Aqua Illumination was the first manufacturer to publicly reveal they were working with Luxim’s Plasma lighting for aquarium use. Now aquarists are going after the tic tac sized lights for an energy efficient alternative to Metal Halides.
Plasma lighting is an attractive technology to aquarists due to it’s high intensity, small package, and lack of legal [...]
Aqua Illumination was the first manufacturer to publicly reveal they were working with Luxim’s Plasma lighting for aquarium use. Now aquarists are going after the tic tac sized lights for an energy efficient alternative to Metal Halides.
Plasma lighting is an attractive technology to aquarists due to it’s high intensity, small package, and lack of legal implications–the LED aquarium market has stalled significantly since Orbitec began exercising its rights as a patent holder. Many of the 250w Luxim Plasma DIY kits are available through websites aimed at projector builders, and can be purchased for roughly $600 (depending on model) with a driver. Dipan, a GBD reader purchased one of these DIY Luxim Plasma units for his new aquarium build–a special thanks to him for sharing these photos.
Like the Aqua Illumination prototype, Dipan mounted the tiny lamp inside a Lumenarc reflector by cutting a hole in the center. This type of reflector design offers the benefit of tremendous spread, however, the geometry is not optimal for the plasma lamp–hopefully additional plasma-specific designs will become available sooner, rather than later. Check out the photo below and compare the size of the screws to the actual glass envelope of the plasma lamp.
At 12″ from the bulb Dipan took par readings (through air) of over 1,100 PAR. This is less than we expected, but most likely due to the reflector design. As an alternative to DIY (halide) reflector installs, Luxim currently manufactures pre-made flood and spotlight projector fixtures as well as focused fixtures that can be used for fiber optic lighting–an area that has yet to be explored by the aquarium world.
At the moment a major downside to using Plasma aquarium lighting is color temperature. The bulbs range from 5,000 to 6,1000 K at full power–which would be considered much too yellow for most reefer’s tastes. The lights can reach over 20,000K when dimmed, but at significantly reduced PAR levels. If Luxim can create a plasma lamp that exhibits a bluer light at full power there is little doubt in my mind that these will surpass LED and Metal Halide lighting in popularity.
Again thank you to Dipan and others experimenting with this technology–it is only helping to drive the hobby forward.
