Another AI Sol Blue review
- Thread starter heckeng
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heckeng
New member
A couple more:
None of the pics I have taken were photoshopped. What you are seeing is about 80% correct to how it appears in person (at least how my computer is showing them). What is not apparent on the pictures is the amount of fluorescense that exists. I believe the camera picks up so much more blue light that our eyes doesn't see that it drowns out the other colors? Every one of the 30 or so types of zoas shows some sort of awesome coloration that the pics don't pick up on.
The lighting still does look dim compared to my MH setup but I am only running around 30% overall brightness. Eventually I hope that will be fixed.
The pics that are actinic looking are using 30% B and 30% RB, they just don't have the white on which is surprising because when the white is on and the blue LEDS are at the same level, the tank is completely different looking as the white drowns out the blues.
And Yes, I know, the tank is a little cluttered with all of the frags etc in it. I am planning on getting rid of many of them sometime soon! So, cut me some slack on the tityness aspect of it!
None of the pics I have taken were photoshopped. What you are seeing is about 80% correct to how it appears in person (at least how my computer is showing them). What is not apparent on the pictures is the amount of fluorescense that exists. I believe the camera picks up so much more blue light that our eyes doesn't see that it drowns out the other colors? Every one of the 30 or so types of zoas shows some sort of awesome coloration that the pics don't pick up on.
The lighting still does look dim compared to my MH setup but I am only running around 30% overall brightness. Eventually I hope that will be fixed.
The pics that are actinic looking are using 30% B and 30% RB, they just don't have the white on which is surprising because when the white is on and the blue LEDS are at the same level, the tank is completely different looking as the white drowns out the blues.
And Yes, I know, the tank is a little cluttered with all of the frags etc in it. I am planning on getting rid of many of them sometime soon! So, cut me some slack on the tityness aspect of it!
AcroporAddict
There is no substitute.
The tanks I gave you links on are ramped up and down for a total photoperiod of around 12 hours a day, with a period of six hours at 100% in the middle (or 90%, depending on which tank you look at), with a 3 hour intensity ramp up before and 3 hour intensity ramp down after (12 hours total). Ramp up and down at low intensity will not do a lot for the corals from a photosynthesis standpoint. It is the high intensity period in the middle where the corals get the bulk of their beneficial light. This is similar to a metal halide photoperiod needing to be 7 hours or so to satisfy the light needs of the corals, with anything longer being just for looks without any real benefit to the corals themselves.
I do a 12 hour photoperiod, 3 hour ramp up to 100%, 100% for 6 hours, and a 3 hour ramp down, total of 12 hour photoperiod. You may not have seen it, but it is in post #14.
Frankly, I wasn't asking for advice about my Sol Blues, just commenting on how there seems to be so much talk on RC about how low you have to set the white LED intensity, but you never see posted pictures of thriving, colorful, growing SPS reef tanks running the Sol blues at 40% or similar, but you can find documentation of thriving SPS tanks using higher intensity percentages.
There are also many complaints about SPS browning r/t the use of Sol Blues, and the common thread is is that people think they can get away with using fewer units than they can, and they buy into the low intensity scenario and their corals brown out on them.
You cannot think of a single Sol Blue as a direct replacement for a 250 watt halide for two reasons. The Sol Blue PAR measurements are taken at 100% for all three LED types, and if you are running at anything less, then you are not at that equivalent level. Run your LEDS at 50/50/50 and you are at quite a bit less than one 250 watt halide. Also, the directionality of these modules makes it even harder to use that equivalency on larger tanks, unless you are lighting directly over your SPS corals. Raise the light up for better spread, and you dramatically decrease the PAR getting to your corals, which goes for halide, T5 or LED.
