Tricolor PAR38 LED spotlight introduced by Ecoxotic

By on Dec 05, 2011

New Ecoxotic Tricolor PAR38 LED Aquarium Light

New Ecoxotic Tricolor PAR38 LED Aquarium Light - courtesy Ecoxotic

No, it’s not another RBG LED; it’s a new Tricolor PAR38 LED spotlight aquarium bulb featuring four 6500K White LEDs, two 660 nm Red LEDs, and six 453 nm Blue LEDs consuming a total of only 18 watts of power (3 watts less than Ecoxotic’s original PAR 38 bulbs).  This new tricolor PAR38 features a slightly wider angle of spread (60 degrees) compared to the other PAR 38s that Ecoxotic offers (which are 40 degrees).  The new Tricolor PAR38s fit the same E26/E27 screw in sockets found in traditional household fixtures.

Ecoxotic has positioned these bulbs as a way to bring out the deeper reds and purples (and blues) – they’re more for color enhancement vs. stimulating coral or plant growth.  We’re eager to see how these compare side-by-side with the prior PAR38s from Ecoxotic, and wonder if they may make a nice compliment or supplement to other lighting systems. We’re excited, because new LED combination offers more opportunities for adventurous aquarists to tinker and find the perfect lighting mix for their needs. Check out the video posted by Ecoxotic to see the new Tricolor Par 38s in action.

YouTube Preview Image
Posted in Equipment, Reef News |
Search More:  
   
  • Anonymous

    I think I will pass on using it over a display, I would worry about the reds harming corals and making algae grow, but it would probably make a great refugium/macro algae light.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Mathieu-Gagné/659241296 Mathieu Gagné

    I would not worry about it too much, I didn’t see any difference when I installed a radion over my tank (water is pretty clean). Red leds won’t hurt your corals as long as  you have much more blue over it as it is the ratio who is relevant. The problem I see with that light is that it must be too much pink. They could have put a green led to balance the white for the eye.

  • Anonymous

    Dear lord…

  • Anonymous

    Dear lord…

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=622465486 Ryan Thompson

    Yes, my son…

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=622465486 Ryan Thompson

    The red LEDs aren’t going to cause an issue. I have been RGB over my tank for at least 6 weeks now and using some magenta LEDs. Algae has not increased and my corals are doing just fine.

    Think of the Fiji Purple type T5s. They have more red than a couple LEDs and cause no problems for people. Good water quality is much more important than lighting when it comes to algal growth.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=622465486 Ryan Thompson

    The red LEDs aren’t going to cause an issue. I have been RGB over my tank for at least 6 weeks now and using some magenta LEDs. Algae has not increased and my corals are doing just fine.

    Think of the Fiji Purple type T5s. They have more red than a couple LEDs and cause no problems for people. Good water quality is much more important than lighting when it comes to algal growth.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=622465486 Ryan Thompson

    I agree with this. I would have run 8 blue, 3 white and 1 red. The red would be right in the middle with no optic on it. This would allow the red to spread out better.

  • Anonymous

    I think the problem is the spectrum, not the color. 660nm red is the perfect spectrum to grow algae. I have 12 OSRAM 660nm LEDs growing algae on my scrubber and it grows algae faster than any other light I have tried. 

    This article talks about how too much red in the photosynthetic areas can be bad for corals. If the LEDs were 610-620nm or 680-690nm it wouldn’t have nearly the potential to be harmful and still provide a red color to the light if that is your preference. Just my opinion on using 660nm red LEDs over a tank that has corals. 
    http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2004/6/aafeature

  • Anonymous

    lulz all around

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_3PQR2S2EAZUDJKVYUCKLCWJ37Q Micheal

    Looks like one of those old pink mercury(??) bulbs you put over a freshwater tank… and not in a good way.
     

  • Anonymous

    Do 3D glasses work on this video or ????

  • Anonymous

    Holy crap! Someone backing up their claims with science, not worthless personal anecdotal experiences?! I think you deserve a “like”.

  • dvanacker

    Is this a “what was I thinking” moment.

    And this is reefbuilder news because…..

  • http://twitter.com/AwItsLinnikins Linny

    IMO, looks extremely tacky.

  • http://twitter.com/AwItsLinnikins Linny

    IMO, looks extremely tacky.

  • Inter Jamm

    Less red and and more blue.

  • Anonymous

    IMO only 1-2 red led’s 7 blue led’s and 3-4 white led’s would be nicer. The squirrelfish/soldierfish look great under the red led’s though.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=505655828 Benjamin Alldridge

    Why not just use a purple emitter? There’s a few kicking around now to choose from…

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Matthew-Tibbits/8640355 Matthew Tibbits

    That same article shows that the sun has a very high percentage of light within the red spectrum.  Obviously the sun can grow coral and doesn’t inhibit coral growth.  Yes, red can grow algae, but it can also help grow coral.  Chlorophyll A peaks right around 660.  Fiji Purple and purple plus bulbs have plenty of 660 nm red.  I wouldn’t use only 660 or even more than 1 per 10 LEDs or so (I think the ecoxotic light might have one 660 LED too many but that’s a matter of preference), but in a small quantity the deep red/hyper red LEDs can bring colors out in LED arrays that they’re otherwise lacking. 

