Chris Jackson
Member
HI All,
I've replaced my ADA Aquasky 602 with a pair of 470mm Giesemann Pulzar HO Led units and accompanying Tezla BT Bluetooth controller.
I'm very happy with the result but in truth all has not gone as smoothly as I'd wish.
So why switch? Well the Aquasky delivers a lot of light packaged in a very elegant unit but two things bug me with it. Firstly I do not like the high light bleed into the room and well down the back of the tank. Secondly I'd really like more control over the light output.
Here you see the band of light that the Aquasky sends down behind the tank. Less of an issue if your tank is not so close to a wall but mine is.
And with the Pulzars on the standard tank brackets the effect is gone...
Add in a single adhesive flexi LED strip as background lighting and you get a pleasing effect..
As far as colour rendition is concerned I feel the Pulzar's in standard spec produce a light output that is a little more pleasing closer to the T5's I'm used to. The Aquasky always reminded me of the Giesemann HQI halide lights that I have in another fitting that seem just a light too "bright white" and wash out the plant colours a little. The various T5's I've used have produced a more pleasing spectrum than either the HQI's or ADA LED's but this is of course subjective and as far as plant growth is concerned, everything grows like mad under any of them.
The major attraction than had me choose the Pulzars is the BT Interface that allows for programmed light cycles in terms of both time and intensity. My whole intent with setting up this tank was to create an ideal setup whereby the only limitation was my skill and imagination as far as aquascaping was concerned. There should be no compromise in terms of equipment hence the initial ADA tank and light purchases. The Pulsars and BT interface take this a step further.
The BT Interface provides a Daycycle, a Lunar Cycle and a Colour Mixer. The day cycle is as the name suggests and allows full control of lights on/off time and intensity and is actually very easy to use once you've worked out how to find English instructions relevant to the software. This was one of my frustrations. Whilst the software can be downloaded from either the Giesemann UK or German websites in PC/Mac or Android versions but to actually get guidance on using it requires you to read the Futura manual and adapt those instructions to fit as best you can and it takes a bit of thinking. The are no instructions for the BT Interface per se and the only instructions for the Pulzars are in German... Not what I'd expect for a £200.00 price point. Added to that the mains power supply for the BT Interface arrives as a 2 pin German unit and requires a suitable UK mains adapter which was not included. Again not what I'd expect for £200.00.
However once you've jumped through these hoops you do end up with a highly flexible package that allows you to have your tank illuminated for many more hours per day without irradiating your plants or creating an algae farm.
I've had the lights for around 3 weeks now and originally I was running a fairly low output schedule as I was going to be away for a week and wanted everything easy in my absence..
I've been running this new higher intensity schedule for over a week now and all is growing is very well with no algae issues.
There is a colour mixer that allows you to customise the light output across three channels misnamed as White, Royal Blue and Marine Blue. Apparently the the blend as is mimics Giesemann's Midday T5 but what theor "Midday" tube is isn't clear because, according to their website, they produce Tropic and Super Flora tubes not "Midday" tubes. Playing around with mixing the colours hasn't produced anything preferable for me so far. I was hoping that there would be a Kelvin slider type of control as the unit is quoted as producing a 4600- 8500 Kelvin output but quite what the standard output is isn't clear but I suspect it is close to the 6500K Tropic tube.
The other feature is the Lunar Cycle mode that produces a low output Moonlight feature according to what ever timing you set that also follows the actually Lunar cycle once you program in when the full moon is. A bit gimmicky perhaps but it is a nice way of having your tank decorating the place all through the evening. I'm running it at a very low level and switching off at midnight. The plants close up for the night as usual and the fish go quiet and are less disturbed by room lights going on and off and you can also see the shrimp keeping busy. I like!
Ok, finally a few issues...
I ordered through Charterhouse at a quoted 15 day delivery time... I lost count of how many weeks I waited but it was around 8 before the wrong marine versions turned up...finally nearly three weeks later the correct lights arrived but one was faulty with only one LED board working..that was quickly replaced direct from Germany within a week but with no advice of delivery so it was fortunate I was in.
Charterhouse have been very helpful throughout but it has all been very slow and tiresome and for a premium product I really don't think the information and documentation is adequate at all.
Having raised my concerns directly with Giesemann Germany via their web site I was contacted by Simon the MD at Reef Eden (The UK importer) about my concerns. He said I should have got a UK mains adapter (but didn't actually offer to send me one..) and that he actually does all the German to English translations for Giesemann but that they are in the process of standardising the controller software across light units so that only one set of instructions is needed but of course this hasn't been done yet...
So that is probably enough from me now but I'll do my best to answer any questions..
