FAQs

At Top Marine Supply, we take pride in the products we make, and have put our systems through rigorous testing to ensure your system has a long life. Some of our innovations are a weighted light, with a custom designed strain relief cord attachment to keep the bulb in place, and make it easy to remove when you need to. The bulb floats up at any height to accommodate various water depths. Additionally, all of our systems are self cooling, providing air flow over the control box components, which results in a longer life and cooler running unit.  Finally, we offer unique options, such as our digital ballasts, and up to 400 Watt bulbs, giving you the ability to customize your purchase to be exactly what you need. 

For an upgrade, you can choose to have a digital ballast instead of the standard magnetic ballast to run your lights. The digital ballasts are more energy efficient, which will save you 15-20% on energy costs, will have a longer lifespan, and will physically run cooler than a magnetic ballast.

The fish will love your light no matter which color you choose! It is mostly a matter of personal preference, although the water clarity and type can affect the appearance of the bulbs in the water. For clear salt water, our colors will shine true, in brackish water, the colors will distort due to the particles the light shines through. Green bulbs will shine green in brackish water, but the blue light will shine with a yellow / orange light. Our red bulbs have been designed particularly for brackish water, as they permeate through the particles further than any other color we have tested. They will show as an orangish color, but if the quantity of light is important to you, the red bulb will give you the largest diameter of light in brackish water. 

It is bright! As Top Marine Supply is based in Southwest Florida, we understand many of the canals and riverways are brackish, and we wanted to provide our area with a light brighter than the ones we saw our competitors selling. In clear water, the 400 Watt bulb will illuminate a 25 foot diameter area of light around the bulb. How large an area illuminated can vary in different water conditions however.

No, our single unit boxes are custom made with the components inside to run one bulb, and it is the same for a two bulb control box. If you need to add a new bulb to your dock, we recommend purchasing an additional system. 

Our systems all have a photocell attached, so the unit will automatically come on at dusk, and turn off at sunrise. We recommend letting the unit come on each night to help reduce barnacle and algae growth.

All of our control boxes are actively cooled, and circulate air to prevent excessive heat buildup. 

Our control boxes come with a 5’ power cord, if you need a longer length add your desired length to the comment section when you place your order so that we can reach out and get you exactly what you need. . 

Generally, no. The bulbs we use discourage algae and barnacle growth on the bulbs. Silt may settle on the bulb, this can be cleared usually by moving the bulb around a bit. Our bulbs are designed to run each night, so if you plan to leave them off for a period of time, we recommend pulling the bulbs out of the water so they wont grow barnacles. Be aware that the bulbs should not be turned on out of the water.

Unfortunately the components in the control box are not designed to be submerged in salt water and as such will likely be unrecoverable after being immersed in salt water. To prevent potentially serious issues it its recommended to replace the full Underwater Light System if a flooding event occurs that places the system underwater.