My thoughts on my Aqua illumination

[mario420]

Well lets start with my 54 gallon corner tank, originally I had 250W metal Halide Hampton technology from 2009-2010. During this time I had good color and great growth with my SPS.

Bio-load: is usually 3-4 fish.
Coral Mixed
Filter 20gallon sump, GFO, Reef octopus skimmer.

December 2010 I made the plunge and purchased one AI Sol blue per the people at AI. At first all I could say is WOW these things are truly amazing. The color you can make your coral look under the light is just unbelievable. Saw a change in the electric bill, tank didn't have any temperature swings any longer.

Well it has been over a year now and most of the SPS coral has either browned out, or STN'd.

I emphasize the word "most" because my orange plating montipora, birdsnest, and sunset montipora grew very nicely...Well up until a week ago my sunset started to take a turn for the worst.

I have a Lime in sky stag horns which took exactly one year to show any sign of life. It was not until about a month ago started growing but the color is Ok at best.

Now the LPS, Zoas, well anything soft do very well, great color, good growth.

Through out the last year I have been pretty good with weekly 5 gallon changes. Watching ALK not gonna lie it did have a few low points lately, but i usually aim to keep it at 8.5 - 9 and I have found a good dosing regimen to keep it there.

Calcium 420-450
Mag 1400 -1500
I tested Potasium, iron, strontium, and iodide about a month ago and the numbers were Ideal...Don't remember the numbers.

Some people my come back to the thread and say well LED's are alot different than other lights and you need to measure PAR...I did when I first got the lights and I matched it up to as close as I could to the halide.

That didn't work out to great so I ended up copying "roberto_lopes" light regimens about 5 month ago.

Now where does that put me?? Well personally I believe LED's are the future of reef keeping without any doubt in my mind. I have considered repurchasing a Halide until the kinks are worked out. I do believe it could be something such as a color spectrum that needs to be added to the lights. And AI's have the functionality to add a new puck if that be the case.

I have also thought maybe I need 2 AI modules and contemplated purchasing a second one.

For now I will probably just wait it out for a few more months because as stated earlier I started getting new growth on the SPS and it possibly took them that long to get used to the new lighting spectrum.

As of right now I am completely questioning the AI's Ability to grow Beautiful colored SPS corals such as deep blues, reds, and some bright greens. Many people will say will "roberto_lopes" has done it but I haven't seen him post an update since Halloween last year.

I would like to apologize for my negative thoughts on the lights but this is my experience.

[CUZ]

Interesting read, I'm debating on which brand to go with right now. Maybe more people that have run led sps systems for a year or better need to share their experiences long term.

[mydeck07]

good luck go with ecotech. Best led spectrum so far or an ATI

[mario420]

I agree on the bigger tank it is definitely a plan in the future. Right now I don't have room in the condo. T-5's I think they are great and they can do great things, but one thing i really like about LED's and Halide is the shimmer affect not sure I want to give that up.

[NatureNerd]

Wow, sorry to hear that your tank suffered. I am also surprised that anyone would suggest only one Sol over that size tank. Seems like that was bad advice. I have three over a 75 and that really feels like a minimum. Of course, cost is an issue. My story seems the opposite of yours. 11 months, not quite the year that you had them, and better growth than I would have ever expected and good color too. It took about a month or two to get things dialed in and the SPS's acclimated in my tank.

You know, some tanks just do better with MH's.

[windyridge]

What intensity are your lights at?

This guy's at 9 months is pretty impressive. http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2119802

[mario420]

I am glad to hear a good review. I really don't want to abandon the lights. If I have to add another module I will.
Do you mind sharing the height your hanging the lights at as well as your power settings.

[mario420]

11A - 1P: 20% white, 50% blue 70%rb 30 min ramp
1P - 9P: 90% white, 70% blue 100%rb 200 min ramp
9 - 11P: 5% white, 50% blue 70%rb 10 min ramp
11P: 1% white, 2% blue 3%rb Lunar

[DGL]

I am having the same negative results with AI SOL Blues. Attached is a copy of my issues I Just sent to AI today
DGL

My background; I am 63 years old and have been a reef aquarium keeper for over 25 years. I have had great success with all types of corals and have a full knowledge of how to properly maintain all water parameters and I do so at all times. I have used virtually every type of lighting there is; Metal Halide, Power Compact Fluorescent, VHO Fluorescent, T-5 Fluorescent, Standard Fluorescent & now LED’s. I currently own and operate a State Licensed Aquaculture facility in Florida and have successfully raised, propagated & sold thousands of 100% aqua cultured species of corals.

I purchased the SOL Blue lights thinking I was getting a State of the Art System but after having the light system for about 4 months now I am really beginning to think I made a very poor decision. No where can find any guide lines on how to properly adjust these lights other than being advised to run them fairly low in the beginning to avoid possibly causing damage to my corals?

I would like to know how to adjust the ratio of the White, Blue & Royal Blue to achieve a color spectrum you are looking for; 10K, 12K, 14K, 20K, etc. So far I have not been able to find any ratio of adjustment that does anything but simply change the aesthetic color view of the aquarium. I have certainly not seen anything that has improved coral color, growth, polyp extension or otherwise made any improvements to the corals in my system. If anything, the color of SPS corals has diminished to say the least.
There are some LPS corals that do display very well under the SOL’s but I haven’t seen any growth to speak of.

