thortek LED system, what you think about this?

[JonnyJ]

after looking over some of Thortek LED lights i may give them a go... i have been emailing them and he has informed me of 3 units..what do you guys think for my solana. They seem to be the best priced units.

anyways i have the solana and plan on having soft corals for the most part but maybe a mixed colony of sps and soft in the future.... right now im running the Nova Extreme pro t'5 setup.

my solana has the trim kit installed so its around 18.5 inches across so a 19" fixture should work


heres the 3 fixtures im thinking about.

1.

Formosa ray 5.8W fixture:
The price of a 19" 5.8w fixture is $460USD (including the shipping fee

Article

F480 19" Formosa ray 5.8W fixture

imitate traditiona lilluminant 200W
​

Specification
(1) 8 white 5.8W Hi-power LED lamps
(2) 4 blue 5.8W Hi-power LED lamps
(3) 9 RGB all spectrum all wavelength LED
(4) lamps(including moonlight)
(5) 2 legs (movable)
(6) 2 hanging hooks (optional, need further charge)
UNIT
19”in length, 10” in width, 2” in height
Illustration
(1) 3 independent switches for controlling (i) white (ii) blue (iii) RGB
(2) 3 independent plugs for (i) white (ii) blue and red (iii) moonlight
(3) Touch switches for controlling RGB LED
(4) 2 automation control temperature electric fan

Typical fixture:
The price of a 19" typical fixture is $310 USD (including the shipping fee
Article

GT160 19" typical fixture

imitate traditiona lilluminant 100W

​

Specification

(1) 12 white 1.25 Hi-power LED lamps
(2) 12 blue 1.25 Hi-power LED lamps
(3) 6 RGB all spectrum all wavelength LED
(4) lamps(including moonlight)
(5) 2 legs (movable)
(6) 2 hanging hooks (optional, need further charge)
UNIT
19”in length, 7” in width, 2” in height
Illustration
(1) 3 independent switches for controlling (i) white (ii) blue (iii) red
(2) 3 independent plugs for (i) white (ii) blue and red (iii) moonlight

The price of a 24" typical fixture is $400 USD (including the shipping fee
Article
GT210 24" typical fixture
imitate traditiona lilluminant 150W
​

Specification
(1) 24 white 1.25 Hi-power LED lamps
(2) 12 blue 1.25 Hi-power LED lamps
(3) 6 RGB all spectrum all wavelength LED
(4) lamps(including moonlight)
(5) 2 legs (movable)
(6) 2 hanging hooks (optional, need further charge)
UNIT
24”in length, 7” in width, 2” in height
Illustration
(1) 3 independent switches for controlling (i) white (ii) blue (iii) red
(2) 3 independent plugs for (i) white (ii) blue and red (iii) moonlight
4 painting colors for choice: Black, Yellow, Red, Pearl white




its my birthday next Wednesday, im leaning towards the f480 and the g210 only posted the gt190 19 inch if you guys think i could get away with it for soft coral only [which for 300 wouldnt be to bad considering i could sell my NEP for atleast 100]

they seem like they are priced pretty good so i wasnt sure if i should try one of these lights out. Looking for some opinions!


Jonny

 

[daaznmofo]

imo, i don't know if i would spend that much if i only wanted to keep soft corals.

 

[daaznmofo]

you can also ask cozer for his opinion of the thortek fixture.

 

[OneTimer]

Are the light dimmable? LED's look great for any coral - cost would be recouped in three years for bulb replacement and energy cost- vs MH= I wish i had the cash to lay out-

I'l looked at these light but am afraid to get them because you don't know how long the company will be around- just my fear-

Does peak my interest

 

[SWITCH420]

yea ask cozer he has used them. from what i seen and read they seem to be good but i never used them.

 

[pecan2phat]

Cozer switched out his Thortek. He said the fans stopped working after a few months.

 

[SWITCH420]

i thought he said they fixed some of the problems with the first made ones?i read he did lot of talking with the makers of them to fix the bugs.i could be wrong have to ask him

 

[pecan2phat]

You might be correct, I haven't followed his thread since he swapped out his lights. I saw a Thortek in person at a LIRA meeting back in Nov. and was not overly impressed with the placement of the LEDs. Basically they had red LEDs on both ends which kind of made me wonder about overall coverage.

 

[cozer]

To my understanding, ThorTek did some adjustment on their products but looks not useful to me. The cooling fans are all small-sized type, which is not that quiet and of long lifespan compared with those big ones of Aqua Illumination products. They put some RGB LED chips to replace their single-color low wattage ones. But I don't really get the function of G and B since the white and blue LEDs already cover the spectrum. The reason why I switch the ThorTek to Illumagic is the use of near-UV (400nm) LEDs in Illumagic products. I am now observing the change of my corals under this new fixture, and found that some of my favia, acan, and monti become brighter and more colorful than under ThorTek light.

Anyway, to me, I recommend ThorTek fixture for tanks with height less than 18". Any tanks higher than 18", higher wattage LEDs will be much suitable! To my understanding, PacificSun also use 1W LEDs, but they are arranged in very high density in one fixture, this can compensate the drawback of ThorTek's comparatively low density arrangement. Moreover, another drawback for ThorTek's products is that they put all their power supplies in the hood, this makes the fixture even more hot than with only LED chips inside. Temperature is of course the killer to LEDs. Think about it, what will happen when the fans are out of order?

