Hot news from TMC about Aquabeam 1000HD

[NewbieNeil]

Hi folks, just had two lengthy and very productive conversations with those nice chaps at TMC about the Aquabeam 1000HDs that are due out later this summer (hopefully August). I shall now try to share what I have gleaned for your benefit. Sorry if it turns out quite lengthy.

But first, I feel that I should put it into context and emphasise that I am certainly no expert! I am new to reef-keeping and am setting up my first tank. I can't say how well LEDs work from experience, but I am convinced by lots of people on UR that they are the way to go, certainly for me. I am setting up my first tank (120x50x60) and will be starting to stock fish this weekend. Have decided to wait until August before getting corals so that I can get this new lighting system in place.

So far, the only reference I have been able to find on UR about the eagerly anticipated Aquabeam 1000HD was this one http://www.ultimatereef.net/forums/s...=aquabeam+1000 which takes you to a press release from PFK.

The Aquabeam 1000HD is going to be a tile about 20cm by 20cm which includes 10 LEDs. The marine white version (familiar to you if you've done your homework on the 500s) will include 7 white LEDs and 3 blue LEDs. These will be wired into two channels: 3B+1W on one channel and 5W on the other channel, so you can use the forthcoming programmable TMC dimmer/timer to control moonlight, dawn, daytime, dusk phases etc. Perhaps not as flexible as Sweevo's DIY array or others' who do their own programming, but good nonetheless.

For a tank like mine (4 foot by 2 foot) two tiles should be enough. Each tile will retail around £250, or approximately £350 with the dimmer/timer, so £500 to £700. That will actually work out cheaper than the 6 to 8 single strips that I would need for my tank (assuming you can get them for £160 per twin, works out at £640 plus £140 for two timers - see below).

TMC are also bringing out a timer (might be the same unit - not sure ) which can control a two of the Aquabeam 500s, which should be out within the next few weeks.

But here is the really interesting thing... TMC explained that they have been playing around recently with the lensing over the LEDs. The 500s have always been fitted with lenses that focus the beam, providing a narrower beam. They have recently upgraded the LEDs that they are putting in, and therefore are likely to dispense with the lenses. This should give a more diffuse spread of light, still with adequate penetration (at least for tanks like mine at 60 cm deep). It is likely that the new 1000HDs will not have lenses fitted and that the 500s will soon be produced and distributed without lenses too. However, these new ones will take a while to filter through to the front of shelves in your LFS. In due course, TMC seem to be marketing the 500s as supplementary products for the 1000HDs, perhaps for people with bigger tanks, to go in between two tiles?

So, for people who want to run these LEDs in a closed hood, like me with a Rena 350 which has about 10 cm of headroom, this lack of lensing should be a good thing, as there should be less risk of spots of brightness and pools of shadows. And, as always, the LEDs should be ok to run in a closed hood without getting too hot - BikeDoctorr is having problems like me in keeping the temp down during these summer months!

So, possible release date is early August, but I think we all need to be realistic and accept that they might be a bit longer. Not sure about the programmable timer for the HDs. I am pretty dead set now on waiting for the 1000HDs although I still have a bit more research to do. For example, 8 single strips of 500s would give me 40 LEDs in total, over a much more spread out area, whereas two HD tiles would only give me 20 LEDs, so I hope that they are twice as bright?! And if I do go for 500s, then I could choose the mix of whites and blues. I personally don't mind waiting, and will start stocking with fish but not corals until I have my lighting sorted.

They reminded me (sorry if this is teaching you lot to suck eggs) that changes to lighting over corals should be done very gradually, phasing out the old lighting and phasing in the new lighting, giving them a chance to adjust over several days or weeks.

And finally, just a reminder... I'm pretty new to this. Just wanted to share what I found out today. Quite exciting!

Neil

[Andythescientist]

So does that mean that at some point this year.. V2 of the 500s will be out, with the more powerful LEDs? I've been thinking of getting a blue set, purely for aesthetic reasons to act as an actinic for an hour or so either side of the halide, but will probably wait for this new batch now.

