Lighting questions, AI Prime HD vs Current USA IC LED (24")

[HighLife]

My tank is over 10 years old now and I am thinking I am ready for a new light. Right now I have the Marineline Reef fixture which is a couple years old now (Same as the model with the built in timer, but this one does not have the timer). Its 27 total LEDs, I believe they are 23x 1W 10k white and 4x 1w Blues.

I am wanting something with a little more power and configurations. I really would like to setup a dawn/dusk time with ramp, plus some cool features like the storm to wow my friends and family.

So here it is, my tank is 20H (24x12x16). The new HD is suppose to be able to cover a 24x24x24 space so I think I am alright. Right now my tank is mainly GSP with some brown zoas and some mushrooms (that were originally a hitchhiker on my live rock. I love the features and the size of the Prime, but worried about a couple of things. 1- Will this be enough light? Mostly softies, but I want my upgrade to be able to handle some lower light SPS. Nothing fancy, but maybe 1-2 pieces of birds nest or something close to the middle and closer to the top. 2- The amount of light that leaks. This is right next to my desk, so I will be sitting under the light, so I am worried that the light will leak and bounce off everything in the room. I do love the whole package, but having it so high off my tank really worries me in this regard.


The next option is the Current USA IC (Loop) 24" fixture. This is the newest one from current atm. It actually comes with a light, plus the controller and as a bonus, comes 1 eflux wave maker. I know this light has all the bells and whistles and, since its a strip, will sit right above the tank. What worries me is that this setup will pretty much put all my eggs in one basket (Current USA basket). Which means, I will be stuck to buying Current USA items for the entire time I have the tank. My worries with this are being committed to all Current USA items. I know, I can mix whatever I want and that AI does not even have a feature to control the lights/wavemaker at all. So it might be a small issue. However, my biggest issue is the light itself. It does not seem like there is much power compared to the AI, granted, the AI is more like a spot light, but in that spot light, it seems the par is much higher.

I have been looking at reviews on both, youtube videos and such. Not much on either, but there are a few. Most show the light after a couple of days. Only a couple have posted about growth over time.

Appreciate any info, thoughts, comments.

Tank pic included for reference...

 

[Pelagic_e36]

I have the 48 inch Current USA IC LED on my 55 gallon going on 6 months now. I love all the features of the light, but it would be nice if it were more powerful. It does just enough to keep my zoas and GSP happy however I am already looking for another more powerful light like the kessils or the hydras. I also got a free eflux pump and based on my experience with it: after a week it started making a weird noise, contacted Current USA and they told me to clean it. So I left the pump in there and after about two months the pump just would not put out any flow, I would put my hand in front of it and feel almost nothing even after a good cleaning. Boils down to: cool features such as sunrise/sunset, storm effects, but low power and low quality wavemaker. I would go with the AI hydra IMHO.

 

[GimpyFin]

If you are wanting a light with decent power output, stay away from the Current USA lights, IMO. They use a lot of low power LEDs on their fixtures. Don't get me wrong, for a small, shallower tank, with low light corals they can do well, but if you are going to upgrade you don't want something on par with what you already have. I've used the Current USA lights as well as the AI Hydras and the AI is a much better/more powerful fixture, IMO.

 

[Ron Reefman]

If it has 0.3 or 0.5 watt leds, it's really meant for shallower tanks like 12" or 16". They just aren't powerful enough for a 24" deep tank.

You can get similar coutrol with several fixtures using 3 watt leds. Reef Breeders is probably the best value in terms of cost to get lots of features and high PAR. AI, EcoTech, Maxspect, Kessil, ReeFi-Lab all have similar features, some are similar in cost and some are quite a bit higher cost.

 

[HighLife]

Well, this is not the only report I got that says the Current light is not what people expected. So now I am leaning towards the AI.

I see the hyrda info, both lights seem to say they cover a 24x24 area. I am guessing that the hydra just gives more par at that width. Would 1 HD prime be enough you guys think?

 

[Ron Reefman]

One will work. You might have to hang it more than 8" off the surface to cover 2', but it will work.

 

[Dave0331]

One will work. You might have to hang it more than 8" off the surface to cover 2', but it will work.

I had the ai prime and it was awesome, don't forget you can also control it through your phone or tablet. I had it over my BioCube 32 and it was doing very well. I just recently upgraded to a Hydra 26 HD

 

[HighLife]

Well. It looks like it's might be a win for the prime HD. I am sure it's ok for some softies and maybe a few easier hard corals on top. Anyone have issues with the light leaking into the room and bothering you? As in sitting under the fixture about 5-6ft away.


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[GimpyFin]

Well. It looks like it's might be a win for the prime HD. I am sure it's ok for some softies and maybe a few easier hard corals on top. Anyone have issues with the light leaking into the room and bothering you? As in sitting under the fixture about 5-6ft away.


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AI's mounting kits for the Prime allow you to swivel/pivot the light so you can even point it at a slight angle toward the back of the tank.

