Euroquatics LED Tube lights to replace traditional T5HO lamps!

[Dtackett]

I think the big difference in these and what's currently on the market is the ability to hot swap them and not having them directly wired into the wall and the price is a little high but not when you look at how many years you can have them running for versus the cost of t5 lighting bulbs

hot swap? as in plug and play? that's exactly what ours is. we took out the old t5ho bulbs, put in these led replacement tubes. and we were good to go. nothing changed. the idea that these leds are so expensive is beyond me considering they don't even come with a power source (the idea is your t5 fixture provides the power so obviously they don't need them) yet theyre potentially going to sell for the same price as a full blown setup. consider most people with a 48 inch tank run 4-6 bulbs. we will work with the cheaper aspect and say they only have to swap out 4 bulbs at 60 a bulb. that's 240 bucks and you still have your old t5 fixture. or you can take 240 bucks on and buy a set of blackboxes with timers, have more wattage, more coverage, and save about 80 bucks. or get a set of programmable blackboxes for about 20 bucks more than the t5ho-led bulbs and have everything new with warranty.

I love this idea and would love to see a proper t5ho-led bulb hit the market for the reefs, but the cost would need to be competitive. and, while this is new tech for the reef world and prices could drop in time, right now the projected prices just aren't competitive. the price of leds and led tech is dropping rapidly in every aspect, but we allow the prices to stay high in our hobby.

 

[steventaylor702]

hot swap? as in plug and play? that's exactly what ours is. we took out the old t5ho bulbs, put in these led replacement tubes. and we were good to go. nothing changed. the idea that these leds are so expensive is beyond me considering they don't even come with a power source (the idea is your t5 fixture provides the power so obviously they don't need them) yet theyre potentially going to sell for the same price as a full blown setup. consider most people with a 48 inch tank run 4-6 bulbs. we will work with the cheaper aspect and say they only have to swap out 4 bulbs at 60 a bulb. that's 240 bucks and you still have your old t5 fixture. or you can take 240 bucks on and buy a set of blackboxes with timers, have more wattage, more coverage, and save about 80 bucks. or get a set of programmable blackboxes for about 20 bucks more than the t5ho-led bulbs and have everything new with warranty.

I love this idea and would love to see a proper t5ho-led bulb hit the market for the reefs, but the cost would need to be competitive. and, while this is new tech for the reef world and prices could drop in time, right now the projected prices just aren't competitive. the price of leds and led tech is dropping rapidly in every aspect, but we allow the prices to stay high in our hobby.

I agree with you but I do think it would be great for a hybrid setup not so much for replacing all of your t5 with them them

 

[Blue Seas Aquariums]

I think the big difference in these and what's currently on the market is the ability to hot swap them and not having them directly wired into the wall and the price is a little high but not when you look at how many years you can have them running for versus the cost of t5 lighting bulbs

I think these are great for people who want a hybrid LED t5 fixture

$60-$75 for a bulb isnt that bad, and yes most ppl like to run t5 and leds for supplementation so being able to swap out some bulbs from a t5 unit is very convenient and clean looking.

 

[Dtackett]

yes, for a hybrid setup this would be the way to go. the ability to run both, led and t5ho would be a very nice setup and give you the best of both worlds. but the projected price is still a crippling factor. I want to see the final product when it comes out. it has the potential to be a great setup with endless potential. I just hope the price reflects the tech and difficulty of building it.

 

[Blue Seas Aquariums]

You know how it is, something new is usually pricey. Once these become standard other companies start offering them for less. Competition always drives the price down.

 

[Dtackett]

well, that's a given, my main hope is that the prices are low enough to driver consumers to them, and drive the idea to other companies. its a viscous cycle lol but I know if these work, my buddy will have a few setup I can toy with lol

 

[gcarroll]

Looks to me like many people are interested. IMO, the bulbs have a 3 year pay back. That's not bad as the warranty guarantees you get that payback. To me the E5 bulb is an alternative to the T5. Definitely has a place in the hobby.