[redlion1968]

Neil, good stuff
making them less directional will certainly help me as i have to use egg crate to stop my fish jumping, in fact i have decided to ditch the aquarays for this reason. did they give you any idication of the power of the individual LED's, you mention they have been upgraded but taht could just be angle of dispertion, im wondering if the upgrade includes power (lux, lumems, par, watts or whatever)
the square shape is also good imho

[matt harvey]

a sponsor on here has prototypes above their coral tank, 3 units. look good but im still not convinced they are a replacement for halides

[NewbieNeil]

Originally Posted by redlion1968

Neil, good stuff
did they give you any idication of the power of the individual LED's, you mention they have been upgraded but taht could just be angle of dispertion, im wondering if the upgrade includes power (lux, lumems, par, watts or whatever)

I will give them another call and try to get some answers on this. Having done the maths on the number of LEDs, I am now wondering if 8 strips of 500s (=40 LEDs) would be better than two 1000HDs (20 LEDs). I will let you all know shortly.

Neil

[wayne in norway]

Pulling the lenses off is a risky move as you go from a somewhat intense, but concentrated beam to one that is for sure more dispersed but obviously a lot more diffuse as well. Horses for courses, but you had better be very sure you have the raw 'grunt' if you want to do this and grow photosynthetically demanding organisms underneath them because you won't be able to focus your way out of trouble. Look at the PAR readings in the big aquaray thread, and then imagine them dropped by the sq. root..
The new ones remind me a lot of the Elos e-lite - if you scout around on Dani's elos web ring (almost raw advertising) he does a straight comparism between an e-lite and a couple of MH fixtures - it's not complimentary to the e-lite. It's interesting and essential to not only look at a single PAR reading, but to compare 'contour maps' of the distribution to understand what you're getting. Comparing it to a 150W MH as a single value, single comparism is another annoying comparism form TMC that really means nothing from a practical point of view.
If it is like the e-lite it will make a heck of a nano-light tho'..... but for bigger tanks, who knows?

[Rental]

Be nice to know what watts they pull, would at least give an idea of what the light output should be on the new HDs (based on recent LED tech).

[ThomasSCH]

i think this LED light much more powerful than the new TMC, what do you think?
http://www.eco-lamps.com/pdf/KR92%20leaflet.pdf

[NewbieNeil]

Right, after another chat with the man at TMC, he says that at the moment, full technical details are not quite ready, as the product is still in testing. However, he said that the LEDs will be CREE ones at about 3W. Perhaps one of you experts can tell us if this is any good. He said they would be working at about 40 - 60 watts per lumen. Does that mean anything to anyone?! He also mentioned the laser cut acrylic lens on the HDs which increases the output by a factor of about 3.5, but I'm not quite sure how this actually works!

So apparently (and anecdotally!) the new HDs will produce more light with their 20 LEDs than 4 double strips of current 500s (which would have 40 LEDs).

The new 500s will feature the upgraded LEDs but with no lenses, producing a more diffuse light.

As it stands at the moment, the current 500s can be physically spread out across the top of a tank to give an even spread of light. Because the HDs are tile shaped (20 cm x 20 cm) they need to produce a more spread out light. It seems to be the plan that the HDs would be used as the main light source over nano tanks up to 60 cm x 60 cm, or with two HDs over a rectangular tank, like a 120 cm tank. The new 500s could then be used to supplement the HDs, to fill any gaps or to change the colour spectrum - the prototype reef white HD has only 3 blue LEDs and some people might prefer more. The prototype has 60 degree lenses on the three central LEDs and 80 degree lenses on the seven outside lamps.

So tempting to rush, but patience is a virtue!

Hope this info is useful.

Neil

p.s. As soon as I can get my hands on some tech details, I will of course share them with you all.

[magman]

how much?