The Flare LED striplight from StarkLED is an interesting conceptual light bar which aims to allow users to mix and match to their heart’s content. The StarkLED Flare is a basic striplight with a deep heatsink and ten 3W LEDs per strip for total power of 25 watts. The StarkLED Flare comes in a single standard size and five different color combinations.
StarkLED makes their 16 inch Flare LED available in a “White” with all 6,000K LEDs, a “Cool White” with all 14,000K diodes, a “Marine White” with six 14K whites and four 480nm blue LEDs, a “Marine Blue” with five each of 460 and 480nm blues LEDs and then a specialty color for freshwater (Arowanas Mostly) called “RoseGold” with half 660-680nm red LEDs and half 14K white chips. All of the StarkLED Flares have an MSRP of $79 while the RoseGold specialty strip is $89.
If those prices for the StarkLED seem like a little cheap it’s because accessories and power supplies are sold separately. That’s great in a way because then you only end up paying for the items you really need. The basic 30 power supply is only $19 to run one strip and a 60w PS for double strips is just $29. Other optional duds include an inline dimmer ($15) a remote dimmer ($99) and brackets ($29) to tie it all together.
The brackets is where the StarkLED is really at since the Flares are really made to be assembled together end to end or perpendicularly, allowing you to build up your light with whatever colors you want. There already exists a lot of LED striplilghts on the aquarium market, many of which encourage users to mix and match strips to create your desired spectrum but the Flares are unique in actually linking together, physically.
The StarkLED are thin enough to be used in conjunction with a variety of other lighting systems, including existing LED spotlights and legacy aquarium equipment. Additionally, in the second gallery below you can see that the StarkLED’s warmer color spectrum also plays nice with freshwater subjects.
