AI Prime Settings

[Virtual Balboa]

I'm curious to hear what kind of settings people are using on their AI Prime leds. I currently have two Primes about 7" over a standard 29 gallon tank. I've been running them on a 12 hour total light cycle with a 2 hour ramp up and a 2 hour ramp down. I've haven't spent much time messing with the individual colors. Instead the lights ramp up to the automatic 18,000 K setting. Then about midday they ramp for 30 minutes to 14,000 K. Then stay there for an hour. Then ramp down for 30 minutes back to 18,000 K until they ramp down to lights out. During the whole light cycle I have the intensity set at 40%.

My tank contains: zoas, rbta, chalices, various mushrooms, duncan, lobo, favia, acans, gsp, jasmine polyps, and a trumpet coral.

Salinity - 1.025
Alk - 9.3-9.6 dkh
Calcium - 430 ppm
Phos - 0
Nitrate - 2-5 ppm

Everything seems to be doing fine. However, nothing seems to be growing exceptionally fast. I don't have a par meter and it looks like AI changed the light info that they had originally posted claiming the lights put out 500 par at 12" to 250 par at 12". So maybe I can turn the lights up a little more? Or down?

Any thoughts or shared experiences would be great!!! :fish2:

[Icefire]

well those output 50w each so at 40% you have 40w of lights which is about 2x24wT5

I would up them gradually to the max the coral can take it over a few weeks (1% every few day)

[Virtual Balboa]

I have read that leds are more intense than T5's and that you have to be careful. How many T5 bulbs would a person normally put on a 29 gallon tank?

[Icefire]

well led and T5HO are similar in lumen/watts so it should stay similar in term of watts.

I would shoot for 60+

[Virtual Balboa]

Cool I'll give it a shot. I actually went up 5% today to 45% because I had them set there a few weeks ago. Then I was talking to someone at the lfs and they told me that was probably too bright! I think their recommendation was based on higher wattage leds.

[Icefire]

Best thing is to monitor your corals, if they bleach or look unhappy back off for a while

[Virtual Balboa]

I'm not sure what to think about the par ratings on these lights. From what I understand 260 par max is quite low. I bought them because they were originally listed to put out 500 par so needless to say I was a little ticked off when I found out they weren't putting out the par I thought they were. The odd thing is that my corals are doing fine. They're growing but not quickly. Now I only have both of the lights at 50% intensity within a 19,000K spectrum so all of the led colors aren't even at 50%. My rbta hasn't been moving around the tank and it never moved to the highest rock in the tank. I thought bta's required very high lighting!?

[krshlln300]

I know this is old but any update? Do you still like your ai prime? Btw for PAR... LED's are tricky. They do not output the same "type" of lighting as t5 or halides. Thus despite lower PAR values on average, the level of output is actually pretty high and can definitely be sufficient in many cases. Additionally, if you want more par I've seen other people attach Cree LEDs to the mounting arm as supplement.

[Virtual Balboa]

I know this is old but any update? Do you still like your ai prime? Btw for PAR... LED's are tricky. They do not output the same "type" of lighting as t5 or halides. Thus despite lower PAR values on average, the level of output is actually pretty high and can definitely be sufficient in many cases. Additionally, if you want more par I've seen other people attach Cree LEDs to the mounting arm as supplement.

Everything in my tank has been doing great. All my corals are growing. I have the intensity of the lights at 60% on the 20k setting. I haven't raised the intensity in a long time because I got a gha outbreak that I've been battling.