I've replaced my ADA Aquasky 602 with a pair of 470mm Giesemann Pulzar HO Led units and accompanying Tezla BT Bluetooth controller.
I'm very happy with the result but in truth all has not gone as smoothly as I'd wish.
So why switch? Well the Aquasky delivers a lot of light packaged in a very elegant unit but two things bug me with it. Firstly I do not like the high light bleed into the room and well down the back of the tank. Secondly I'd really like more control over the light output.
Here you see the band of light that the Aquasky sends down behind the tank. Less of an issue if your tank is not so close to a wall but mine is.
And with the Pulzars on the standard tank brackets the effect is gone...
Add in a single adhesive flexi LED strip as background lighting and you get a pleasing effect..
As far as colour rendition is concerned I feel the Pulzar's in standard spec produce a light output that is a little more pleasing closer to the T5's I'm used to. The Aquasky always reminded me of the Giesemann HQI halide lights that I have in another fitting that seem just a light too "bright white" and wash out the plant colours a little. The various T5's I've used have produced a more pleasing spectrum than either the HQI's or ADA LED's but this is of course subjective and as far as plant growth is concerned, everything grows like mad under any of them.
The major attraction than had me choose the Pulzars is the BT Interface that allows for programmed light cycles in terms of both time and intensity. My whole intent with setting up this tank was to create an ideal setup whereby the only limitation was my skill and imagination as far as aquascaping was concerned. There should be no compromise in terms of equipment hence the initial ADA tank and light purchases. The Pulsars and BT interface take this a step further.
The BT Interface provides a Daycycle, a Lunar Cycle and a Colour Mixer. The day cycle is as the name suggests and allows full control of lights on/off time and intensity and is actually very easy to use once you've worked out how to find English instructions relevant to the software. This was one of my frustrations. Whilst the software can be downloaded from either the Giesemann UK or German websites in PC/Mac or Android versions but to actually get guidance on using it requires you to read the Futura manual and adapt those instructions to fit as best you can and it takes a bit of thinking. The are no instructions for the BT Interface per se and the only instructions for the Pulzars are in German... Not what I'd expect for a £200.00 price point. Added to that the mains power supply for the BT Interface arrives as a 2 pin German unit and requires a suitable UK mains adapter which was not included. Again not what I'd expect for £200.00.
However once you've jumped through these hoops you do end up with a highly flexible package that allows you to have your tank illuminated for many more hours per day without irradiating your plants or creating an algae farm.
I've had the lights for around 3 weeks now and originally I was running a fairly low output schedule as I was going to be away for a week and wanted everything easy in my absence..
I've been running this new higher intensity schedule for over a week now and all is growing is very well with no algae issues.
There is a colour mixer that allows you to customise the light output across three channels misnamed as White, Royal Blue and Marine Blue. Apparently the the blend as is mimics Giesemann's Midday T5 but what theor "Midday" tube is isn't clear because, according to their website, they produce Tropic and Super Flora tubes not "Midday" tubes. Playing around with mixing the colours hasn't produced anything preferable for me so far. I was hoping that there would be a Kelvin slider type of control as the unit is quoted as producing a 4600- 8500 Kelvin output but quite what the standard output is isn't clear but I suspect it is close to the 6500K Tropic tube.
The other feature is the Lunar Cycle mode that produces a low output Moonlight feature according to what ever timing you set that also follows the actually Lunar cycle once you program in when the full moon is. A bit gimmicky perhaps but it is a nice way of having your tank decorating the place all through the evening. I'm running it at a very low level and switching off at midnight. The plants close up for the night as usual and the fish go quiet and are less disturbed by room lights going on and off and you can also see the shrimp keeping busy. I like!
Ok, finally a few issues...
I ordered through Charterhouse at a quoted 15 day delivery time... I lost count of how many weeks I waited but it was around 8 before the wrong marine versions turned up...finally nearly three weeks later the correct lights arrived but one was faulty with only one LED board working..that was quickly replaced direct from Germany within a week but with no advice of delivery so it was fortunate I was in.
Charterhouse have been very helpful throughout but it has all been very slow and tiresome and for a premium product I really don't think the information and documentation is adequate at all.
Having raised my concerns directly with Giesemann Germany via their web site I was contacted by Simon the MD at Reef Eden (The UK importer) about my concerns. He said I should have got a UK mains adapter (but didn't actually offer to send me one..) and that he actually does all the German to English translations for Giesemann but that they are in the process of standardising the controller software across light units so that only one set of instructions is needed but of course this hasn't been done yet...
So that is probably enough from me now but I'll do my best to answer any questions..
