Ekostore Remote Controlled LED
| Size | Fits Aquariums | Watts | LEDs | Average Lifetime | Color Options |
| 19.5″ | 12″-19.5″ | 6 Watts | 36 LEDs | 2.5-3 Years | 32 |
The Ekostore strikes the perfect balance between high power, low cost and energy efficient, making it one of if not the best starter light for aquarists everywhere.
The housing of the Ekostore is a durable aluminum, saving the clumsy owners such as my self from any dings while moving the light around. This also prevent any melting or burning plastic smells that other high heat lights can produce.
Setting Up The Ekostore Aquarium Light
First off I must mention that the Ekostore Remote Controlled LED does not fit standard 10 gallon aquariums. It’s a bit disappointing that they couldn’t make it reach the extra inch to do so, but that’s just how this light is.
Despite the Ekostore aquarium light being small and inexpensive there is a fair bit of information on set up. Placing the light on the tank is fairly simple, as it plugs in normally and has the legs extend and retract between 12 and 19.5 inches. With the light in place you will need to secure the controller in an unobstructed position. Doing so will allow you easy use of the remote without having to angle it awkwardly to get the signal to read. For those with a stand the easiest option is to hang the cord off the stand on the backside, keeping the cord somewhat coiled up to keep the controller suspended.
While the controller does have switch printed quite clearly on the front of it, there is actually no switch. For this reason it is imperative that you do not lose the remote.
Using The Ekostore LED Light Remote
Using the Ekostore LED remote takes a little getting used to. There are 24 buttons to use, two of which I suggest you never use. Overall the remote has 16 colors to choose from with two brightness settings, making this one of the most versatile aquarium light fixtures available.
- The first row of the remote features the bright, dim, off and on buttons on the remote. These will be your daily buttons
- Changing to column, the first three columns have the red, green and blue light settings. Each of these can be adjusted in hue, so have fun flipping through the colors and remember your favorite ones. Don’t go too quickly or you may startle your fish.
- Remember in addition to using the different colors you can adjust the brightness of each setting. This combined with the purple light is my absolute favorite way to put the fish to bed, dimming it as the night winds down.
- The final column has the white light button, which switches the light back to standard white lighting, along with the flash, strobe, fade and smooth buttons.
- The flash button quickly cycles between every color, producing a nice and clean light show. Cool but not fish friendly.
- The strobe lights are the worst lighting to use for the fish, but you can remove the light and use it for normal household strobe lights. A fun alternative but again please do not use this on the fish as it will terrify them. This flashes between on and off while changing colors.
- The fade button fades into and out of every color. Essentially this is a much calmer version of strobe lights.
- The smooth button shifts from one color to the next closest color. This isn’t too fast or too slow. You can use it without startling the fish.
Light Strength
Getting back to the specs, the Ekostore LED features an energy efficient 6 watt light. This does not make the lights weak, as they are still able to grow many aquarium plants. It cannot grow any high light demanding plants. This also means the light should not be used for coral growing. That being said the light is anything but weak. The bulbs can absolutely bathe the entire tank in full, rich lighting that really makes out colors pop. If you have been using the standard lighting that comes with the tank or simply ambient lighting you will be amazed at the difference the Ekostore LED light fixture will bring.
Keep in mind that the light is 11 inches long and comes out at a 120 degree angle. When used in smaller tanks it will eliminate all dark spots with its powerful lighting. If you try to use the light for much bigger tanks however you will likely need a second light strip or a different light all together.
Lifetime & Warranty
When using the Ekostore LED aquarium light you can expect an average of 10,000 hours of use. Provided you follow 8-10 hour lighting cycles this will last you between 2.5-3 years. Pretty good for this price point, absolutely shattering the costs of fluorescent lighting and other lower quality LED lighting. For this reason I believe the Ekostore LED aquarium light to be a great intro to LED aquarium lighting.
The only issue with the light is its short warranty. Because the Ekostore is a small company they do not offer a warranty for their light. Instead the warranty is offered via amazon and lasts 30 days after you receive the product. This gives you plenty of time to find any defects while also protecting you from any damages that con occur while setting up the light. Once the light is in place the only thing that can happen to the light is LED failure. This is such a rare occurrence that it is not a concern. Should one bulb burn out the remaining 35 will continue to shine on, meaning you would have some absurdly bad luck to notice weaker lighting. Some quick math on that:
1/100 chance(it is not actually this high but just to show how rare it is I am using a harsh number.) = 1 burnt out LED, 35 lights remaining.
1/10,000 chance = 2 burnt out LEDs, 34 lights remaining
1/1,000,000 chance = 3 burnt out LEDs, 33 lights remaining
1/10,000,000,000 chance = 5 burnt out LEDs, 31 lights remaining
If you seriously get that unlucky the lights should not be your biggest concern as you have a higher chance of being stuck by lightning than all your LEDs failing individually.
The big concern here is the lack of water proofing. If the light falls into the tank you can consider it as good as gone. Thankfully the legs fit snuggly on each side of the tank, making this a rare case scenario.
Overall
The Ekostore LED lighting fixture brings a lot more value to the table than your standard low cost LED light. With dimmable lights, 16 lighting options, 4 lighting functions all built into a wireless remote you get a lot of functionality from across the room.
The light is strong enough to grow medium and low light plants at a normal rate and cannot support high light plants or corals. The lights themselves last quite awhile and are amazingly dependable. For getting into aquarium LED lighting there are no better options for small aquariums.
Looking for more aquarium lighting options? Check out all our other guides on our aquarium lighting page!
