2012 has been a really good year for the reef and marine aquarium hobby. We’ve seen all manner of exciting reef fish, new species of soft and stony corals, and the newly released products were so abundant that this year we saw enough nano LED reef aquarium lights that we can put together the best into their own list. What is particularly interesting about the top nano LED lights of the year is that they feature a lot more entries from very large manufacturers so no matter where you live, you’re likely to be able to find a nano LED that’s right for your reefing needs.
AquaLighter – The AquaLighter line of small LED lights have a few distinctions in the trade. We spotted these on our last day at InterZoo in Germany and what first appeared like some generic plastic LED lights, of which there were plenty in Nuremberg, upon closer look we found the Aqualighter to be worthy of consideration.
You’ll find no upgradeability or many features in the AquaLighter nano LED as the fully sealed light is glued shut but what it leaves behind in features in makes up for by being very attractive and producing a very pleasing and appropriately bright light. We’ve been testing the marine version of the light pictured above and our corals still love it.
Eheim Aquastyle LED – We can’t quite put our finger on it but somehow the Eheim Aquastyle LED delivers a whole lot more light than you would expect from seven watts of power. The original Eheim AquaStyle was only a white light but since the release of the LED light with blue-white-blue diodes, our AquaStyle aquarium has experienced great coloration and growth, all from a miniscule little luminaire which produce locally intense light with a color balance that many nano reefers will enjoy.
Fluval Nano LED – Hagen has been making great strides in their aquatics business and nowhere is that more evident than with their budding Fluval Sea line including a lot of different LEDs. Included within that is the extremely thoughtful Fluval Sea Nano LED which has diodes in a myriad of colors, a fully sealed LED board and a super swanky swing-arm that allows for very aesthetic placement and orientation.
Sicce Minu – The Sicce Minu LED is the kind of chef-d’oeuvre that we would expect from the upscaled Italian aquarium pump manufacturer. If the large Sicce LEDs are somewhat limited to the high rollers who want a delicious LED light ozzing with style, silence and efficicency, then the Sicce Minu is a concentration of all of these features. It may be small but with twenty watts of power distributed across a legion of diodes, the Sicce Minu pumps out a whole lot more light than its diminutive form would have you believe.
Giesemann Teszla LED – The relatively large Teszla LED barely squeaks into the Nano LED light category and we include it here because it’s the smalles of the Teszla and Futura LED fixtures from Giesemann. Although it is capable of lighting up a typical mini reef aquarium up to about 40-60 gallons on its own, we foresee the Teszla being used more on extreme displays of between twenty and thirty gallons in volume. Of all the Nano aquarium LEDs included in this list, the Teszla is the most feature rich. With high power Cree LEDs, built-in timer functions and compatibility with some aquarium controllers, if performance is what you want from a smaller LED light, then the Teszla should be at the your list.