 

[Euroquatics]

Hey everyone,

We're new to R2R, but not the hobby!

I'm going to try and hit most the points questions about the new E5s here on one post. Let's see if I can pull it off.

Technology

1. Current T5 LED replacement options
   1. The "current" LED replacement for T5 tubes on the market do not have the power the E5 has. That is needed to get the PAR reading to truly compare to the T5HO lamps.
   2. These work on electronic ballast and are meant to help people save money and maintain perforce. Other products require rewiring or have less output, or are poorly mixed LEDs to only "simulate" full spectrum!
   3. The E5 lamp IS dim-able! if you have a dim-able T5 fixture!
2. The LEDs, (while there are a lot of low cost LEDs out there, there are a few things that make these LED "better")
   1. Higher efficiency than low cost parts on the market ='s better output
   2. They are not "off-the-shelf" parts, we actually have a custom phosphor applied to the LED chips. It's not a mix of LEDs to "look" like the kelvin temp you want. By using these phosphors we get a truer full spectrum (minus UV)!
   3. Quality LEDs ='s better output over the life of the lamp. We're not using these to light an office building, and our aquarium REQUIRE better than simple office lamps!
3. Pricing
   1. We're trying to push the industry forward in both options and quality! When you factor the life of the bulb, the 3 year warranty, the power saving and the saved replacement costs over the 8 years, you save a lot of money!
   2. The MSRP pricing is...
   • 2' - $49.99
   • 3' - $59.99
   • 4' - $69.99
   • 5' - $79.99
4. Mixing T5HO and E5
   1. Very possible and will likely be needed for a while for people that want true UV. We can do UV in LED, but the cost is higher, the output is lower and the life span is not at our level yet.
   2. This will also allow customers to step in slowly, only changing the lamps that are old one at a time on their normal interval!
5. The last BIG point is our 3 year warranty!!! You'll never see that with a T5HO lamp!

There were a couple other points that I was going to address, but come back to them later.
Until then, we're excited to be showing them at RAP in a couple weeks and we're really excited to be joining the R2R forum as a sponsor!

Thanks,
Scott - Euroquatics

 

[Shep]

Looks like this is the best of both worlds. Yea the up front cost is a lot but if you consider most T5 bulbs need to get changed out every 6-12 months but these can last up to 8 years and use less power. That means by the time you have to change them out you will have saved 8-16x+ the amount you would have had to spend using regular T5 bulbs. In my mind that makes this worth it. I have always wanted to do T5 but was put off by the cost of bulbs, how often they needed to be replaced and their high power consumption.

 

[Diesel]

Hey everyone,

We're new to R2R, but not the hobby!

I'm going to try and hit most the points questions about the new E5s here on one post. Let's see if I can pull it off.

Technology

1. Current T5 LED replacement options
   1. The "current" LED replacement for T5 tubes on the market do not have the power the E5 has. That is needed to get the PAR reading to truly compare to the T5HO lamps.
   2. These work on electronic ballast and are meant to help people save money and maintain perforce. Other products require rewiring or have less output, or are poorly mixed LEDs to only "simulate" full spectrum!
   3. The E5 lamp IS dim-able! if you have a dim-able T5 fixture!
2. The LEDs, (while there are a lot of low cost LEDs out there, there are a few things that make these LED "better")
   1. Higher efficiency than low cost parts on the market ='s better output
   2. They are not "off-the-shelf" parts, we actually have a custom phosphor applied to the LED chips. It's not a mix of LEDs to "look" like the kelvin temp you want. By using these phosphors we get a truer full spectrum (minus UV)!
   3. Quality LEDs ='s better output over the life of the lamp. We're not using these to light an office building, and our aquarium REQUIRE better than simple office lamps!
3. Pricing
   1. We're trying to push the industry forward in both options and quality! When you factor the life of the bulb, the 3 year warranty, the power saving and the saved replacement costs over the 8 years, you save a lot of money!
   2. The MSRP pricing is...
   • 2' - $49.99
   • 3' - $59.99
   • 4' - $69.99
   • 5' - $79.99
4. Mixing T5HO and E5
   1. Very possible and will likely be needed for a while for people that want true UV. We can do UV in LED, but the cost is higher, the output is lower and the life span is not at our level yet.
   2. This will also allow customers to step in slowly, only changing the lamps that are old one at a time on their normal interval!
5. The last BIG point is our 3 year warranty!!! You'll never see that with a T5HO lamp!

