Nicrew lights water resistance?

I've been heavily considering getting a nicrew light for my 25gal. I have a decent light right now, but it's only manual on/off, so even if I put it on a plug-in timer, the brightness doesn't ramp up or down. I've noticed my neons get pretty spooked when I turn off the light in the evening, even with a moderately bright room light on. They dart around frantically for about 10 seconds before calming down. I think a more gradual reduction in light intensity would be better for them, which is why I'm considering a programmable light.

I've heard lots of good things about nicrew lights, including from members on this forum. The one thing that seems to be a weak point for them is their water resistance, or lack thereof. A number of the Amazon reviews mention water seeping in and damaging the LEDs over time, even without continuous splashing or the light getting knocked into the water. I'm wondering what the experiences of people here on the forum have been regarding nicrew lights and water damage.

My tank is currently open-top and I do have a couple of sponge filters running in the tank that continuously create minor splashing from the bubbles. I do plan on getting a screen lid for the tank sometime soon, but I'm not sure how much that would contain the bits of splashing from the sponge filters. My current light is very waterproof and it's fallen into the tank (more times than I'd like to admit...) without incident, but I also don't want to continue stressing out my fish with the sudden on/off of the light.

Edit: I've just realized there are risers for aquarium lights... They seem quite handy, and might be the solution to my problem. Please do still share your experiences with and thoughts on nicrew lights if you have them, or risers/clips for aquarium lights

I’ve just started using the Nicrew 24/7 lights, all the tanks that have them on, so far are open… since I have terrestrial plants in hanging pots on these tanks, all my lights are 18 to 24 inches above the aquariums, for space for the plants to grow… I’ve not had any issues in the 3 - 4 months since I began adding them, but because of issues I have had with previous lighting, I did buy the extended warranties

I use all Nicrew lights. I've not had any issues with using them. I've partially dropped them in the water a few times and no damage.

I used the ClassicLED Plus with add-on dimmer/timer when I first started out but have since replaced several of them with SkyLED Plus. The SkyLED Plus has a built in timer with digital display and is much easier to program then the ClassicLED Plug add-on dimmer/timer. The SkyLED Plus also has more light spectrum.

@Ram419 ... Thanks for posting... I had a couple more of the Nicrew classic LED lights in my cart to purchase... I just switched them to the SKYLED Plus... they provide more wattage of light, & say they are waterproof... the biggest issue I had with their regular lights, is I currently have one tank ( a 45 gallon tall ) that I have 2 lights on, because of floating plants & the depth of the tank... it's really hard to program the lights differently, when they use the same wireless remote, & only one frequency... I'm still reading, are these new lights using a corded controller, or do they still use the same wireless remote???

just watched the video on programing the corded remote... I also like that the time is programable to the minute

Yeah, I've not seen any that do wireless remote, or via phone app for the Nicrews I've used. All have been wired into the light.

Well I can't say anything about those cuz I've never seen them or use them but I can't tell you about the one that I use and love.
I've got two of these and I plan to order more to replace all my other lights in the future. Program it is fairly simple through the screen on the top of the light and it's simple enough that for basic programming I don't have to get out the manual every time I only had to read it once.
I almost forgot and they are waterproof which is great because I have dropped one of my other lights in the tank accidentally and killed it.

I've got 4 of these right now... I wish I had seen the digital ones before I started buying these...

I've got a place that the time setting isn't as critical, that I'll move my original ones to... but I have several tanks in my bedroom, & I want the lights to come on, just about the time my alarm is ready to go off, & they help me wake up... so the digital ones will definitely go on those tanks

Magnum Man said:

I've got 4 of these right now... I wish I had seen the digital ones before I started buying these...

Amazon.com

I've got a place that the time setting isn't as critical, that I'll move my original ones to... but I have several tanks in my bedroom, & I want the lights to come on, just about the time my alarm is ready to go off, & they help me wake up... so the digital ones will definitely go on those tanks

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Do you have to use a different remote for each light?

they are all the same ( frequency ??? ) so I only need 1 remote... it creates a problem on the tank I have 2 lights on the same tank... ( I needed more light because of floating plants, & the depth of the tank ) you can only set every 2 hours on the non digital lights, I have my lights set differently, & it's near impossible to set them on the tank, with 2 lights side by side, one changes both lights at the same time...

Magnum Man said:

they are all the same ( frequency ??? ) so I only need 1 remote... it creates a problem on the tank I have 2 lights on the same tank... ( I needed more light because of floating plants, & the depth of the tank ) you can only set every 2 hours on the non digital lights, I have my lights set differently, & it's near impossible to set them on the tank, with 2 lights side by side, one changes both lights at the same time...

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Oh I see. So you would have to move one of hte lights away from the other to program it but can't really control anything else with it unless you want to affect both at same time.

yes

I've got Nicrew lights and no real complaints, especially for the price compared to others. I've knocked one of them fully into the tank when doing maintenance, snatched it out without thinking or unplugging it and didn't get a shock - unplugged and dried it off and let it dry for a while, and it's continued to work fine for a couple of years since I did that.

(for anyone else, don't make my mistake, unplug it before pulling it from the tank - safety first! I just acted on instinct)


Have a Nicrew light on my 57g that's a few years old and recently started playing up, hasn't been dunked or splashed too much since water level is lower in that tank due to not being balanced flat so it has a slight tilt, and recently some of the LED lights started flicking, and some have stopped working. Might need to replace that one, but I suspect LED burnout rather than water damage.

I have 3 nicrew lights that are all about 4 or 5 years old, they are still working well. The power to the lights is low voltage DC so I don't worry too much about them being waterproof. I have dropped a couple of them in the water and even though they were in the water they still lit. Took them out and dried them, still working, though I expect they are slowly corroding. If you have a saltwater tank I believe they would die soon after being dropped in the water. Mine are definitely not waterproof, and I expect if you used them long term over open water they might degrade due to corrosion. I keep mine over the glass covers to the tank.

Uberhoust said:

I have 3 nicrew lights that are all about 4 or 5 years old, they are still working well. The power to the lights is low voltage DC so I don't worry too much about them being waterproof. I have dropped a couple of them in the water and even though they were in the water they still lit. Took them out and dried them, still working, though I expect they are slowly corroding. If you have a saltwater tank I believe they would die soon after being dropped in the water. Mine are definitely not waterproof, and I expect if you used them long term over open water they might degrade due to corrosion. I keep mine over the glass covers to the tank.

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I would agree on the saltwater. Nicrew does make one for saltwater though Amazon

Not sure why the pic on the Amazon item page shows the other type of light and not the one shown in the pictures in the Nicrew store though. Oh, I see, you click on the pictures to see the store page for those. Then there's some that are the same as the non-marine that lay on the top of the tank instead of with an arm.