At first glance the KEY LED K3 LED aquarium light looks like any other Chinese box LED light but looking at some of the specs and features, its good to see the K3 LED taking a step away from the massive array of white and blue 1W LEDs. Included in this version is the ability to dim the lights plus add an internal SPS “Power Bar” of LEDs to the mix.
Based in Hong King, Fish Street Store is marketing the K3 and Key LED lights promoting mixing up the colors of the LEDs in the fixture to get a better color mix for corals. Gone are the days of a plethora of 1W LEDs, the K3 has 3W Cree XPE chipsets in the mix in either a white version with a color temperature of around 12,000K at full power or a blue version hitting around 14,000K. If you aren’t happy with the color mix coming out the factory, you can order some DIY kits with two Cree XPE chips per board in a white-white, white-blue or blue-blue combination.
Trying to figure out the exact nature of what the SPS Power Bar is from the website is a bit of a chore being lost in translation but SPS Power Bar features appear to have a special color mix made in mind for SPS or LPS corals. The fixtures feature a remote controller with a full dawn-to-dusk controls with red, green, blue and purple LEDs in the central “Power Bar” running down the center of the light.
The K3 also sports a fan with temperature control, starting automatically once the fixture reaches 45° C and run silently. The K3s also use a pretty decent aluminum heat sink and heat sink fins on top of the fixture to dissipate the heat.
Overall the fixture looks interesting despite being a plain, ugly Chinese box design with some interesting controls. A nano version of the light will start out at $299.00 USD with a base 24 in. model running $419 and one with the dimmability for $519 (add another $130 for the SPS Power Bar). The larger 36 in. model runs $469 and $589 respectively with the Power Bar running an extra $150. There is also a 48 in. version running $629 or $699 with the dimmability but it appears not to be available with the SPS bar.