 

[SWITCH420]

Thanks cozer didnt want to put words in ur mouth. i read so many posts i get mixed up some times

 

[pdnyc69]

I also have a 36 fixture. I love it. But as cozer said if your tank is deeper than 18" I would use something else. I just ordered the 72" aqua illumination for my 150. I think led's are well worth the money. The thortek has given me great growth since I've had it (3 months).

 

[masterswimmer]

Here's the scoop on ThorTek.....

We were in conversation with them to carry their line of LED's. We even have one of their 4' fixtures in stock. The fixture came in damaged. The craftsmanship is horrendous on it. I can give you a list of at least a dozen various shortcomings in the fixture.

I took numerous pictures and will attach them to this thread. ThorTek has done NOTHING to correct these problems. FYI, we received this fixture in July, 09. I think they've had plenty of time to make things right. If you've got any warranty problems, who ya gonna call?

Russ

BTW, if you've been in serious conversations with ThorTek, then they know who I am. Ask them how they handled my problems. I'm curious how he'll respond.

 

[masterswimmer]

Packaging for shipment to the other side of the world. lol :banghead:
I would package better than this to ship to the other side of my town!!!!!

 

[masterswimmer]

As you can see in the pix above, their attention to detail is weak.

The pix below show where the wire housing cracked. There is another crack on the same end of the fixture, opposite corner.

Crooked optics. Here's a nice one. Notice the reflector in the last picture. It's short and exposing wiring.

Fingerprints all over the reflector and housing, not to mention the nice scratch. This fixture looked worse than if it were a used fixture being sold as a resale.

 

[masterswimmer]

The wiring on this fixture isn't even as good as that done in a high school shop class. There are three lamp wires coming out of the fixture. The one with the adapter isn't even switchable. Once plugged in, it stays on.

The end of the fixture shows the undersized fan that DID NOT EVEN TURN ON. There was zero cooling on this fixture. :banghead:
The red and yellow LED's on the end of the fixture are supposed to light up also. They didn't work either.

The best part of the fixture was the appearance. The Thortek logo and paint job look great. Big deal. The fixture is so unbelievably below a cheap standard that I wouldn't even mention it in the same sentence as the other quality fixtures on the market.

BTW Rich, no, it isn't controllable. As if that's a surprise !

Russ

Oh, I forgot to mention, they were talking to us as if we were going to be one of their USA distributors. This is how they treated a potential agent of theirs. Imagine how you as a customer will be handled.

The bottom line is, I would NOT recommend this company to anyone. Forget about recommending the fixture (even if it were improved). IMO the company representatives are not trustworthy. This is a lot of money to spend for a cheap LED fixture.

PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK

:skull:

 

[JonnyJ]

hey russ an everyone thanks for the info.

* pics arent showing for me!

 

[DCG1286]

Packaging for shipment to the other side of the world. lol :banghead:
I would package better than this to ship to the other side of my town!!!!!

Thats a first class job













................................................................. :eek1:

 

[cozer]

First of all, I would like to apologize for any recommendation for ThorTek's products on my own thread after seeing these terrible things suffered by Russ. Actually, ThorTek did provide "acceptable" service in native market, maybe due to the comparatively short shipping distance for their products. As for the international shipment, this is my first time seeing their packing craftsmanship, yes, it is really "wonderful"! And that is why I think I should apologize for my promoting them to you guys before.

I think they did fix some of their problems after having the experience on shipping Russ's fixture, just like the well delivered one that pdnyc69 got for his 36" tank. However, what I could not imagine is that they did "NOTHING" to the damaged shipment of Russ's order? Really unbelievable to me!!

Well, I will not say anything more for ThorTek?s products from now on. Like Russ said, PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK!

 

[masterswimmer]

David,
My post was not intended to make you feel uncomfortable by any means. As you know I've said nothing to anybody here on MR or any other reef site about the situation Saltwater Critters experienced with Thortek. Now that LED's have become an integral part of, and such an important part of reef lighting, people begin asking questions about all the different companies and products on the market. As a long standing member of MR, a friend to a huge number of members here, as well as a vendor who has first hand knowledge of the quality of a product that can easily cause people to lose a lot of money, I found it my responsibility to the community here to let them know exactly what happened to Saltwater Critters. In my opinion we actually should have been treated as VIP's and gotten the best treatment by Thortek. If they didn't feel the need to take care of a potential distributor, I can't see them taking care of the members of the MR family the way they should.

In all the years we have been in business, I think this is the very first time I have gone public with any negative comment about a company and their product. It is not the way I do business. I've never treated a customer the way I was treated in this transaction. Another thing that is important for the community to know is that Saltwater Critters PAID for this fixture just like any other customer would pay for it. Granted, they shipped it to us for free, but that was their "investment" in the development of a U.S. distributor. Our investment was very real cash in a sub-par product. This fixture is sitting in a box in our warehouse. It is not for sale. We have taken a 100% loss on this investment. I don't want to see any other member of MR lose this kind of money. Saltwater Critters treats their customers with respect, we feel we should be treated with the same respect from our suppliers. This is the first time we've been treated this way and the community should know about it if they are going to begin spending money with Thortek.

Once again, I stand by my statement in my last post,

DEAL WITH THORTEK AT YOUR OWN RISK

My post was absolutely not intended to cause you any embarassment. My apology if it came off that way.

Best regards,
Russ

 

[SWITCH420]

I agree with you russ you did the right thing.