Fluval’s been on a tear introducing new and original product over the last couple of years and their new Solar Stinger LEDs could have been the most overlooked product line at MACNA. The Fluval Stinger One and Stinger Two are actually made by Econlux of Germany and these two striplight lines might be the best effort at marrying the advanced features that reefers want, in a form factor that is easy to use and affordable for a broader market.
The Fluval Stinger One and Stinger Two are essentially the same LED striplight fixture with three channels of color control, a wifi connection option, an app for color programming, and a very thoughtful selection of LED colors. What drew us most to the Stinger One and Stinger Two LED striplights is their incredible color rendition that comes from having a full “actinic” blue color channel with 400, 420, 440 and 460nm diodes, high output Cree XP white (which may be dated, but still very efficient), and a third controllable RGB LED channel.
Where Fluval’s Stinger LEDs excel is at giving users the basics of what they really need with a white and multicolor blue channel, and the fine color adjustments being offered up by the RGB diodes. All this functionality is really more trouble than it’s worth if the features aren’t accessible enough but with a dead-simple color programming app called Stinger Control, even someone who’s never seen an LED control interface can easily set the light to their desired color and intensity.
Speaking of intensity, the main differentiator between the Stinger One and Stinger Two series is their density of LED power with the Stinger One being represented by a fixture called the SunStrip 70 which has 70 watts of LED power per meter, while the Stinger Two LED is represented by the SunStrip 140 with you guessed it, 140 watts of power per meter. Both striplights and their respective linear density SunStrips will be available in a two, three and four foot fixture while the SunStrip 140 will also occur in a 12 inch model.
The other main differentiator between the Stinger One/SunStrip 70 and the Stinger Two/ SunStrip 140 is that the latter can be equipped with easily added and removed secondary lenses for getting some extra punch deep inside the tank. The lenses for the SunStrip 140 will go over the blue and white diodes but not the RGB diodes which need to be diffused to work. The optional secondary lenses will be available in a wide range of beam angles and they are just the tip of the iceberg of a whole ecosystem of accessories that will be available to make the SunStrips fit just about everywhere, in retrofits and more.
We can tell you from witnessing the Stingers and SunStrips in person that the result looks are as good on the aquarium as a multicolor light can look. The use of a large array LEDs evenly spread out over the length of the tank creates a completely even light field. While there may be only three channels of color control, this is misleading because the RGB channel has three of its own and there are a total of seven LED colors under the hood.
The Stinger One and Stinger Two are easy to overlook for their somewhat generic appearance, the actual light generating details have been thoughtfully selected to give users the most of what they actually want and need. Econlux may not be a household name in American aquarium circles but we’ve been posting about their unique LED lights for over four years now, they’ve been a German mainstay at InterZoo.
Fluval expects to begin distributing the SunStrip 70 and SunStrip 140 early next year at which point we’ll learn more about the cost of the LED striplights, the accessories, and the various bundles that will be created to allow users to get a complete programmable package from a new Stinger One or Stinger Two LED fixture. [EconLux]