Your situation my be a bit different r/t the small size of your reef. What is your tank, 20"x20"x20"? A single Sol Blue might work great for your application, as you don't need a lot of spread because your tank is small. People run into trouble when they use too few modules for the size of their tank and/or the type of corals they want to keep. A 120 gallon might be fine with two modules if you have a softy/LPS tank, but try that with an SPS dominant tank and you will probably find you need 3 or 4 units to keep your SPS corals colorful if you want to place them anywhere in the tank, outside of lighting a coral island type aquascape. I've been in the hobby sine I was 12, which puts me at 37 years keeping aquariums. An old timer like you.
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meshwheel
New member
AcroporaAddict,
Well yopu certianly know your stuff! More so then I with the LED's as I have never owned any!
Those are great points and well taken here! Thank you! My current tank is 24x14x18. However, I am upgrading to a 36 wide x16x30 deep bow front.
I see some guys hand them parallel to the tank. I am curious if I could get by with one on the bow front mounted long was with 70 degree lenses????
I have a PAR meter, so I can get some numbers once I get the light to compare with my old halide with coral placement.
I thought if I got it early I could hang it over my smaller 24 inch tank until I get ready for the move.
If it's not enough I can purchase another module. Are you running all sol blues over your tank?
Thank you! Great info! My ears are smoking now...................lol
Well yopu certianly know your stuff! More so then I with the LED's as I have never owned any!
Those are great points and well taken here! Thank you! My current tank is 24x14x18. However, I am upgrading to a 36 wide x16x30 deep bow front.
I see some guys hand them parallel to the tank. I am curious if I could get by with one on the bow front mounted long was with 70 degree lenses????
I have a PAR meter, so I can get some numbers once I get the light to compare with my old halide with coral placement.
I thought if I got it early I could hang it over my smaller 24 inch tank until I get ready for the move.
If it's not enough I can purchase another module. Are you running all sol blues over your tank?
Thank you! Great info! My ears are smoking now...................lol
meshwheel
New member
Here's a current picture of my 34 gallon nano tank from the side. My corals are getting ready for more room.
This is under one 250 watt Radium bulb in a Coralvue reflector.
[/IMG]
I hope the pic come out! Its been a while!http://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x122/65bug_01/IMG_3286.jpg
This is under one 250 watt Radium bulb in a Coralvue reflector.
I hope the pic come out! Its been a while!http://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x122/65bug_01/IMG_3286.jpg
AcroporAddict
There is no substitute.
Here's a current picture of my 34 gallon nano tank from the side. My corals are getting ready for more room.
This is under one 250 watt Radium bulb in a Coralvue reflector.
[/IMG]
I hope the pic come out! Its been a while!http://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x122/65bug_01/IMG_3286.jpg
I thought you might have had a Solana tank, which are 34 gallons and 20x20x20. Nice looking corals, BTW. All I used prior to going LEDs was Radium bulbs in a Lumenbright reflector and CV E-ballasts (400 watters). You have an SPS heavy tank, and with your upgrade to a 36" long tank, I would think you need two units. Of course, you can always try one and add a second if you need it. If I were setting up your new tank with one, I would concentrate the SPS under the area of the light, however, as you will probably see significant drop off in PAR on the L/R sides with one unit. Put your softies and LPS on the sides and front of the bow section.
AI recommends the use of a PAR meter regarding setting the LED intensities when setting up the Sol, and trying to keep the PAR of the Sol the same as he light you are replacing for your corals, at least when you first change the light out. You are right on thinking to do that. I didn't, and I should have myself.
The 70 degree optics actually cuts down on the PAR at lower levels of the tank, but gives a better spread without the magnifying glass spot burning issues some have seen. I think you are going to need the 40 degree optics it comes with stock since your tank is deep. My 300 DD tank is 28 deep, and yours is deeper than that. I have all stock optics on my nine modules. The optics are another thing you can add later if you feel you need them. I'd start with the stock setup when you get your unit.
All my modules are Sol Blues, and these are the only lights on my 300. I wanted the freedom to put corals anywhere in the tank, and nine lets me do that. I might have gotten away with six and careful placement of SPS, but didn't want to be limited by it.
