Splurged today on an AI Prime HD light

sh4rkbyt3 · 09/03/2017, 12:27 AM

So today while I was getting my sump (still working that out lol), I splurged on an AI Prime HD light.
I was using a 30" Finnex 247 SE Marine.

The Finnex for the money is a pretty good light and does a nice job of spreading out the light pretty evenly and at less than $100 it's a steal. The only thing I didn't like was it seemed as though the greens and reds weren't able to be lowered in intensity and there were no UV's. You may be able to program it (lowering the green and red) into a memory setting (not sure) but the instructions are very vague and I didn't feel like spending a whole lot of time on it.

The AI has a lot more control over the light spectrum but not sure if that really makes much of a difference to the animals? Because of how narrow the light is spread I may have to get another one to more evenly spread out the light which I wasn't really planning on.
I think for a small cube tank one would probably be enough but my 36 bowfront seems to be just barely wider than the casted light can cover but I'll try it out and see what if anything can be done.

Probably would have been better off going with a black box type light (much cheaper) but you live and you learn. It's still nice to be able to at least aesthetically tune it a little more to your own personal taste as compared to the Finnex at least.

The mount was very easy to figure out and along with some zip-ties, it was quickly on the tank in no time. I do like that you can move the light on a pivot point. I only got to see it for a few minutes tonight after trying to deal with the sump and running into issues so tomorrow I'll have a much better view of it's effect. My bi-color Blenny will probably enjoy the shadowing though since he spends the better part of his day hidden.

mcgyvr · 09/03/2017, 08:30 AM

Congrats.. It should be a much better light than that finnex..

Raise the light and crank it up some if its not spreading enough for you..

Cheapreef · 09/03/2017, 08:31 AM

For that size tank you will need 2 to get even light spread. The prime will cover at most 18", it doesn't put out a lot of par very deep. So you'll want to run them at no higher than 8-10" off your WL.

sh4rkbyt3 · 09/03/2017, 08:56 AM

What everyone said about the WiFi is true lol. It does seem to constantly disconnect itself from the network but the lights do remain on, luckily. I upgraded to the 2.0 software but it doesn't seem to have any effect at all on the connection stability whatsoever.

Right now I'm running the following:
UV - 75%
Violet - 75%
Royal - 75%
Blue - 75%
Green -20%
Red - 20%
Cool White 75%

I turned it up a little after what mcgyvr said and it does help quite a bit but I also think Cheapreef is right, to full illuminate the whole tank I'm probably going to need to get another one.

If anyone else has experience with these please chime in and let me know your settings also.

Cheapreef · 09/03/2017, 09:01 AM

On my 3.4 gal frag tank I just setup along side my Red Sea Reefer Nano, here is what I run 8" off the WL. This is for SPS only.

UV- 30%
V,RB,B - 100%
G - 10%
DR - 30%
CW - 35%

4hr peak time with 4hr ramp on either end.

sh4rkbyt3 · 09/03/2017, 09:22 AM

Wow that does look better. Thanks CR. I moved the UV to 35% and copied the rest of your settings. Hoping to help the coralline along a little.

It definitely makes my neon ricordia's look a lot better. And my dragon eye zoas definitely stand out now. Waiting for some orange zoas to open up hopefully soon.

sh4rkbyt3 · 09/04/2017, 09:06 PM

Picked up the 2nd one today Cheapreef (AI Prime HD)

. Also got 2 discounted SPS coral frags. I'll have to figure out what they are specifically later but my calcium was plenty high enough and I placed both pieces fairly high in the tank and they both seemed to respond well very quickly getting all of their color back and being brighter than they were at the fish store.

My Rio 1400 pump arrived this morning also. Picked up some hardware for that and had the sump running by 4pm today, the light took a little longer but I got it working by about 7pm. Looks really good now

!

