TMC GroBeam 1000, & New 600/1500 Ultima Review

Revised 1/8/19

The above is a couple of 20 gallon planted aquariums that the pictures were forwarded to me that has been using ONLY ONE American Aquarium GroBeam and ONE T2 Aquarium Light.
She told my friend this about these aquariums with a GroBeam LED this:
“The plant production out of these two small tanks has been amazing. I trim about every 2 weeks and sell the excess at my LFS.”
This pictures can be enlarged by clicking on (photos by Patricia Grice).

Product References:
American Aquarium GroBeam LED Lighting
American Aquarium T2 Lighting

Section 1; Customer Review
This is a consumer review sent to me (by a friend of a friend).
The output is similar to the GroBeam 500/600 since the emitters are identical (although there are differences in the drivers), so those looking into a GroBeam 500/600 can certainly find this review useful as well.

“1. – Extremely well packaged and arrived in perfect condition. I’m only using one light for the next two weeks until I get my big tank set up.

2. – VERY WELL MADE lamps from the water resistant covers to the sockets. These are very sturdy lights. You get what you pay for.

3. – I LOVE these Gro-Beam 1000 lights! I may have been using an old 175w metal halide bulb, but these lights are every bit as bright and concentrated as metal halide. I love the “beam” effect it has when punching through the water. The color is beautiful, and it truly looks like my tank is in the sun.

4. – NO light pollution – the light goes where it is directed. I had light going everywhere with my metal halide. It is a more calming light. When I’m on my couch starting at the aquarium, I don’t feel like I am looking into stage lights.

5. – Have you done a PUR study on these? My plants have NEVER pearled as much under halide as they do with this light. It’s kind of like looking through a weak glass of 7-up. Outstanding! So, I know my plants are loving it if they pearl within and hour and oxygen saturation has occurred within that short time frame.
Reference: Aquarium Lighting; PUR, Photosynthetically Usable Radiation

6. – The dark corners when the light is close to the water (for the next few days, it is sitting on the glass canopy) gives a beautiful appearance of great depth or distance to the tank. It isn’t a light explosion like with UGLY fluorescent lighting. Extreme lighting in all areas which can be accomplished through HO fluorescent is far from calming to look at. With the GroBeam 1000. It looks like I am underwater looking at the items – there are shadows, glitter lines, and a sense of depth which is natural in nature.
See product link: American Aquarium AquaRay Lighting; GroBeam

7. – These two lights will pay for themselves in 3 years vs. metal halide or other LED systems. I ran the numbers, and with the amount saved and the 5 year warranty, they can’t be beat. After seeing and experiencing the build quality, I can now certainly confirm this.

8. – Bye Bye to my metal halide, the heat, the very warm ballast, and the feeling I was always under a sunlamp when working in my tank.

9. – Bye Bye to the expensive bulb replacements and the special handling they require. You aren’t supposed to touch the halide bulbs with your fingers – hmmmmmmmmmm, how do you replace them then, with gloves? If oil from the skin can damage a metal halide bulb, why are we using such “delicate” things? I always used my bare hands but always worried too what would happen.

10. – and finally, HELLO to the LEDS!!! Welcome to the new technology and the safety of them. They are worth every penny. I’m looking forward to having to prune my planted tank often. That’s what makes the hobby fun.

GroBeam 1000 Video

Summary

I decided the plants take precedent over my preference of color which is why I went with the appropriate lights rather than the XG1500 9000K. I had a 175, 6700K Metal Halide over my 22 gallon cube, and then switched it over to a 14K bulb I had when I used to do saltwater just to see the difference. I didn’t like the blue appearance nor how it made the plants look odd. True, my neon tetras glowed more blue as did my beta, but the plants looked weird. I went back to the 6700K last night to make my final decision. Everything looked much better under that light. It is under 6700K that I got explosive growth when I added a good, CO2 reactor (I use the Red Sea Reactor 500 – although some don’t like it, I think it is wonderful!)
See product links:
TMC 1500 LED Lights
CO2 reactors, economy

P.S.I purchased some fish magazine off the shelf and was looking through it last night. There were bunches of ad for LEDS, 155 1 watt bulbs!, etc. I just had to laugh when I read them 🙂 I hope people truly do their research!!
Reference: Aquarium Lighting Facts & Research

By Gary S.

Section 2; GroBeam 600 & 1500 Ultima

Please Click pictures to enlarge

• The New (as of January of 2013) GroBeam XB-D Ultima 1500 Tile & 600 Strip is an over all wide angle 65K High Light Planted or Fish Freshwater Aquarium Light.
See this product link: Aquarium LED Lights; 1500 Tile & 600 Strips

These new emitters seem to run even cooler than earlier emitters with a voltage variance that likely will be less sensitive to voltage spikes that moisture in an aquatic environment can cause.
As well the PAR is higher than that of the previous versions

• These newest adaptation of the Natural Daylight LED, aka the GroBeam now has the patented Cree Natural Daylight XB-D LED emitters

• The 1500 consists of 10 x 6,500K extremely high output NEW patented Natural Daylight XB-D LED emitters while the 600 strip utlizes 5 of the new patented emitters
The 600 Ultima consists of 5 x 6,500K XB-D LED emitters.

Please see the picture above for a 45 gallon “Cube” planted freshwater aquarium with two GroBeam 600 Ultimas

• For “High Light” Planted Aquariums, best results achieved under 25 inches of depth (the Marine White can be supplemented 1 to 2 for deeper planted aquariums)

• Excellent for Marine Refugiums as large as 38 gallons for the GroBeam 1500 or 15 gallons for the GroBeam #600

• The 1500 tile achieves 2058 Lumens, and a PAR of 148 uEinsteins/sec/m2 @16 inches.
The previous 1000 GroBeam Tile has a PAR of 123 uEinsteins/sec/m2 @16 inches

Please Read/Reference:
Aquarium Lighting; Facts & Information
PUR, PAS, PAR in Aquarium Reef/Planted Lighting

For Marine Reef Aquariums, see the related:
American Aquarium Reef Lights; Ultima 600, 1500, 2000

Also see:
Product Feedback @ American Aquarium Products

Copyright 2019
By Steve Allen

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For Help Finding a High Quality Hot Cathode UV-C Replacement Bulb:
UV Bulbs; Guide