Here is the AI tank size/unit # recommendation chart. For my tank, which is 72" x 36" x 28", at <12" AWL they recommend 12 modules, which seemed excessive to me. The lowest recommendation is six at >12"AWL, which didn't seem like enough (higher the fixture, the lower the PAR in the tank), so I settled on the middle of the range, which is nine. I am also mounting them a bit differently than AI recommends. Since I have top trim, my tank is cut up into three 24" x 36" sections, so I light them like that with the units mounted sideways. Pic below. AWL means "above the water line." Mine are 10" AWL right now.
meshwheel
New member
AA,
Wow! Great picture and nice job hanging the lights! The light spread looks really good to me!
Well to me it looks like I will need 2 for sure if I want the end to end spread for SPS corals!
Are you happy with the results or is it still too early to tell? These are teh only LED's so far that really have me sold. Adjustability seems to be the key and sufficient PAR.
These AI's seem to excell in both departments!
Thank you
Wow! Great picture and nice job hanging the lights! The light spread looks really good to me!
Well to me it looks like I will need 2 for sure if I want the end to end spread for SPS corals!
Are you happy with the results or is it still too early to tell? These are teh only LED's so far that really have me sold. Adjustability seems to be the key and sufficient PAR.
These AI's seem to excell in both departments!
Thank you
AcroporAddict
There is no substitute.
I wouldn't think so, unless you have a rock island type 'scape and the rest is open swimming area. That's a pretty large tank. If you are keeping LPS/softies, then three, more if you are keeping SPS. This is just my opinion. I am not trying to be the de facto expert here by any means. Any advice I give is based on my experience with them only.
Take a look at the AI Unit Recommendation chart I posted above. It has the minimum at 3 at >12" AWL for a 60" x 24" tank, more for <12"AWL.
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AcroporAddict
There is no substitute.
Thanks. I wanted to come down from the drop ceiling with the hangers, but there is an AC duct behind the drop ceiling, so I had to hang from the wall instead.
I'm happy with the results I have with 9 units, which is what I bought originally. I bought nine, then bought into the "less is more" hype about these units, and my corals browned. When I went back to 9 modules on my 300, I got the color back.
I think that LED lighting is a choice with some tradeoffs, which goes for any lighting choice. Halides may be the best for coral color, but have regular bulb replacements, excess electricity use vs LEDs, and heat in the tank, which in most cases necessitates a chiller, etc.
T5s have bulb replacement, heat addition to the tank, etc, but have good rendition.
Leds can provide good color, but I'm not convinced it is as good a that from a halide or T5 bulb, but it may be 90+% of it. But, LEDs have a long life, no bulb replacement, use far less electricity, do not heat the tank, and usually will eliminate the use of a chiller and the electrical consumption that necessitates as well, and give shimmer to the tank.
My experience level is a bit over 6 months at this point, so I have a long way to go, and coral colors can change slowly, so the "as good color as halide" argument is still on the fence for me, but that is what I see so far.
The dimmability feature of the AIs is a double edge sword, IMO. It is nice to be able to do, but using it has caused some folks to have brown SPS corals. What I see from my own local reef club is some folks have less expensive LEDs over their tanks with a set 1:1 or 1:2 white:blue LED ratio, like the eshine units, some without any royal blue LEDs at all, and they cannot adjust intensities it at all, and their SPS corals are great looking, as nice as halides. So in some ways, not having the ability to dim LEDs can be a good thing IMO, because these folks never had the ability to play with the intensity levels and brown out their corals.
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meshwheel
New member
AA,
Great points! Maybe the Apogee PAR meter will help get me through that dicey stage of the game when I make the switch.
I got to go to reef-a-palooza and see Acan's LED's and I was really impressed with them as well. THey actually build their own 12K daylight or white LED bulb. And boy is it crisp looking compared to AI's white led.
