The BluRay Pro is a new high performance LED light from Italian aquarium light manufacturer GNC. This is their newest light model that we would have seen had InterZoo taken place which is a shame because GNC makes some of the most aesthetically beautiful light fixtures, no doubt stemming from their Italian sense of style.
We initially thought the BluRay Pro was just a slightly upgraded version of their largest regular BluRay light fixture we spotlighted a couple years back, but it seems to have more than a handful of new tricks and features. By far the biggest new change in the BluRay Pro is a rearranging of their diode selection to create a spectrum which is much more blue than ever before.
There are 30% more royal blue LEDs than before, with an all new channel with ‘actinic’ coloration populated with UV LEDs, and there seems to be a little less of the deep red than previously. We love a little bit of red LED spectrum but a little goes a long way, especially when it’s the 660nm deep red so we’re glad to see the numbers go from 56 down to just 16 in the BluRay Pro.
That tiny hint of deep red is a perfect amount relative to the 588 –five hundred and eighty eight – medium output LEDs that are hammering out somewhere near 170 lumens per watt At this level of efficiency you’re getting a ludicrous amount of light output and since all those LEDs are already well spread out, there’s virtually no hot zones of brightness and no need for a secondary diffuser.
Because the GNC BluRay Pro uses very widely spread out, medium output LEDs they can also get away with a hefty heatsink for only passive cooling so this is a rare light fixture which is also completely silent since it has no fans. Besides the reshuffling of the LED colors, the main reason to cop the Pro version of the GNC BluRay is that it includes the AirLink2 controller which enables wireless control and programming of this light for maximum flexibility over the spectrum and photoperiod lighting your tank.
You would expect this level of lighting efficiency for a single light fixture that costs €1,149.00 although GNC is running a special promotion where you can scoop one up for ‘just’ 998€ by requesting a promo code via email. GNC has a very creative and original approach to reef aquarium LED lighting but we just wish we didn’t have to wait every two years to spy these interesting Italian LED light fixtures so hopefully they’ll begin making inroads into western markets a little bit more in the future. [GNC]
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