Maxspect Ethereal Review

disaster999

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So Maxspect had a pretty low key pre-release sale in Hong Kong which I was lucky enough to be informed by some of my local reefing buddies. In the sale they had the Ethereal on display so I asked if its for sale, next thing I know I walked out with 2 of the Ethereal lights and a wireless controller and headed straight home. With Maxspect teasing us for 2 years about this new light they are working on, Im excited to tear into it and see what this light is all about.

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Anyone who've owned Maxspect product should be familar with their packaging. Its not the fanciest or the nicest, but it gets the job done.
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Theres a single blower fan unit on the light that pushes air out on all 4 sides of the fixture keeping it cool. Air the drawn from the top and bottom of the fixture
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Here are the 8 LED pucks. They are closely packed together with a whitish/silverish reflector cup which SHOULD cut down on the disco effect. Note the different mounting holes on the fixture for maximum adjustability on different tank sizes.
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The mounting hardware and massive power brick is tucked neatly under the fixture.
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Check out these beefy arms. I measured them to be 4mm thick. With the fixture as light as it already is, the arms should have absolutely no problem holding the light up. The clamp on the arms can easily accommodate glass thickness of up to 30mm. They are nicely padded with silicone rubber and can be mounted on both rimless or braced tanks with no problem.
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Initial thoughts:

The lights are unique looking and have a very low profile. The mounting bracket its well though out and strong enough to support the light when fully expended. The blower style center fan SHOULD be thermally controlled since they didnt turn on when the lights came on. Ill be keeping an eye on them and see if they do turn on when the light heats up.

The blower fan has a built in RGB light inside that changes color as you turn and press the knobs on the light. Im guessing to let you know which channel you are adjusting. The manual calls it "mood light" so Im guessing it can be programmed as well. There are 8 individual LED pucks with a matted silver reflector on the fixture with 5 LED on each puck bringing it to a total of 130W per fixture.

Color wise, compared to the Lumia 5.2 pucks and mixtures of OCW, RB, neutral whites and violets, the Ethereal made the corals pop more. The florescent are more pronounced and vibrant.

Spread and penetration wise, the LED have their own little cup at which it acts like a lens/reflector, focusing the light down onto the tank. I have no doubts with the fixture penetrating 24-30" tanks, but I was kind of worried about the spread. Lighting one fixture over my tank temporarily put my worry to rest as I was surprised how wide of an area the fixture was able to cover. Im sure the lack of focusing lenses and the use of the reflector cup help spread the light instead of beaming down into the tank.

Overall Im impressed at the the fixture and the overall package. I need to tear down my old lights and install the new ones. Ill be sure to post before and after pictures of my corals to show the difference.
 
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disaster999

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Review:

After having some time to play with the app and light, Im pretty impressed with the performance of the light. The spread is very even and there is minimal disco lighting effect. The spectrum used is pretty good and I can see more pop in my corals. Time will tell if this would lead to healthier and more colorful corals. Below are some pictures of my tank and corals and also a brief look at the app. Excuse the condition of my coral. I had an inbalanced Alk/Calc ratio which I am correcting and recently recovered from a massive algae outbreak so my SPS appears to be lackluster and dull.

First off, the light have 5 controllable channels which can be individually controlled manually through the app.
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The shots below shows each channel on 100% and the final picture shows the normal daytime mode Ive set for my tank. The first 5 shots are shot on auto without and color correction or any photoshopping

Channel 1
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Channel 2
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Channel 3
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Channel 4
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Channel 5 (oops, my camera might be having trouble focusing with the violet/UV lights)
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My normal daytime mode
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Programming is done through a timeline and your set points are display on a graph for better visualization. IMO the programming isnt the easiest thing to use. If you set the entire programming already and want to go back to change the time or add another time slot in between 2 points, you pretty much had to delete everything up that specific point in time and start over. There are no other easy way of editing the program.
Schedule.jpg
 
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disaster999

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Here are some macro shots of some of my corals that arent too brown

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My new prized coral...Jedi Mind Trick. Hopefully I can get it to color up
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Lastly, heres a quick video of the sunrise and sunset of the light. There is a demo mode on the programming page (the center bottom "play" button) which lets you preview the entire 24 hour programming in around 4 mins. Its pretty useful just to double check your programming and see if it is what you want, but it have this weird step and cycle effect which doesnt play the entire sequence smoothly. I cant tell if the actual light does the weird stepping when running its program.

