When it comes to water purification equipment, SpectraPure is, in my opinion, the leader in that field. They have always had 'quality' equipment along with excellent customer service and I have known their owner Charles Mitsis for well over ten years. We have met several times, at both major marine aquarium conferences or their place of business in Phoenix Arizona.
A while back while visiting their facility to checkout new DI equipment (see my review of this item on my Product Review page - 'Ultimate DI System') I couldn't help noticing a "Star Trek" looking device hanging from the ceiling in their workshop area. It was a six-foot long tube, about three inches in diameter, extending out from an about ten inch oval housing.
I realized this was something that looked like the first generation sulfur lamp built by Fusion Lighting, called the Solar 1000 Lamp. This one was a little smaller and was informed this was a second-generation version. I momentarily forgot about the new DI system and asked if the lamp could be turned on. I had heard these lamps were so bright it is impossible to look directly at them.
I should note the sulfur lamp uses radio frequency waves to excite a golfball-size bulb filled with sulfur and argon gas, which rotates at 3000 rpm in the oval housing. The argon heats the sulfur into a gaseous form and the energy produced, a broad visible spectrum is radiated out into the glass tube. The lamp itself remains cool, yet the housing contains a large muffin fan to cool the spinning ball.
While the lamp was spinning up, which took about a minute, it was explained the lamp uses a 1000 watts, produces over 130,000 lumens, and should last for twenty years without any loss of spectrum. It also does not generate any ultraviolet or infrared light. Within a minute it was impossible to look directly at the lamp! The noise generated by the unit was mostly that of its muffin fan, so noise was not a major drawback. Cost of this model, which I understand was a proto model and was not going to be produced, was about three thousand dollars. I was asked if I wanted to take it home for a fair price! I could just imagine walking into our home with this monster! I would probably be sleeping with the Doberman that night. Anyway, it was quite interesting to say the least and mention it here because Charles is always willing to look to leading edge technology and incorporate it into his products and his business facility. Without a doubt, he has no 'me too' products that are simply copies of other product brands.
I have, as well as many of my clients and readers, used various SpectraPure aquarium equipment with great success! And, I don't know of one single dissatisfied customer in all the years I've known them. Whatever your water purification and dosing equipment needs, it would behoove you to first checkout the SpectraPure website at www.spectrapure.com before buying these type of products elsewhere. And, checkout the latest second-generation version of their Liter-Meter, which is among the best dosing equipment on the market. In fact, you can link to a previous product review of their first Liter Meter, which I wrote about for the November issue of Marine Fish Monthly in 1997 by clicking on the following link - 'Product Review - SpectraPure Liter Meter (MFM Vol. 12/10 -1997).' Please click on the arrow below to view SpectraPure's advertisement.
Bob Goemans