Giesemann has been a big name in aquarium illumination for years with their top notch T5HO bulbs and high end metal halide fixtures, and they’re starting to making some big waves in the LED game. Late last year, the German lighting gurus released their very sexy Teszla LED fixture, which has been well received thus far, and now they’re showing off yet another amazing piece of aquarium tech. Like the Teszla, the new Giesemann Futura appears to be a good looking piece of hardware with its brilliant white case, low profile look, and features. Unlike the Teszla, however, this new fixture won’t have an on-board controller (from what we can tell) and it won’t be a small module style light. Instead, the Futura will be available in several different lengths, which we are getting to fall in line with the more traditional lenghts of 24″, 36″, and 48″ and possibly even 60″ or 72″.
In terms of the gear under the hood, the Futura sports 20 high-power Cree LEDs per module that can communicate with each other through a secured internal radio link. In order to communicate with the actual fixture, Giesemann has included a Bluetooth connection that can talk back and forth with a PC, smartphone, or tablet computer…which is obviously great news for iPhone and iPad users. The software interface, which appears to play very well with touchscreen devices, is geared to handle all of the color mixing, LED dimming, and lighting scenarios (including storm and cloud cover settings) that the fixture has to offer. We haven’t heard how many different LED colors will be available in the Futura, but if Giesemann sticks to the same formula they used for the Teszla, we expect at least five different independently controllable colors. Of those, we have only been able to confirm white, blue, and royal blue emitters. But who knows, perhaps we’ll see something just a little bit more robust.
Switching gears back to the fixture’s externals, the Futura has a sophisticated micro-processor controlled active cooling system that helps keep the LEDs running at optimum temperatures. The housing also offers narow or wide-angle illumination through the use of “loss-free secondary optics” in both narrow and wide angle configurations, which is a sharp step away from the Teszla fixture which uses no optics whatsoever. In terms of future use, much like other fixtures on the market, the Futura was designed with expansion and upgrading in mind. Both the LED modules and the fixture’s firmware can be updated as those new items roll out.
We’re not sure when the Futura will be available stateside, but we’re sure it will make its debut in Europe well before we get to see any here. Pricing and other details will be updated once we get that information.
