How Many of You Hate Your AI's or Maxpects?

Felixc395

Registered Member
I'm really liking LED, however all I've heard is mixed reviews, both terrific and terrible for the maxspect and aqua illumination LEDs. I've heard good reviews, but here, I want the bad. I want to know what's the worst that could happen with an adventure into LED.

I haven't been on RC for a couple months now, so I'm sorry if I'm beating a dead horse here on a thread like this. But I'm really liking the two LED options i've stated and really want to go into led.

So essentially, I would like to hear:
1) What brand of LED did you use, AI or Maxspect
2) What happened to make your LED experience a negative one? (ex: browning, color loss, loose wiring, etc.)

Thank you very much and for once I hope to hear some negative criticism that will help me in this process. And my cursor is pretty close to hitting buy on a new ATI Sunpower so I hope I'm persuaded.

Once again thanks everyone! :)
 
I don't own either but like you I am wanting to jump on either AI or key k3. One issue I hear about AI is spotlighting effect. I go this from a distributor here that sells AI and pacific sun, he switch to the sun because of that spot light and not having the evenness of light. We also have a lfs in montreal that hates AI as well for the same reason, that is why they use the maxspect. I am still leaning toward AI due them be power horses in par.
 
I have two AI units and love them. I can grow anything, anywhere in my tank. I have not noticed the spotlight effect.
 
AI coming from MH and T5. I love them after 1 month of use. One of my SPS's, a birdnest, is not doing well. Everything else is growing and has better color. The BN issue may or may not be related to the switch in lighting.
 
AI for me.

Cons - Should have done it sooner and of course the upfront price but I quickly got over it. The look is second to none.
 
AI, have them and really like them and would buy them again. I think the people with issues are trying to put less units on a tank than what is recommended.AI recommends 6 on a 6 foot tank so use at least 4 not 3.my only concern is if they come out with a unit that has a better red spectrum.one person said he added neutral whites and it filled in some of the missing color.so maybe AI will as a 4th led to the puck or replace the cool whites with the neutral.its not too blue but I miss the reds and yellows.
 
I've owned AI Sol Blues for a couple of months now. My main issue is color rendition. I can't seem to get or adjust to depending on your perspective the proper coloration as compared with my previous MH/T5 setup. I hope part of it is the well discussed lack of a "warmer" white. I'm adding a few DIY neutral whites to see if it helps the situation.

Otherwise, they are as advertised.
 
AI, have them and really like them and would buy them again. I think the people with issues are trying to put less units on a tank than what is recommended.AI recommends 6 on a 6 foot tank so use at least 4 not 3.my only concern is if they come out with a unit that has a better red spectrum.one person said he added neutral whites and it filled in some of the missing color.so maybe AI will as a 4th led to the puck or replace the cool whites with the neutral.its not too blue but I miss the reds and yellows.

Of course you could always supplement with neutral white.
 
I've owned AI Sol Blues for a couple of months now. My main issue is color rendition. I can't seem to get or adjust to depending on your perspective the proper coloration as compared with my previous MH/T5 setup. I hope part of it is the well discussed lack of a "warmer" white. I'm adding a few DIY neutral whites to see if it helps the situation.

Otherwise, they are as advertised.

If you do add neutral whites, be sure and report back how it looks.
 
I'm running my AI's, Sol Super Blues, at 80% W, 60% B, and 60% RB. My reds and oranges are quite good. If anything, Yellow is the only color that seems to suffer. I like the color rendition but would add some warmer whites if that helped the yellows. My blues, pinks, and purples never looked better.

Of course, I have always preferred 10k to 12k color rendition. Most people seem to like bluer water.
 
I'm running my AI's, Sol Super Blues, at 80% W, 60% B, and 60% RB. My reds and oranges are quite good. If anything, Yellow is the only color that seems to suffer. I like the color rendition but would add some warmer whites if that helped the yellows. My blues, pinks, and purples never looked better.

Of course, I have always preferred 10k to 12k color rendition. Most people seem to like bluer water.

80% White? How long have you had the AI. Careful not to bleach your corals.
 
80% White? How long have you had the AI. Careful not to bleach your corals.

I am just at about 5 weeks. I started at 50,30,30 and have bumped it up every week. With my last move up just a day or two ago. I have three units over a 45" 75g reef. I came from 2x175mh xm 10k's supplemented by two 48" vho flour's. So far things look great. I do have a birdnest that was having issues before the swap-over that looks worse now but tissue loss not bleaching. My digitata, undata, plana, Hoke, garf bonsai, clam, LTA, and several unidentified corals look better than ever. I thought I was out of the woods. Do you think I still have reason to worry? Should I back it off some?
 
I'm running 400 watt Radiums on my 150 (72 x 18 x 27). Assuming that I need 6 modules to light the space evenly, are we talking over $3,000 ? After calculating the power usage compared to my halides and cost of bulb replacement for Radiums, it would take a little over 5 years to recoup the cost. Hopefully by then LED will be much, much cheaper.

Also, have any of you switched from Radiums with VHO actinic and been happy? Can they replicate that "pop" in coloration?
 
I am just at about 5 weeks. I started at 50,30,30 and have bumped it up every week. With my last move up just a day or two ago. I have three units over a 45" 75g reef. I came from 2x175mh xm 10k's supplemented by two 48" vho flour's. So far things look great. I do have a birdnest that was having issues before the swap-over that looks worse now but tissue loss not bleaching. My digitata, undata, plana, Hoke, garf bonsai, clam, LTA, and several unidentified corals look better than ever. I thought I was out of the woods. Do you think I still have reason to worry? Should I back it off some?

I am cautious by nature. If it were me, I would be lower on the white.
 
Well the reviews so far are excellent, which is terrific! But if anyone has any problems, such as coral bleachings that were cured, I'd love to hear your experience. That's my biggest concern, that my corals will bleach and die which would be terrible. Any solutions or remedies?
 
Well the reviews so far are excellent, which is terrific! But if anyone has any problems, such as coral bleachings that were cured, I'd love to hear your experience. That's my biggest concern, that my corals will bleach and die which would be terrible. Any solutions or remedies?
if that's ultimately your concern, then the solution is easy and well documented- turn them down and acclimate your coral over time to increased intensity. Hundreds of posts on this subject and there is nothing inherint to AI or Maxspect that makes them any different to any LEDs in that respect.
 
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