# Nicrew vs. Beamswork



## jayo (Sep 21, 2016)

I only own two lights, and they are the two lights you've linked above. (!!). Here's what I think of them:

I have the Beamswork DA FSpec over a 20H (mine is 24" long). I've had it for 18 months and have been very happy with it. It's well built, is easy to hook to a dimmer/controller (go third party rather than getting the Beamswork 'timer', see below), and though the light produced is slightly cool, my aquarium looks great with it.

I have the Nicrew tricolor over a Fluval Spec V five gallon tank. I've had it for about five months and have been mostly happy with it. The mounting legs aren't that great, and the light runs hot, but with a dimmer/controller (again, easy to hook up) it works well. It seems to have a larger proportion of colored LEDs and not quite as much blue as the DA FSpec, which makes the light seem slightly warmer. I like the look of the light produced very much, slightly better than the Beamswork (which I also like!).

Comparisons:

The beamswork fixture is 4.75" wide, while the nicrew is only 2.5" wide. So with the Beamswork, the LED's are spread over twice the width. This can be considered a plus, because the wider fixture will give somewhat more even light coverage, while being slightly better about preventing shadows. However, if you want to view the tank from the top, it blocks a lot more of the view, so that would be a minus if it matters to you.

The beamswork comes in 20" length which should just fit your 10G. The longer Nicrew (which is the version I have) is 14.5" long, with extendable metal legs (which are slightly loose - beware of them sliding and dropping the non-waterproof light into your tank during maintenance - I've already done this twice with mine - despite it's non-waterproofness I was able to take it out of the water, turn it off, disassemble it easily via four phillips screws and dry it out, and it was none the worse for wear). Basically the Beamswork will be a big honking fixture over your tank, while the Nicrew will look much more petite. 


Both lights are too much for your 10G. This is actually a plus for both, because it means you can use a digital dimmer/controller and get exactly the amount of light you want. I own, and recommend, the S2-Pro, which just plugs in inline to both cords with no mods needed. I bought mine HERE (from Ali express - you can find them on Evilbay too). It lets you set eight light levels during the day (where a 'level' is a value between 0-100 and is a percentage of the total fixture power), and the controller ramps the light between them. 

The Beamswork is $35 right now, and the Nicrew is $25. Throw in an extra $12-13 for the dimmer/controller (which is really worth it!). If you don't mind how large the Beamswork is, it is the better built fixture, and the mounting legs are superior. On the other hand, the Nicrew is cheaper, slimmer (which will be nice if you often view your tank from the top), and I slightly prefer the light color. But be very careful about dropping it into the tank. With a fixture smaller than your tank, it gets very easy to bump in one of the mounting legs and when you set the fixture back down it goes right in the water.


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## Fish-N-Cats (Oct 18, 2019)

jayo said:


> Both lights are too much for your 10G. This is actually a plus for both, because it means you can use a digital dimmer/controller and get exactly the amount of light you want. I own, and recommend, the *S2-Pro, which just plugs in inline to both cords with no mods needed. I bought mine HERE (from Ali express - you can find them on Evilbay too). It lets you set eight light levels during the day (where a 'level' is a value between 0-100 and is a percentage of the total fixture power), and the controller ramps the light between them. *


Slight revival of an old post, but I haven't seen a clear answer hear or elsewhere with some Google-fu...
Can you or anyone else confirm if the S2 Pro can separately program the daylight (full spectrum) and the night light (blue LEDs only) on my teenage daughters 20" Beamswork DA FSPEC? I'm not sure what it means if a timer/dimmer is single-channel, 2-channel, etc. or if having a mode button means the timer/dimmer is smart enough to control the lights separately through there.
I'd like to be able to set up the timer to ramp up all the lights to 70% or so during the day, then at night ramp up the blue lights to 50% at night while ramping down the daylights to Off. Bonus if I can have multiple ramping up/down of either or both lights for a little variety... only setting the daylights to be brightest while we're home, simulate a little cloud cover, or something like that. We're going to be adding plants to our little 10-gallon shrimp/fish tank and understand that this light could be too much depending on plants & CO2 etc., so having some level of fine control over the light is important. As is not spending a bunch of cash on everything, as the daughter's not rich.

I understand that the Beamswork DA Timer/Dimmer would let me separately set dimmer/timer for each, but doesn't allow for any ramp up or down, just single instances of on/off for each type of light.

Thanks from an old poster, longtime lurker now half-back into the hobby/addiction.


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## jayo (Sep 21, 2016)

No, the S2-Pro (or other aftermarket dimmer/controllers) cannot independently control the channels of the DA FSpec, and as far as I know, it's a huge pain to try to split the FSpec into two channels to be able to control them independently. There are threads on it on this board, but IMO it is really not worth it.

Personally, I think that the full FSpec at 1% or 2% (all LEDs, not just the blue ones) is a better looking night light than the blue lights, and that the blue lights are a marketing gimmick.


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