If the video clip of the LIFI lit tank we posted earlier today piqued your interest, here’s another video clip to keep you all hot and bothered. This vid is showing the same fixture which is on the macroalgae tank as set up by the Monterey Bay Aquarium staff. As you can see, the light fixture itself behaves very much like our old metal halides, set up as a pendant and used a single point source of light. The hammertone reflector is kinda dated but considering that there isn’t a single pendant made for Plasma Arc lights that we know of, we’d say the set up was working just fine. The Plasma Arc or LIFI as it s also called can dim down to 20% intensity and with that there is a slight, soft color shift towards the blue spectrum, but it’s still not quite a 12K temperature down at the power minimum. So how did MBA get ahold of one of these super prototype Plasma Arc lamps? well it turns out that Luxim is soliciting a range of industries to try out the new technology through a developer kit which for ~$700 (we’ve heard up to $1000) includes the power supply, the dimming and control circuitry, the power puck which holds and “fires” the bulb and the actual puny Plasma Arc lamp itself. Even if you have the cash don’t think that Luxim will dole out one of their LIFI devkits to just anyone; depending on availability you may have to prove that your work with their kit will lead to bigger and better things beyond just your own overly lit tank. Although the LIFI lamp may be the latest and greatest lighting source known, don’t expect for LEDs to just fade away into obscurity. The LIFI is only available in a 250w configuration and the LEDs will still dominate our smaller tanks and blue lighting applications. We’ll be on this new tech like white on rice so stay tuned and follow the link for more pics of this very exciting Plasma Arc setup.Â