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Matthew-Tibbits/8640355 Matthew Tibbits

    You mean a true violet emitter?   I haven’t seen an actual purple emitter. That would require an LED with peaks in the blue and red range and that’s really hard to do because of how you make LEDs with multiple peaks (phosophor over the emitter to bump up the wavelength of a blue LED to the rest of the spectrum which is why any white LED has a peak in the blue range and a hump over the rest of the spectrum). 

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_XMBVIE5PJXMAMZJSENESFNWBKA Joe

    In the ocean, corals come from depths where red light is highly filtered out so the majority of the red light from the sun does not reach the corals. In a 2′ deep glass box and putting specific 660nm red LEDs the red light will reach the corals, and can possibly lead to problems with corals. I agree in small quantities Red is very useful, but there is a fine line between useful and harmful when talking about the red spectrum and corals and for me it is not a line I wish to tip toe around. I use warm white LEDs which have plenty of red spectrum in it without blasting specfic 660nm light on my corals.

    From the Article:
    ” Early research papers reported results of coral transplantation experiments, where corals were moved to deeper, or shallower, depths and survival rates were observed (Dustan, 1982). Dustan’s experiments demonstrated that coral colonies transplanted from 30 to 15 m suffered from reduced growth, algal bleaching and high mortality rates. Although spectral quality was considered in Dustan’s paper, no opinions were made about chromatic adaptation, and a conclusion states: “…deep algae are damaged by the high light intensities that occur in the shallows.” (Dustan does show data that demonstrates a general decrease of blue and red wavelengths with increasing depth. And, as a point of reference, Dustan observed high survival rates of corals transplanted from 10 to 30 m.) Two years after the publication of Dustan’s paper, Kinzie et al. (1984) reported results of zooxanthellae chromatic adaptation experiments. Replicate experiments by Kinzie and Hunter (1987) corrected some errors advanced in the earlier work of 1984. Interestingly, the 1987 paper advanced a theory that the amount of incident red light is the parameter that regulates zooxanthellae cell density and, hence, pigment content. This hypothesis (confirmed by results of their experiments) states that corals subjected to increasing amounts of red light will reduce the number of zooxanthellae cells until totally bleached. These scientists used natural sunlight and filters to transmit a broad red bandwidth (~600 to 800 nm). (Note: Coral bleaching has also been seen at a narrower red bandwidth produced by an artificial light source – a light-emitting diode (LED) – Riddle, in press). “

  • clive

    The magenta LEDs in the Ecoxotic Stunner and Panorama Pro modules are made exactly this way. That’s not purple/violet though. “Purple” could be made with less phosphor.

    420-430nm violet LEDs are as close as you will get to a true purple, but their use is strictly limited to adding more PAR. Because the wavelength is so far down the range of what we can see, the color effect is minimal at best.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Matthew-Tibbits/8640355 Matthew Tibbits

    I think we’re really on the same side here.  I saw the part about water filtering out red, but a lot of corals grow in that first two meters of water too.  I was really trying to say that I wouldn’t worry about one or two Deed Red LEDs causing photoinhibition.  
    Also, bring corals up from 100 ft to ~50 feet is a huge difference in light intensity.  You wouldn’t drop a deep water coral straight from the ocean into position 12″ from a 250 halide without risking bleaching and mortality.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Matthew-Tibbits/8640355 Matthew Tibbits

    OK. I was wondering about the magenta LEDs, but I’ve never seen a spectrograph of them.  Must be a pretty nice phosphor because I thought that one major difference between crappy whites and quality whites is the phosphor (besides the emitter itself being much more efficient).

  • http://twitter.com/iiiDream Corey Larson

    This looks EXACTLY like the LEDwholsalers PAR38, except black, when is ecoxotic gonna stop stealing ideas from other places…

  • http://twitter.com/iiiDream Corey Larson

    This looks EXACTLY like the LEDwholsalers PAR38, except black, when is ecoxotic gonna stop stealing ideas from other places…

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_XMBVIE5PJXMAMZJSENESFNWBKA Joe

    They look completely different to me. PAR38 just means the style of bulb, not what is inside the bulb. I see no reds in the LEDwholesalers bulb. You can also buy PAR38′s from HomeDepot, RapidLED, or many other places and they have completely different bulbs inside.

    LEDWholesalers
    http://www.ledwholesalers.com/store/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=702
    6x 16000K White + 6x 450 Blue (450 nm)

    RapidLED
    http://www.rapidled.com/servlet/the-141/7-LED-PAR38-Bulb/Detail
    3 Royal Blue, 1 Blue, 2 Cool White and 1 Warm White CREE XR-E LEDs

  • clive

    Keep in mind that white LEDs actually have a blend of three phosphors (yellow, green, and red) to get the desired result. Magenta LEDs just skip the yellow and green phosphors.

    You are right though. The difference between a good and bad white LED is down to the phosphors, but it may not be just the quality of the phosphor itself. The blend has a lot to do with it. Also, different phosphors have different excitation and emission ranges, so different effects can be had that way too. Even the granular size of the phosphor powder and the binding agent play a role in the end result.

    Needless to say, there is a ton that goes into making a white LED.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Matthew-Tibbits/8640355 Matthew Tibbits

    And I learned something.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=505655828 Benjamin Alldridge

    No, I mean purple. True purple is what you refer to, violet is simply a shorter wavelength light than blue (hence ultraviolet being a shorter wavelength again than violet). There’s plenty of true violets getting around aside from anything else.

    There’s a few purples out there now. Yes, it’s harder to make them, but it’s not impossible.