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Redesigned Aqua Illumination LED Pops Up at Reefapalooza

This past weekend the newly redesigned Aqua Illumination LED fixture made an appearance at Reefapalooza (RAP). We’ve shared with you renderings and more recently the news that this fixture will be further modified to accept the new Cree XP-G LED. But this weekend was the first time it has been seen in person–no one is [...]

This past weekend the newly redesigned Aqua Illumination LED fixture made an appearance at Reefapalooza (RAP). We’ve shared with you renderings and more recently the news that this fixture will be further modified to accept the new Cree XP-G LED. But this weekend was the first time it has been seen in person–no one is more happy about this than creator and owner Chris Clough.

Aqua-Illumination-LED-White

We really like the white glow the new fixture has; it contrasts against the colder looking aluminum and gives is a true luminaire look. For more information on what this new fixture offers see our previous articles: Aqua Illumination in White, Aqua Illumination to use Cree XP-G. In summary, the three main takeaways from the new design is:

  • Better looks with white / aluminum finish
  • 10% lower pricing
  • Cree XP-G for 30% more output

Enjoy the photos which were snapped by friend and contributor Ian Borchert–our eyes and ears at the event.

White-Aqua-Illumination

24 LEDs per module (16 white XP-G, 8 Royal Blue XP-E) for roughly 80w of electric consumption.

Aqua-Illumination-Cree

Related Posts

  1. Redesigned Aqua Illumination LED Shipping Soon
  2. Aqua Illumination to use new Cree XP-G for ~30% more light!
  3. Aqua Illumination Modular LED Light Gets Refined and Redesigned
  4. Unboxing the New Aqua Illumination LED Module
  5. Reefapalooza 2009 in Photos

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  • rroselavy
    The hanging system in the pic looks so much more svelte than the preceding AI solution. Bravo.
  • Bob Andrews
    Thanks Jon
  • Jon 'hahnmeister'
    @Bob
    http://www.wireefsociety.com/viewtopic.php?f=13...

    The above link contains alot of info on efficiency and some lumen/watt efficiency ratings. Otherwise, I would suggest looking at this: Cree Product Characterization Tool
    http://pct.cree.com/

    I halide bulb that I feel would convert closely from the lumen scale to the PPFD (photometric to radiometric) would be the Ushio 10,000/14,000K bulbs. 250 watt versions of those bulbs come in at 10,500-11,000 lm. The 400's come in at 18,500. Looking at just XP-G's alone, in CW, assuming R5 binned LED's (I havent seen S2's available), it would take at least 55 of the XP-G's @ 181 watts to match the output of the 400watter (103.7 l/w... 18,750lm). With 7 LED's per PCB, thats pretty much 8 of them going at just under $50 each just for the LED's. The optics can manipulate the light better than a halide reflector, possibly allowing you to match the output of a 400 watter with about 20-25% less LED's IF a narrower spread is okay. In cases where such a focused output doesnt help (like over a shallower/wider tank) then this doesnt provide any advantage over a halide+reflector.

    What hinders the efficiency of a system like this AI is that while there are 16 XP-G's (for 5454 lm), the XP-E blue LED's are no where near as efficient, nor as strong in output. Luckily, the XP-G's have a strong blue spike in their output, but the the XP-E's could still be seen as an efficiency dump for the whole system. If there were just XP-G's (24 of them), you would have 103.7 l/w. Now, I know that the lumen scale doesnt favor blue, but lets say the output of the XP-E's was in green to weigh their output more like in the radiometric scale (or we could say that we would take a lumen scale rating where all colors are weighted equal, bending the rules, I know), then the effiency drops to something like 80 lumens/watt at best.
  • Bob Andrews
    I have two 400W MH and some PC's over my 90g mixed reef tank. Could these be used to replace them? What is their capacity/brightness/par??? vs a MH?
    Thanks,
    Bob
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