It would seem your company would have some consistent guidelines on what percentages each color light should be set at to achieve certain color spectrums, realizing of course as you increase the percentages of each color respectively you will also increase the intensity / PAR of the light. Like changing from a 250W 20K to a 400W 20K, Kelvin has stayed the same but your intensity has increased.

As of now I wouldn’t recommend these lights to anyone and if I knew then what I know now I would never have wasted my money on the SOL Lights. I would have stayed with the cheaper black box LED’s that have been working very successfully on one of my propagation systems.

Sincerely,
David Leonhard

[hkgar]

11A - 1P: 20% white, 50% blue 70%rb 30 min ramp
1P - 9P: 90% white, 70% blue 100%rb 200 min ramp
9 - 11P: 5% white, 50% blue 70%rb 10 min ramp
11P: 1% white, 2% blue 3%rb Lunar

Try the lighting schedule I use. You can find it in my thread re my tank and AI SOLS mentioned in Windyridges post above

[Donkeykong]

I have to agree with the user who said 1 on that size of a tank will not cut it, I just hung 2 over my 75 and am contemplating a 3rd. Now I know telling you other people have had really good success will not change what your tank looks like. If you have been truly soured by the product it is sometimes better to get out and move on. I dont know of any LED unit that will cover that size corner with a single unit, most will require 2 i would think. The Ecotech Radions are amazing lights, I have a guy down the road from me that is 5-6 months in and is seeing great coloration and strong growth. But I doubt one would cut it and at $750 each I dont think you would want to spring for two of those. LED's are a great light source, but one tool will not work for every job.

[swanny]

IMO one ai sol over a 50 gallon is just not enough light for sps and that may be the issue, just my opinion. I've seen great sps growth in person from ai's and that's why I have recently switched.

[hkgar]

The normal spread per AI would be 24x24

[windyridge]

I beg to differ. Here's mine, one corner bow front 92G tank with one AI unit at 13 inches AWL. Great growth, so far and am only at 70%and slowly increasing. Plenty of light, plenty bright and not even 100%.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7056/6780919946_a7ec7babd9.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/windyridge2007/6780919946/)

I have several sps.

[fishcraze_1]

I beg to differ. Here's mine, one corner bow front 92G tank with one AI unit at 13 inches AWL. Great growth, so far and am only at 70%and slowly increasing. Plenty of light, plenty bright and not even 100%.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7056/6780919946_a7ec7babd9.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/windyridge2007/6780919946/)

I have several sps.

Looks good

Might have to try one over my 92 corner

Lps and soft only

No sps

[sirreal63]

I don't wish to bash AI or any LED mfg., however, saying that one will replace a 250 watt halide is just marketing based on nothing but dreams. You may reach that 250 watt level directly under the 40 deg. optics, but the spread isn't there. They also never have said which 250 watt setup they tested against to make that claim, was it a low PAR 20k bulb with batwing reflectors or a high PAR bulb in a good fixture? The difference in the two is considerable. Which one did they test against? Or did they just pull that out of the air to help sell fixtures.

I considered the AI but it would take at least 4 according to AI to get the light I was getting from one 250 watt Halide or the 2-150's that are currently on the tank. There is light penetration directly under the fixture, but the spread of light is not there. My tank is a 40x40 pentagon, and it would take 4 of them to light it? That was AI's suggestion, not mine.

This technology will be the future of lighting, but I don't see it as a direct replacement just yet. It is getting closer every day, but it is not a fit for all systems. Mario, you would need 2 of the AI's to adequately light your tank, or go with a DIY setup, the best results I have seen haven't come from a pre-made unit, they have come from DIY. Windyridge, no offense, your tank is beautiful but it really doesn't have anything in it yet. A few sps frags and a few lps and an anemone is not the same as a tank full of mature colonies. The good news is yours will get there, even with the AI's but don't be surprised if you have to add a second one down the road.

DGL, I too think you made a poor decision, but I understand it was with the right intentions. You may need to change optics or put your old lighting back in place. Your case is different, you won't lose a couple of frags, you stand to lose your whole facility. I don't think I would gamble like that. The savings in electricity won't matter if you lose your mother colonies.

I am eagerly awaiting the day when I can retire my halides, I don't see that day happening just yet. I have faith in this technology but not in the people making fixtures. We know that LED's will grow corals, and have known that since the Solaris came out, but it doesn't always work for everyone in every situation.

[windyridge]

This thread speaks for itself: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2120423 (Please show me your exclusively LED driven SPS tanks)

[sirreal63]

Yes it does, and almost all of them are DIY and small tanks. It seems there is a difference in starting a tank with frags and LED's and switching a mature tank from another light source to LED's. Those seem to be the ones with the issues.

[mydeck07]

Led is the way just not yet!

[Canadaguy]

I think LED are the way to go just not the AI Sol IMO. I bought the AI and the Radion to compare the 2 and the AI just was not in the same league as the Radion. Hence I sold my AI and kept the Radions.