There were a couple other points that I was going to address, but come back to them later.
Until then, we're excited to be showing them at RAP in a couple weeks and we're really excited to be joining the R2R forum as a sponsor!

Thanks,
Scott - Euroquatics

Thanks Scott, after talking to another well informed person in Europe I knew most of all above.
These lights are not shop lights and specific for the marine hobby designed.
Most ppl think they will look like LED's but they don't due to the technic supplied they will look more like a T5HO.
The price is really surprising to me as I have a 60" unit and need 8 of them still kind of low for a awesome Bulb.
If this bulb has the expectations and corals will do no different than regular T5's, than you guys got a awesome asset to this hobby.
As long the custom phosphor applied will hold up for the life time of the bulb.
3 years warranty and a 6/8 year lifespan is totally worth $79.99.
I'll replace my bulbs every 8/9 months and I run the German brand of $29.95.
Bravo Scott.
You guys should sign up as sponsor here, I'm sure you get a lot more business.

 

[nanoman28g]

Phosphor applied to the LED'S? That sounds very interesting to me. Can you elaborate Scott? I just bought an ATI 4 lamp T5 fixture too, so this might lower my buyer's remorse. So will it have the shimmering effects of normal LED'S or not?

 

[ifarmer]

i dont like too much talking. just show me where to buy them now.
my wallet is ready.

 

[steventaylor702]

Phosphor applied to the LED'S? That sounds very interesting to me. Can you elaborate Scott? I just bought an ATI 4 lamp T5 fixture too, so this might lower my buyer's remorse. So will it have the shimmering effects of normal LED'S or not?

These use phosphor inside the diode and as far as shimmer you will get some but it won't be as much as other LEDs like ai hydras becuase how dense the LEDs will be and how they cover from side to side

 

[nanoman28g]

These use phosphor inside the diode and as far as shimmer you will get some but it won't be as much as other LEDs like ai hydras becuase how dense the LEDs will be and how they cover from side to side

Dense matrix like Kessil? J/K, I know that I'm talking about a completely different animal.

 

[nanoman28g]

i dont like too much talking. just show me where to buy them now.
my wallet is ready.

Hahaha right? I want to see them in action over a tank! Scott?

 

[steventaylor702]

Dense matrix like Kessil? J/K, I know that I'm talking about a completely different animal.

Not quite like that but the LEDs are tightly packed in a straight line so shimmer won't be as extreme as other LEDs like kessil or ai

 

[Diesel]

Hahaha right? I want to see them in action over a tank! Scott?

RAP is just around the corner and maybe a youtube video is on his place to show what the overall appearance will be and maybe a comparison with a full led tank.
I know this hobby is most part by trail and error but it will help in sales, especially around the Holidays.............. "what's on your Christmas list?".

 

[Euroquatics]

Hey all,

All great questions and comments! We'll be making some videos at RAP and doing some interviews on the new E5s. All that will be on the new site as soon as that goes live in a week or so.

Scott

 

[nanoman28g]

Hey all,

All great questions and comments! We'll be making some videos at RAP and doing some interviews on the new E5s. All that will be on the new site as soon as that goes live in a week or so.

Scott

Reefers like us will be waiting and lurking.

 

[Greenstreet.1]

Is there anyway of knowing when they are running low or need to be changed ? Also will they be available at rap or after for sale ?

Also do you have any par readings and recommend height for best colors and growth you can share with us now or do we have to wait ?

Very interested reefer