for review arrived with a broken back pane, but I snapped a few quick pics before I had to hand it back to UPS, and thought I'd share!  Full review to be posted when I get a replacement in one piece! 

Closeup of the LED lighting system

Ecoxotic LED Aquarium Lights Now Shipping

An Ecoxotic rep emailed me a few days ago to inform me that their new Panorama series LED fixtures are now shipping as of yesterday!  Looks like we'll be getting a review unit, so stay tuned for a hands-on!

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New 'Exotic' LED Lighting

This promo video of EcoXotic's new LED light fixture left me drooling.  Let's hope it delivers as well as their video production does:

If at all possible, we'll be bringing you a review as soon as (or before) the light ships.  Meanwhile, this is a video you don't want to miss!

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Preview: AquaBeam 1000HD LED Lighting

 

 

The superior field of LED lighting has a new player: the AquaBeam 1000!  Touting ten intense CREE LED's @ 3 watts each in it's ~8" square waterproof case, the AquaBeam 1000 is rumored to rival a 150w halide.  The LED's range from 14k to 50k in color temperature, so colors should really pop underneath this nifty, modular fixture.