Saltcorner
By Bob Goemans
Site Supported in Part by:
ESV 

Current Orbit Marine LED Light

Manufactured by: Current

A product review by Bob Goemans

When it came to my needs for a marine aquarium LED light having sufficient Kelvin (K) and Intensity (PAR) for many soft and low light large polyp stony (LPS) corals with a built-in timer to equip a small marine reef system I was setting up to teach a grandchild the various processes involved, the Current Orbit Marine LED Light appeared to fit all my needs.

(FYI: Should I have wanted greater PAR to grow some small polyp stony (sps) corals, Current has the Orbit Marine Pro LED Light model that provides higher PAR values.)

As for the light itself, its wireless Remote Control contains '28' buttons that provide an extraordinary amount of lighting possibilities!

One row of buttons provides control over clock time (Set Time, Hour, Minutes, and Enter), with time shown on a separate stand-alone device having a small LCD screen called the Ramp Timer Pro Controller. Time is shown in military hours, e.g., 1 pm would be 13:00 hours.

This offers the ability to have the chosen lighting program turn on whenever one wants by simply setting its time before the built-in 8 am starting times for either of its four different length/intensity programs. Since I preferred a starting time of 11:30 am for the fixture to begin the sunrise portion of the selected program, simply set the clock to read 3.5 hours prior to the actual time the system was plugged in. That way, when the 8 am time arrives on the controller, it's actually 11:30 am!

Once the clock is set, there are four other buttons that provide for instant selection of pre-stalled lighting programs, two of which provide different length full intensity schedules, 15 minute sunrise/sunset timeframes and a 4 hour moonlight period before shutting down completely until sunrise the following day. The other two provide different light effects and periods of time for 'acclimating' corals and/or corals and fish.

As for having one-touch abilities to change lighting effects and duration periods for 'acclimation' needs, is without question, an amazing 'plus' on any light fixture!

There are also four buttons providing for instant selection of different weather effects, two for different length cloudy effects, one for fading moonlight, and one for storm with lightning effects. And also a button titled 'Resume,' which when pressed exits these settings and returns the system back to its selected lighting program.

Other buttons provide the ability to manually control the color of the Spectrum and create a program tuned to your specific needs.

Another 'plus' is its LED lamps use 120-degree lenses, which spreads light far wider into the aquarium than 90-degree lenses.

Also 'very' important, it's rated IP65 (highly resistant to dust and water) and has a 12VDC, UL1018 approved transformer (designed specifically for 'aquarium' use), thereby assuring the purchaser of its quality/suitability and safety for their use! In fact, these are a couple of features all purchasers of lighting equipment should be fully aware when searching for a new light fixture!

Add to its many features a full year warranty, and overall, it speaks loudly for its quality!

Must also say Current customer service seem to have one of the best reputations I've ever seen on-line! In-fact, if you visit Amazon.com, almost all are 5 Star reviews! In this day and age that has to tell you something about the quality of this light fixture!

Probably, one of the best features for many hobbyists is from out of the package to up and running with one of the pre-installed programs, it will take no longer than about five minutes!

Finally, if you compare the specifications/abilities and cost of the Current Orbit Marine LED Light or Current Orbit Pro Marine LED Light to other brands, it may be difficult at best to find an equal!

More Reviews
Site Supported in Part by:
Boyd Enterprises