Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Read this and compare to the REEF lights, if you're interested in putting one of these lights on your tank. I received my 24-36 in. Marineland Double Bright LED Light - 8 x 1W white - 4 x .06W blue and was delighted when the light finally arrived. The fixture packaging was simple, yet sturdy and protective of the light fixture. It comes with two parts: the main body and the power cord. Easy, no brainer, installation! Just so you know, this light is going on top of a heavily planted, freshwater, 30 gallon tank, with the dimensions of, 30x18.5x12in. WxHxD Look wise, what was truly attractive, was the body being slim and sleek. No more clunky hood to stare at anymore! After reading the directions, a disappointing tidbit, was that Marineland (manufacturer label) required and recommended that the light be placed on a tank with clear acrylic or glass covers to protect the LEDs from water damage. My original intention was to leave the light directly above the tank, using the built in brackets it comes with. The unit is completely silent. A big difference for those that have fans for high output light that run very hot. The light output itself was sufficient, while not being the brightest I've seen. It doesn't fill the tank with light like most lights do. It lights up the tank like how the sun lights up water when it shines through it. It's like the light waves on the bottom of a pool when the sun is shining through the moving water surface. Imagine the shimmery effect in water, but with eight fill sources of light gleaming into the tank and bouncing off the tank floor. That's the natural feel (almost mesmerizin strobe); unlike other lights which completely fill the tank with light. Because of that effect, the light doesn't look like it's putting out intense light. There are shadows and light waving almost everywhere with darker sides (width wise) to the tank. The darkness might be due to the fixture not completely spanning the width of the tank (the brackets expand so to fill the gap spaces). As for the LED lights, there are eight of the white lights that are split into two rows (4+4). The row of four moonlights are between the two rows of white light lights (white+moon+white). The LED lights throw very very little heat, to the point they can be called cool lights. Don't expect them to heat your tank. They are physically touchable without burning your skin like regular light fixtures would. Curious and of interest, is when the fixture is turned on to white daylight, not only are the white LEDs on, but the moonlights are on also at the same time. When you switch to night mode, only the moonlights are on. Some people have complained that because there isn't a separated switch for the white and moonlights it becomes cumbersome to have to manually change the light between modes when you have the light on a timer. It's TRUE! Marineland, should make a solution to that problem and I'm sure many more people would buy the light due to the ability to put the lights on a timer with no fuss. The two reasons I could think of why they didn't do so: 1) it costs more *not a good excuse* 2) because the moonlights are turned on in daylight mode, the lifespan of the moonlights would be extremely unproportionate to the lifespan of the white LEDs (assuming white and moonlight LEDs last the same amount of time). The expected LED life on the box is 16,000 hours of usage. So assuming you used your daytime lights 8-12 hours a day and at night your moonlights only, 12-16 hours. Your moonlights would FAIL in 667 days (16,000/24hours), compared to 1333-2000 days (16,000/12hours & 16,000/8hours) of white LED use. That's a big difference (lifewise) and enough to justify to not leave the moonlight on, unless you really want it for constant viewing in moonlight mode. Quick conclusion: If you're looking for a new look and are able to cover the LED expense, look past minor annoyances and like a natural wave strobe, this is the light for you. Good luck with it! I certainly, enjoy mine! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ P.S. So far the plants in the tank are doing fine after two weeks. I'll update in a month or so to let everyone know if they are sufficing my plants. Part 2: Review May 21, 2011 It's been about a month and a half with the Double Brights 24"-36" lights and I have to say it's becoming apparently disappointing. The plants in my 30G freshwater tank that usually do well in moderate to high light are browning and failing. It just isn't sufficient enough in the parts where the beam of light doesn't shine directly on. Even with the beam directly on the plant, it's hard to sustain growth due to the awkward size of the light, being smaller than the tank, not spanning the full length to the sides. With that, I decided to invest in a Marineland Reef LED of the same size. I still like the concept of LED and its benefits in comparison to T5, MH lighting. I'll try posting a review in of that light under that comment section. As for the difference compared to the Double Brights, WHAT A DIFFERENCE!! I've been looking up more forums and upon Marinelands' own FAQ section one person asked if the 'Reef' lights are usable for planted tank in freshwater and the reply from an official representative was that they actually recommend using the REEF light if you're going to do a planted tank. I would completely agree with that statement. The difference is night and day. The double brights produce a warmer temperature color of light 6,000K and the reef model cooler, 10,000K. The difference is BRIGHT white. If you're looking for a warm color go with the double brights, but if you're looking for white light output go REEF. I have the two side by side and you can obviously tell that one part of the tank is yellow and the other full daylight white. I'm guessing the amount of LED's and calibration does make a big difference (being the Reef's has more). The Actinic blue output is also "louder" in comparison, from 60mW to 1W. There are some downfalls comparatively, but they're nominal depending on what you're looking for. Double Bright vs. Reef Lights 1. Price. Upfront, the REEFs are more expensive, but if you count the amount of LED fixtures in them, cost per light Reefs are cheaper. 2. Color temperature. The Double's are warmer 6,000K, REEFs 10,000K 3. Double brights don't give as much light coverage as the Reefs do in the tank. 4. REEFs do run hotter on the top of the unit. It's warm/hot on the heat sink fins. Not scalding. 5. REEFs have a higher energy consumption vs the double brights, but with more lights I think it's well worth it. 6. Double brights have approx. 17,000 hours of life, REEFs 50,000 hours! 7. The moonlight comparison has the 'Double bright lights' feeling weak, REEFs are strong. So if you can get past without needing a Reef light, do so. But the one persuasion that might make it all worthwhile is that the Reef model has 50,000 hours vs the 17,000 hours of use before light diminishes 30% in output intensity.