Also, Ive sped up the video by about 2x just so you guys dont need to sit through 2 mins of sunrise/sunset. You can slow down the video on youtube to see the actual speed.

 

Txdragonslayer

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very nice, thanks for sharing, they were a lot brighter than i thought they would be.
 

Macropora

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Thanks for the unboxing and the lighting demo.

I have to say... with the picture on the box, and the fan in the middle it reminded me of the top of Starship Enterprise from Star Trek (only with a square shape). :)
 

shred5

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Looks nice. I was just chatting with Carlos from Coralvue about these a few minutes ago.. He has been using them.
Seem really nice..
 

ludnix

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You're daylight coloration looks very different from disco-effect I am used to seeing with LEDs. I know these guys are not the first to overcome the obstacle, but it looks like they did a great job. Any idea of what kind of efficiency the LEDs offer in terms of lumens/watt?
 
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disaster999

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You're daylight coloration looks very different from disco-effect I am used to seeing with LEDs. I know these guys are not the first to overcome the obstacle, but it looks like they did a great job. Any idea of what kind of efficiency the LEDs offer in terms of lumens/watt?

Color mixing is really well controlled with their reflector. From what Ive read, they use this "nano reflective" technology on the reflector which have thousands of microscopic mirrors that mix and reflect the light down into the tank. Even with the surface agitation, you cant really see the separation of colors.

Each fixture has a total of 130W. Not really sure about the lumens tho. Maxspect did put out a video demonstrating the par readings.
 

ludnix

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I feel like they might have gotten more PAR if the person's arm wasn't in the way of the light! I imagine it must be fairly efficient to get away with that small of a heatsink and LED density though. Have the fans turned on for you yet? I'm definitely keeping them in mind for the next tank upgrade, great looking fixture and I love the output on them, will have to see how they held up to time when I'm ready to pull the trigger and pick my light.
 
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disaster999

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Yeah, my thoughts exactly when I saw the video.

Being in Hong Kong with temperatures at around 28c and rising, the fans have been doing their job. Being a blower style fan, its definitely audible but not annoying. The fans are temperature controlled so they arent constantly blowing, just when needed.

I would certainly consider the Ethereal for the price and performance.
 

eg8r210

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I love the look of these lights even more after seeing them first hand at RAP a few weeks ago. I can't wait till my next bulb change, I think I am going to be installing these instead. :)
 

saltyfilmfolks

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he LED have their own little cup at which it acts like a lens/reflector
Do they have actual lenses? I have the Razor and am not so happy about the disco it and others produce. Without an actual lens it should be nonexistant.
most have to use the lens for penetration fwiw as led intensity has just not been quite there yet.
 

choff

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My tank wasn't that clean when I first set it up...

Those lights are awesome. Look slick and agreed they are very bright.
 
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disaster999

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I love the look of these lights even more after seeing them first hand at RAP a few weeks ago. I can't wait till my next bulb change, I think I am going to be installing these instead. :)
You won't be disappointed. These lights have some serious power

Do they have actual lenses? I have the Razor and am not so happy about the disco it and others produce. Without an actual lens it should be nonexistant.
most have to use the lens for penetration fwiw as led intensity has just not been quite there yet.
There are no lens on the LED, they have a "reflector" which reflects the 5 different LED color into the tank. Color blending is much better than individual lens. There's very little disco effect from these lights

My tank wasn't that clean when I first set it up...

Those lights are awesome. Look slick and agreed they are very bright.

Yup they are bright. I hope my brown fuzzy sticks will color up soon
 

fishboy11

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The color this fixture produces looks very nice, and the fixture is very sleek. Has anyone heard any approximate time frame when this will be released?
 
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disaster999

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From what Ive read, its already released in some parts of the world. The US distributor, CoralVue, didnt think the app was ready for the US market so is holding its release till the app is fixed. Hopefully this wouldnt take that long...

In the mean time, The first aquarium light that doubles as stage lights
 

Akutila

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Does the fixture offer any possibility for hanging to the ceiling with wires? All the product info seem to focus on the mounting arm.
 
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