Needless to say, I've been shopping around for a new fixture, although not seriously. The 30" length of my tank makes it nearly impossible to find a fixture with mounting legs. Sunpods no longer appear to be in production. A hanging fixture would be quite the hassle in a rental apartment, and I think it wouldn't hide the equipment on the rear of the tank as well.
So I started looking at LED fixtures. People have been having success with them on the forums. There are some interesting options available now. I'm looking at two in particular:
Aqua Illumination's modular system ($1170 for two modules and controller at Reef Geek).
Eco-Lamps' KR92-30 fixture. ($1510 direct from Eco-Lamps).
The Eco-Lamps fixture was compared to a 250 watt halide, a six bulb T5 unit and a legacy LED fixture by Advanced Aquarist. The light output is impressive, rivaled only by the low energy use. It is pretty easy to do some napkin math around bulb and electricity costs of a metal halide lamp to "justify" the purchase of an LED unit. Someone should offer a tax break around this purchase.
I'm looking around for data on the Aqua Illumination fixture. The design and controller features are certainly more attactive than the Eco-Lamps model, and I like how it can be expanded with additional modules if I ever move to a larger tank. But it all comes down to light output.
I have until April to figure this out. ;)
Labels: Equipment, Link, Reef Aquarium
