Orphek OR3 Reef Day Plus Led Bars in our DaniReef Lab – review

How to value these numbers in aquarium?

This is a good question. At first we thought that we could transport these values to the aquarium tout-court. Than we filled the aquarium, insert the probe and re-done the measurements. We fazed but, as we have already said in elsewhere, we’re going to talk about this in another article. Basically, while at 20 cm the result is practically the same, as we progressed, thanks to the glass and the water itself reflecting the light, we found even the double of the values measured in air. Obviously this isn’t a detail that can be standardized, so we think that our method of calculation is the most correct, and the best for the comparison of coverings of different ceiling lights.

Power consumption

The lamp Orphek OR3 Reef Day Plus has a power consumption of 60 watt. 

Ceiling light Orphek OR3 Reef Day Plus: 60 watt. Considering that at 17 cm the ceiling light has a maximum of 667 μmol m-2 s-1, we can say, in perspective, that it will have a peak value of 11,12 μmol m-2 s-1 w-1 (PAR per watt). This value is hardly comparable with other ceiling lights because it remains constant throughout the length.

The comparison with other ceiling lights on the market

These data have been collected through Quantum Meter MQ-510 di Apogee.

Considering the first celing lights we managed to test we can do an interesting comparison about their produced energy:

With the OR3 Reef Day Plus we obtain a bigger peak value of PAR across the board, even compared to the Old Reef Day Plus which have analogous spectrum, but not similar, as we said before. Compared to other bars the PAR level is still a reference, it loses something from the Blue Plus which, on the other hand, have a larger blue component that we know has a greater PAR power. Unluckily the price is higher than the one of the previous bars, both because of the dollar rise and because you have to add taxes and duties. In any case it’s sill competitive, actually even better for efficiency (on paper) compared with, for example, the Reef Flare.

Mantaining costs

The LED bars Orphek OR3 Reef Day Plus cost 270 euro. On Orphek’s official website they cost 200 dollars. The price is the same, remember that you have to add taxes and duties to the 200 dollars. They’re almost the 32% of the total, so the price would be 264 dollars, and the difference of 64 dollars would be paid to shipping courier. It’s true that the change between euro and dollars would make you save some money, but consider that if you purchase the bar in Italy the warranty would last two years, otherwise it would be of one year only. In think that the purchase in Italy is more convenient.

The absorbed power is 60 watt, so the cost/watt ratio is almost 3,2 euro per each watt. In order to do a comparison with the other ceiling lights you can refer to this chart:

As we have already occasion to say for the sister OR3 Red Refugium, the LED bar is impeccable, very well build. I really like the extruded borders as well as the refinement. There isn’t a programming that assures a simple modality of use, but you can also assit it with other bars to obtain the power you need. I really like the extruded borders as well as the refinement. In any case if you consider the whole energy you have a more realistic picture. So the bars are perfect for breeding corals, but you have to take the bars you need. Do you need twice the PAR? Use two bars. Do you need four times the PAR? Use four, and so on. What else to ask to a LED bar? According to me, 4 LED bars should let us get 600 PAR in a medium aquarium, and with such a value you can breed Acropora of any complexity.

The cost per watt is in the average, in line with the previous models, also considering VAT and duties, while the PAR per watt we are at a very good level. Better than some Blue ceiling lights of the competitors. What else can we ask to a LED bar?

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