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I’d say I’m an ancient rather than old user of Zoo-Med products; reptile
and aquarium. My involvement with Zoo-Med and owner/manager Gary Bagnall
dates back to the late 1970s and his initial herptile procuring
businesses in Southern California; so it seems very natural for me to
pen a review of their newest aquarium LED light fixture. I will admit to
a degree of bias from the get go; having used Zoo-Meds T5 lamps and a
fixture on my four foot long Eheim systems.
First off, the packaging. I REALLY like how
solid the support inside and outside is; no marks or marring of the
fixture and accessories.
Comes complete! I added a cheapy (under four
dollars) indoor timer to turn both the night time and daylight modules
on; but you might want to get two timers or a dual one to alternate re
the day time and moonlight LEDs. Packaging includes a handy “aircraft
cable” suspension kit, should you elect to hang your fixture above your
system; otherwise the adjustable pull-out side arms will fit any near
four foot (or whatever size fixture you use) tank.
Simple, elegant design: From the fixture
itself (thin, flat black finish), light cover (tough plastic, easy
clean), adjustable arms to fit a myriad of frames, this LED is a winner.
The fixture is aluminum; engineered for passive heat dissipation; hence
no fan noise or burn out potential.
Interchangeable LED modules: The Zoo-Med HO
LED fixture is adjustable for your particular type system; with modules
that you can easily change out to customize your lighting:
AquaSun® LED HO - Light Module: with warm
daylight and blue moonlight units. Comes as four white 6000K LEDs (one
watt each), and two blue 465nm LEDs (500 milliwatts each.
AquaSun® LED
HO - Plant Module: designed to stimulate plant chlorophyll function.
Comes as four white 6000K LEDs (one watt each), and two red LEDs (620 to
630 nm, 500 milliwatts each.
The white lights produce a “shimmer effect”, like natural sunlight; and
the blues are nice to mix or have on for their own at night for “lunar
effect”. And they’re bright! The LED HO fixtures yield about one and a
half times the photonic strength as T5 HO fixtures of similar wattage.
Relatively inexpensive: Compared with high end
LED fixtures, that admittedly do have fancy controllers (that I don’t
use), the Zoo-Med light fixtures are a bargain. They are manufactured
with durable diodes (20,000 hour rated), reflectors and components that
will function well for years.
Have only begun the real bio-assays of using this light on my
systems… but so far so good… color and growth; aesthetically and
functionally a good product. One last note: as the instructions call
for, make sure and plug this and all other electrical aquarium gear into
a GFCI protected outlet. For more information see their site: zoomed.com
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