I just dont like the fact that they are built in China. They looked nice, but I just trust the AI fixtures better from what I have seen so far.
Thanks
Great points! Maybe the Apogee PAR meter will help get me through that dicey stage of the game when I make the switch.
I got to go to reef-a-palooza and see Acan's LED's and I was really impressed with them as well. THey actually build their own 12K daylight or white LED bulb. And boy is it crisp looking compared to AI's white led.
I just dont like the fact that they are built in China. They looked nice, but I just trust the AI fixtures better from what I have seen so far.
Thanks
chadfarmer
Premium Member
aquacave use the RC5 code to give you 5% off makes it $379.00
premium aquatics had the same discount but its over
the black version of the sol comes out tommorrow
premium aquatics had the same discount but its over
the black version of the sol comes out tommorrow
AcroporAddict
There is no substitute.
I also have a 100 gallon cube, 30" x30" x 24", lit by two sol blue modules, and it is an LPS/softie tank with frospawn, hammer, chalice, leather, lobos, sympodium, zoas, three RBTAs, and I have the Sol blues peaking at 50/50/50 midday. Just raised it up from 45/45/45. Either of those levels has given me good color. Hope that helps you.
SaltwaterAdict
New member
If the led's are so good why do you have to use a ton of units to achieve what 2-3 mh bulbs would?? I think it's a neat idea, but seeing people get 8-12 units over their large tanks is insane!! :beachbum:
Is there really any electrical savings if this many units are required even for a smaller 90 gallon. I see people putting on 4 units for a tank this size! What's up with that?
Is there really any electrical savings if this many units are required even for a smaller 90 gallon. I see people putting on 4 units for a tank this size! What's up with that?
heckeng
New member
The coverage is why people use so many units, LEDs are simply much more directional than MH or T5 bulbs. I also like having more than I need because I can run the LEDs at a lower power level which keeps them nice and cool. Come to think of it, simply being able to adjust the power level at all is a huge advantage to me. I tried using the Lumatek adjustable wattage e-ballasts with my MH and while that did work, it also changes the color of the light output when you adjust the power level. So in addition to trying to find just the right bulb for coloration preference, if you change the wattage, you have to start all over with trying to find the right bulb color. When bulbs cost $50-$120 each, that gets pretty expensive. There is still significant electrical savings (percentage wise anyway) from MH. My old light was 600 watts, the new setup is 3 AI Sols at around 50% power, so 3 x 75 watts x .5 = 112 watts. I am saving just over 80% of my electrical usage. I was one of the lucky people who didn't need to run a chiller but I did use a small fan but I consider it insignificant. I am not worried about the $ savings, that is just a plus in my book. The real nice thing is the coloration of the corals, dimming, and the programability (ramping) in my opinion. The T5 actinic bulbs on my old fixture were good bulbs with OK reflectors and were honestly not worth a lot simply because the fixture was 12" over the tank and the light just got so diluted by the time it got to the corals, it didn't have much power left.
Many people have done this size tank with only 2 AI Sols with good success. They just run the power a little higher and generally have then running parallel with the tank instead of perpendicular like I am running mine. I agree, it seems to get cost prohibitive to get 10 AI units if you can get by using 3 or 4 MH bulbs, but you lose the rest of the benefits of LED then too.
Many people have done this size tank with only 2 AI Sols with good success. They just run the power a little higher and generally have then running parallel with the tank instead of perpendicular like I am running mine. I agree, it seems to get cost prohibitive to get 10 AI units if you can get by using 3 or 4 MH bulbs, but you lose the rest of the benefits of LED then too.
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SaltwaterAdict
New member
Ok, thanks for the better understanding. I see how lowering the power decreases electrical output, never knew that. The versatility seems really nice. Neat how you can adjust to the desired color. Now the real question is do they work? Have you seen coral growth and do the bulbs last as long as they claim? 5 years seems ridiculous. Doesn't the intensity change in that
'long' of a period.
