AI SOl Blue success stories...

[reesestewww]

Originally Posted by mos90

90% over a 29 cube will fry everything. u should be more like 30-40% to start. i just had to dial mine back some. 65% started some tip bleaching again. back to 60..

raise up 5% at a time max per week. until corals seem happier.

light shock can cause a stn/rtn event. my birdsnet still tring to make a recovery after light shock. i doubt it is a water quality issue.

One more question. How many hours are you running at your 60% peak?

[RtReef]

I have sol white because I wanted more white than blue. (I know probably one of the rare people that don't care for the smurf tank look)

Anyways I've had no bleaching issues and great growth.

come on at 8:15 w20% b25% ramp 60 min
then keep going up by 10% each hour until 12:30 and i Have them up to 60w 75B for 1.5hours. then slowly come back down until about 8 then I have them ramp 0w and 3b over an hour. Kind of mimics natural day and corals seem happy.

[mos90]

i was doing a midday 18k look. 65/55/55. i back off all 3 midday timers.

now 58/56/56 240 at 10am from 60/58/58
60/53/53 30 at 3:30pm from 65/55/55
45/55/55 30 at 4:30 from 45/60/60
0/3/3 240 at 5pm

i also raised the lights up a little higher for better spread. from 12" to 14"

i started using filtersocks to help with water clarity . ive noticed a huge difference and that could possibly cause a problem. i wish the ai's would do random clouds. gives the corals a break for a bit.

my current setting may be still need to be lowered some more. i noticed the tips of my frogskin coral bleaching.

[mos90]

Originally Posted by reesestewww

One more question. How many hours are you running at your 60% peak?

peak 2-5pm. i was thinking bumping start time from 10am to 11am. that will cut 1 hour off peak. might be better.

[Donkeykong]

Originally Posted by mos90

my current setting may be still need to be lowered some more. i noticed the tips of my frogskin coral bleaching.

If the rest of your corals are adjusting well, have you thought about moving the frogspawn. The more and more I read the more it is becoming apparent that with LED's coral placement is just as important to the intensity of the lights. Alot of the trouble I see people have is they are trying to acclimate a tank and they cant find a good middle of SPS and LPS happiness. But the ones that get there sps happy and then adjust height and placement of there LPS seem to be getting good results. Just a thought, I just ordered my lights and am hoping to be one of the success stories not another failed attempt.

[RtReef]

donkeykong you will have success if you take your time letting the corals adjust and you don't just hook up the SOLS and blast the crap out of the corals. People who failed with AI's or any LED's shouldn't be blaming the lights but rather blaming themselves for not doing something right!

[Donkeykong]

Ya, one benefit I have is my tank is fairly new with only small frags. That is good because I can move the frags around if i am noticing hot spots and bleaching, The bad to that is with all the frags still small they might not be established enough to take several weeks of adjusting and readjusting. But I am going into this with my eyes open knowing this is a slow process and will need to be on top of everything and be prepared to make any needed adjustments.

[RtReef]

that's the best thing to do. Like everyone says patience is important in this hobby and the same goes when switching lighting. I wonder if any of those same people claiming to despise LEDs or who burned up their tank, actually followed this "patience" advice?lol

Mine took 3-4 weeks to adjust correctly and then I slowly increased intensity weekly.

[Reefer1225]

Update for me: Quick summary: I have 4 AI Sol BLues above my 90 gallon (48x18x24) sitting 8 inches above the water line in my canopy. Originally had only 2 modules, just added 2 more last month. My original max settings were 60w 70b 70RB when I had two units. I kept the settings when I added 2 more modules. I noticed growth and encrusting faster in my frags. However, some of my frags paled/bleached. If you look at my last post, I described some of the appearances in my frags. In reaction to what I perceived as a negative color response or bleaching of my frags, I dialed my intensity to
45w 50w 55rb.

After a couple of weeks at that setting, growth slowed, color somewhat returned but looked brown. I slowly dialed the intensity back up. This time I am going to wait it out. My peak is now at 60W 65B 65RB for 1.5 hours. It slows ramps up every hour up to this point and ramps down every hour to lights off.

I am now of the belief that what I perceived as the color fading was actually a color shift. Example my red planet, which was almost all green with reddish polyps, slowly lost the green, turned dull brown, but now its turning red, with better polyp extension. Some of my green acros (originally purple when I bought it) turned tan-brown for a while, but now I see purple tips returning. I am worried about some of my encrusting montis (superman, rainbow. sumset), which once has large polyp extension, now has retracted polyps and browning, BUT they are enrusting/growing faster than ever.