Surfpulse · 10/19/2017, 11:18 PM

Awesome I can you those setting to help with my light

09/03/2017, 12:27 AM	#1
sh4rkbyt3 Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2017 Location: Elkton, MD Posts: 110	Splurged today on an AI Prime HD light So today while I was getting my sump (still working that out lol), I splurged on an AI Prime HD light. I was using a 30" Finnex 247 SE Marine. The Finnex for the money is a pretty good light and does a nice job of spreading out the light pretty evenly and at less than $100 it's a steal. The only thing I didn't like was it seemed as though the greens and reds weren't able to be lowered in intensity and there were no UV's. You may be able to program it (lowering the green and red) into a memory setting (not sure) but the instructions are very vague and I didn't feel like spending a whole lot of time on it. The AI has a lot more control over the light spectrum but not sure if that really makes much of a difference to the animals? Because of how narrow the light is spread I may have to get another one to more evenly spread out the light which I wasn't really planning on. I think for a small cube tank one would probably be enough but my 36 bowfront seems to be just barely wider than the casted light can cover but I'll try it out and see what if anything can be done. Probably would have been better off going with a black box type light (much cheaper) but you live and you learn. It's still nice to be able to at least aesthetically tune it a little more to your own personal taste as compared to the Finnex at least. The mount was very easy to figure out and along with some zip-ties, it was quickly on the tank in no time. I do like that you can move the light on a pivot point. I only got to see it for a few minutes tonight after trying to deal with the sump and running into issues so tomorrow I'll have a much better view of it's effect. My bi-color Blenny will probably enjoy the shadowing though since he spends the better part of his day hidden.

09/03/2017, 08:30 AM	#2
mcgyvr Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: North Carolina Posts: 20,050	Congrats.. It should be a much better light than that finnex.. Raise the light and crank it up some if its not spreading enough for you.. __________________ Who me?

09/03/2017, 08:31 AM	#3
Cheapreef Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2002 Posts: 1,076	For that size tank you will need 2 to get even light spread. The prime will cover at most 18", it doesn't put out a lot of par very deep. So you'll want to run them at no higher than 8-10" off your WL.

09/03/2017, 08:56 AM	#4
sh4rkbyt3 Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2017 Location: Elkton, MD Posts: 110	What everyone said about the WiFi is true lol. It does seem to constantly disconnect itself from the network but the lights do remain on, luckily. I upgraded to the 2.0 software but it doesn't seem to have any effect at all on the connection stability whatsoever. Right now I'm running the following: UV - 75% Violet - 75% Royal - 75% Blue - 75% Green -20% Red - 20% Cool White 75% I turned it up a little after what mcgyvr said and it does help quite a bit but I also think Cheapreef is right, to full illuminate the whole tank I'm probably going to need to get another one. If anyone else has experience with these please chime in and let me know your settings also.

09/03/2017, 09:01 AM	#5
Cheapreef Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2002 Posts: 1,076	On my 3.4 gal frag tank I just setup along side my Red Sea Reefer Nano, here is what I run 8" off the WL. This is for SPS only. UV- 30% V,RB,B - 100% G - 10% DR - 30% CW - 35% 4hr peak time with 4hr ramp on either end.

09/03/2017, 09:22 AM	#6
sh4rkbyt3 Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2017 Location: Elkton, MD Posts: 110	Wow that does look better. Thanks CR. I moved the UV to 35% and copied the rest of your settings. Hoping to help the coralline along a little. It definitely makes my neon ricordia's look a lot better. And my dragon eye zoas definitely stand out now. Waiting for some orange zoas to open up hopefully soon.

09/04/2017, 09:06 PM	#7
sh4rkbyt3 Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2017 Location: Elkton, MD Posts: 110	Picked up the 2nd one today Cheapreef (AI Prime HD) . Also got 2 discounted SPS coral frags. I'll have to figure out what they are specifically later but my calcium was plenty high enough and I placed both pieces fairly high in the tank and they both seemed to respond well very quickly getting all of their color back and being brighter than they were at the fish store. My Rio 1400 pump arrived this morning also. Picked up some hardware for that and had the sump running by 4pm today, the light took a little longer but I got it working by about 7pm. Looks really good now !

10/19/2017, 11:18 PM	#8
Surfpulse Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2017 Location: Vacaville Posts: 3	Awesome I can you those setting to help with my light