ATI Sirius LED takes a novel approach to balancing LED color and intensity

ATI has a long and storied history of thinking differently when it comes to their marine aquarium products and the ATI Sirius LED reinforces that legacy very well. Built from multicolor LED clusters that straddle the line between a strip light and a cluster array, the LED Powermodules powering the ATI Sirius are also differentiated by the use of custom made reflectors where others mostly use primary optics or secondary lenses to maximize light emission.

When first examining the ATI Sirius X2 with its two LED strip-clusters, it’s hard not to notice the huge empty space in between them which surely should leave a gap of illumination directly below it. This is where the reflector-backed LED strip-clusters work their magic, overlapping in the middle of the aquarium just so, creating a surprisingly even and homogenous light field in both color and intensity.

Where most LED fixtures of this sort would employ a single cluster of LED colors and encourage their optics to shine outwards, the ATI Sirius LED places its LED clusters on the edge of the fixture and encourages them to shine inwards. This LED arrangement creates an impressively great light spread and coverage, not unlike the T5 fixtures that ATI has much experience in building and designing.

Another notable difference that makes the ATI Sirius LED stand out is that not only are the colors controllable for at least five channels, each clusters of the Sirius LED light are also independently controlled as well. Since ATI is making the Sirius LED in multiple lengths with 2, 4, 6, 8 and ten clusters you can get a fully integrated control over brightness and color from one end of the tank to the other.

The only area of the ATI Sirius LED that leaves something to be desired is in the control and programming of the overall unit which for now is only Windows compatible, and could use some polishing in the graphical user interface department. While some ATI products can fall on the pricey side considering its German construction, other products are actually quite reasonably priced and we look forward to seeing what this new product will sell for when retail pricing is announced.

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Jake Adams

Jake Adams has been an avid marine aquarist since the mid 90s and has worked in the retail side of the marine aquarium trade for more than ten years. He has a bachelor’s degree in Marine Science and has been the managing editor of ReefBuilders.com since 2008. Jake is interested in every facet of the marine aquarium hobby from the concepts to the technology, rare fish to exotic corals, and his interests are well documented through a very prolific career of speaking to reef clubs and marine aquarium events, and writing articles for aquarium publications across the globe. His primary interest is in corals which Jake pursues in the aquarium hobby as well as diving the coral reefs of the world.