 

[rugerjr81]

Go to Aquaillumination website. You can compare PAR between all the lights. Current is not on there but it is not a pendant. The pendants seem to me like the intensity is concentrated in one small area as opposed to across a 48" bar like the Current light. You could probably get some good growth with the Current light but you'd need to stack them next to each other from front to back of your tank.
In my opinion, the AI is the best value on the market. Kessil is just expensive but if you look at the data, the AI Prime HD is more effective than the A360 Kessil. It is my understanding that Aquaillumination got bought out by Eco Tech which is who makes the Radion lights. I'm sure you know that Radion is the top LED on the market.
I bought a AI Prime HD and I'm totally surprised at the power in a little $225 light. It's not going to grow corals like a Metal Halide would, but neither is a $800 Radion.
I do have a little Current light that I do not use right now and I do really like the cloud cover setting which is not available on the AI Prime. Other than that, the pendants are the way to go. Light bars are just for accent lighting. Not to sustain a reef.


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[stratozyck]

This is admittedly my angry two cents. Avoid lights that have Wifi capability and app control. I have Phillips Hue and that mostly works but occasionally when I go to turn them on it wants to update first.

I have two hydra 26 HDs. I say I am angry because today the wifi went out and now the light's wifi appears fried or something. It simply cannot stay connected either due to software bug or whatever. It will stay on for a few minutes and then lose connection and turn off. There is no button on the back to turn it on so if the wifi goes out, you are screwed and your expensive light is a paperweight.

Just my two cents. I am taking this piece of "Look we are like Apple no buttons and app control" crap back this weekend. I had it for 4 months. One 5 minute power outage and it doesn't work anymore.

 

[rugerjr81]

This is admittedly my angry two cents. Avoid lights that have Wifi capability and app control. I have Phillips Hue and that mostly works but occasionally when I go to turn them on it wants to update first.

I have two hydra 26 HDs. I say I am angry because today the wifi went out and now the light's wifi appears fried or something. It simply cannot stay connected either due to software bug or whatever. It will stay on for a few minutes and then lose connection and turn off. There is no button on the back to turn it on so if the wifi goes out, you are screwed and your expensive light is a paperweight.

Just my two cents. I am taking this piece of "Look we are like Apple no buttons and app control" crap back this weekend. I had it for 4 months. One 5 minute power outage and it doesn't work anymore.

That sounds really annoying. Get on AI's web page and send them a message. They always respond to me within the day. It may be worth the effort. Good luck with that though. Hopefully you get it resolved.


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[ajoe]

I have two AI primes on my 50 gallon and love them. One is plenty of light for your tank. This one just came up for sale in the used equipment forum so make an offer and enjoy. Nice light and great customer service.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2641703

enjoy

 

[HighLife]

This is admittedly my angry two cents. Avoid lights that have Wifi capability and app control. I have Phillips Hue and that mostly works but occasionally when I go to turn them on it wants to update first.

I have two hydra 26 HDs. I say I am angry because today the wifi went out and now the light's wifi appears fried or something. It simply cannot stay connected either due to software bug or whatever. It will stay on for a few minutes and then lose connection and turn off. There is no button on the back to turn it on so if the wifi goes out, you are screwed and your expensive light is a paperweight.

Just my two cents. I am taking this piece of "Look we are like Apple no buttons and app control" crap back this weekend. I had it for 4 months. One 5 minute power outage and it doesn't work anymore.

I am an IT guy by trade, so wifi issues are not common in my house. If so my whole family would go nuts haha.....I have 2 wifi hot spots, but a 5GHz router, plus built in wifi from my ATT uverse modem. That does sound annoying though.

Do all lights suffer from this? What happens when the power goes off with the AI light?

Thank you for the suggestions guys. As of right now, I am still leaning towards 1 prime HD. Any other problems with the AI I should know about?

 

[ajoe]

Great Question. The Primes retain their memory even in a power failure. They reboot when the power returns and you need not do a thing. Very well thought out system. You won't be disappointed.

 

[HighLife]

Great guy, now thinking about the mounting options. I want to go with a flex arm I think. I do not have much room behind my tank for the L bracket.

However, I have my HOB with my surface skimmer setup in the middle and in between both power heads. Is the flex arm able to flex enough to bend it around and be in the middle of my tank?

 

[HighLife]

If it has 0.3 or 0.5 watt leds, it's really meant for shallower tanks like 12" or 16". They just aren't powerful enough for a 24" deep tank.

You can get similar coutrol with several fixtures using 3 watt leds. Reef Breeders is probably the best value in terms of cost to get lots of features and high PAR. AI, EcoTech, Maxspect, Kessil, ReeFi-Lab all have similar features, some are similar in cost and some are quite a bit higher cost.

I have a 16" deep tank with about 2" of sand on the bottom.

 

[HighLife]

The Prime has landed =) Had to attach the 18" arm on the side and against the corner for stability. Seems like its ok where it is. Approx 11" off the surface of the water...

Now, anyone have a good program setup? I did an easy setup....pretty much 10-15 Red-green, max both blues, 90-100 UV, 60 Cool white (that ramps down during the day) and now using Acclimation mode.

I know this seems like a dumb question, but my light was WAAY brighter than this, should I try to match that brightness to not shock my corals?

 

[ClownNut]

your eyes are bad way to judge light intensity. we see lux and coral see par. use par meter to do the adjustment.

 

[HighLife]

Oh, any help with some settings for a guy without a par meter?

I see they are like 300$. I don't think I can swing that right now after my Prime HD purchase. I'll have to sleep on the couch for a really really long time =)