MaxSpect sure does like to take its sweet time bringing their new products to market. The company has been showing off their Ethereal LED for going on two years, and since 2014 we’ve gotten increasingly better looks of it at InterZoo, ReefStock and MACNA.
Just in case you were starting to think the new Ethereal LED is vaporware, MaxSpect has released a fresh video showing live PAR measurements of the forthcoming reef light. This ain’t no robotic PAR testing machine but since the tests are done in an aquarium with water in it and four sides of glass, it is a little bit closer to the real light intensity you’d expect in a home tank.
MaxSpect made the measurements of Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PAR) produced by their Ethereal LED in a glass aquarium with dimensions of 24 by 18 by inches high. The sensor from an Apogee MQ200 was placed at the bottom of this tank, 24 inches from the center of the Ethereal and through 16 inches of water.
The maximum PAR value at the bottom of this tank is a very respectable 240 umols/m2/s in the center of the tank, tapering off to 190 umols at the sides and 120 umols at the front. This is a very consistent and uniform light field which is to be expected since the Ethereal has a very unique LED cluster which uses a common reflector instead of secondary lenses.
Of course MaxSpect already knows how to build a really desirable LED reef aquarium light, but the real hold up on the development of the Ethereal is the wireless network and app control that will link multiple lights. New reef aquarium LEDs are introduced to the aquarium market nearly every week but you can rest assured that when MaxSpect finally releases the Ethereal it will likely be a very competitive offering.
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