So, I am just going to ride it out and see what happens. I don't want to keep changing the settings. I think the corals are just acclimating to the lights and have to go through some ugly color changing phase. Hard to find the balance with AIs in my opinion.

+1 placement is important with these units. I have the stock optics, and I think the frags directly below the 40 degree optics are impacted the most with any change in settings. They are the first to bleach/pale/color shift. I don't know. Will keep you updated. Learning from all of your guys posts. Thanks.

[mos90]

i switched to all 70's when i got mine. i think 40's are too much. i couldnt believe it but the ecotech radions come with 135 deg optics. ai's should be all 70's unless u have over a 28" deep tank . then 100's would be better for a tank like mine (21")if they made them.

[Virtuoso]

I have been saving up for some LEDs for my 90g and after reading this thread, wanted to go with 2 AI Sol units with 70 degree lenses. Looks like you can only buy them in that configuration in Europe. In North America you have to buy them with the standard lenses and swap them out. That is ridiculous. If they don't offer it by the time I buy my LEDs, I am going to look elsewhere.

[TampaSnooker]

Where do you get the 70 degree optics? A quick glance at AI's site and Reef Geek didn't turn any up.

[wolfador]

Originally Posted by TampaSnooker

Where do you get the 70 degree optics? A quick glance at AI's site and Reef Geek didn't turn any up.

Contact AI support and they can sell them to you.

[mos90]

backed off a little more. i took 30min of peak. peak now 2.30 -5pm might back off another 30 min if needed. ill tell u i bet these light are close to 400w mh's at 100% for intensity.

i measured par on my 150w phoenix mh and par was about the same on the ai's at 42%.

10.30 55/55/55 240
3.30 58/55/55 30
4.30 45/55/55 30
5pm 0/3/3 240

[Jcohen9999]

FWIW:

Optics are readily available on the AI site: http://www.aquaillumination.com/supp...ent-parts.html


A cheap upgrade if you need them.

Jeff

[steevareno2002]

subscribed

[Jakef150]

I would suggest to wait until they release Vegas new LED and they might release upgradeable for old model like ours.

Jake

[TampaSnooker]

Originally Posted by Jcohen9999

FWIW:

Optics are readily available on the AI site: http://www.aquaillumination.com/supp...ent-parts.html


A cheap upgrade if you need them.

Jeff

Silly me. I was looking under their products page...
Thanks for the link.

[Gatorfan]

I switched from a 250w Phoenix MH(since 09) to a SOL Blue on my 20 long about a month ago. It's about 14" awl, where my halide was. Granted, my old MH bulb was close to a year old, but my sps have all responded well to the new light. Better growth and polyp extension. I have it come up from lunar at about 9am to the peak from 7-9pm(70w, 75b, 75rb) and back down to lunar at 11pm.

[titmouse]

Tagging along.

Thinking of switching my 5 Chinese units to 5 or 6 AIs. Tank is 108"l x 18"w x 27"d. Think that's enough? I hear the Sols are better for narrow tanks.

[Opiesfish]

Hi everyone, I just joined the forum but have been keeping reef tanks for about 6 years. I have lurked here and other reef forums reading and learning for along time. I have a question about the ai sol super blues for those that have been using them for awhile now....I'm currently setting up a new 90 gallon tank with a 48 gallon sump (probably around 20 or so gallons running). Since the tank is empty with nothing in it or cycled yet, what is a good setting to run the ai sol blues on for each color? I will have 4 units over the tank. I'm planning on hanging them about 12 inches from the water. I was thinking around 75-80% for white and adjusting the blues to a color I like...

Thanks in advance for any input

[Donkeykong]

With nothing in it you can run it at what ever you want since nothing has to adjust to it. I would read thru this thread and see what all the guys that have already maxed out are running theres at and start there and just play with it a bit till you get the look you want. From what I can remember most range in the 60-70% max, with some a bit lower and a very few up into the 80's and 90's.

[Opiesfish]

Originally Posted by Donkeykong

With nothing in it you can run it at what ever you want since nothing has to adjust to it. I would read thru this thread and see what all the guys that have already maxed out are running theres at and start there and just play with it a bit till you get the look you want. From what I can remember most range in the 60-70% max, with some a bit lower and a very few up into the 80's and 90's.

Ok, thanks. I've seen that alot are in the 60-70 range but others were in the 80 to even 100% range so I wasn't sure where a good setting for the white would be...I plan on keeping some LPS and mostly SPS...

[mos90]

is a 90gal 24" in height? if it is i would start at 45-50%. 40% of its 21".

[JMurphy97]

If you want more a 10k look or more white would it be better to get the sol white and not super blue?