Thanks to one of our readers Chris White, we were shown this great local fish store in the Phoenix area, Reef Culture, that uses LED lighting on all its displays and holding tanks. Not only are the displays stunning, but the store is very clean, modern and inviting plus the use of Ecoxotic LEDs throughout is just icing on the cake.
We’ve seen our fair share of bulky metal halide lights, ancient T8 and T12 fixtures and other mismatched lighting options in stores over the years and think this setup is a real welcome to lighting that had better function than form. This is definitely a store, on looks alone, inviting you to just wander through the aisles and find beauty both inside and outside the tank.
The use of the small Stunner strips over the fish holding tanks provides some great lighting in a small form to draw your eye into the displays and really get a chance to appreciate the subtle and not-so-subtle colorations in the fish. We’ve seen firsthand how LEDs can really bring out color in corals, fish and invertebrates and these displays no doubt bring out the best in all the store’s livestock. We also appreciate the Ecoxotic Cannon LED pendants in use over the larger display tanks providing a clean architectural looks as well as really adding pop into the tanks. Although the use of LED lights really add to the whole appeal to the showroom side of the store, Reef Culture also incorporated LEDs behind the scenes in the quarantine tanks and even a great shot into a mangrove refugium that can stand alone as a stellar display.
We think this store is a great example of the points Scott was making in his post “Rethinking the Local Fish Store.” Kudos to the team at Ecoxotic for sharing these great photos and for the staff and owners of Reef Culture — you have a great looking shop. Finally, thanks to Chris for sharing his jewel of an LFS and hopefully doesn’t mind that his secret place is out!
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