The Royal Exclusiv Re-Light is the first LED aquarium light fixture from the famous German manufacturer and to the best of our knowledge, this is their first aquarium light of any kind. The Re-Light by Royal Exclusiv appears to be a very German style of a reef aquarium light consisting of a flat panel of LEDs with very little in the way of secondary optics and widely spaced LEDs.
Virtually all American and Asian LED light manufacturers – Ecotech, AI, Kessil, Maxspect, Eco-Lamps, Illumagic & Reefi – have gone the route of LED clusters for ideal color blending, and use active cooling to manage the temperature of these concentrated heat sources. Meanwhile the Philips CoralCare, ATI Straton, GNC Bluray, and the grand daddy of them all the Triton Lani use a flat panel light with a field of LEDs that are spaced far apart and passively cooled.
The Royal Exclusiv Re-Light follows this European template to the letter being a thin metal panel with unclustered diodes which doesn’t appear to have save space for any kind of active cooling in or on the fixture. Looking at the underside of the Royal Exclusiv Re-Light you’d be forgiven for thinking this looks a lot like the original Triton Lani LED from 2012 but undoubtedly Royal Exclusiv is using more modern light emitting diodes in the spectral engine.
Speaking of the photons that the Royal Exclusiv Re-Light will produce, the company bills this light as using nine different colors with seven of those within the blue to green 400-500nm range, and we gather from the photo the other two are cool white and red. The four channels of the Royal Exclusiv are being described as ‘natural-identical’ and we look forward to seeing some actual data and natural light curves of underwater light measurements to compare to this supposedly ‘natural’ LED light.
Royal Exclusiv is teasing their new Re-Light with and without what appears to be a diffusing layer which we hope is not a fixed option but a switchable diffuser which will help to blend the spread out LED colors and reduce the shimmering effects which is one of the most natural aspects of light on a coral reef.However one curve ball about the Royal Eclusiv Re-Light are a few hemispherical lenses on the diffuser that might reintroduce some of this lost shimmer, but we’ll need more details from Royal Exclusiv to learn more about it.
Royal Exclusiv was a pioneer in making controllable water pumps for the aquarium hobby so the announcement of the Re-Light comes out of left field, quite out of their wheelhouse since they are well known for pumps, sumps and protein skimmers. Modern reef aquarists and especially today’s consumers of higher end LED lights expect great control and connectivity with lights like the Kessil, Hydra and Radions so it will be very interesting to see what Royal Exclusiv’s first app for the Re-Light looks like, or if they go some other route.
We have no details on power, price or the exact LEDs that will be used and in which ratios but we know the Royal Exclusiv fanbase will be very excited for this light and we have faith that it will be a great light fixture with excellent illumination to encourage coral coloration and growth, and we hope to test it for ourselves.
