AI SOL Blue Owners - How do you run yours?

thewackyreefer · Mar 25, 2011

For those running AI SOL Blues curious about a) what your lighting schedule is like b) at what intensity do you run yours w/ tank info.

I'm running 2 fixtures ~12" over my 36" x 20" x 20" and can't figure out at what intensity I should run my lights. Max is currently 30% across the whites, blues and royals during the day. I took a look at some PAR info I found but I really don't know what this comes out to...

Thanks in advance.

dnov99 · Mar 25, 2011

I am in the same boat, just got mine a week ago. i am running them above a 30" deep tank about 8" above the water. Right now I am running at 30 White and 45 blues, with a 2 hour ramp up and down time. I eventually want to get up to 50 White and 65 blues. These are extremely powerful and will damage yor corals if turned up too high. I must say though, they are the best product I have ever added to my tank. I absolutely love them!!!

goldenboy · Mar 27, 2011

All I got to say is that it is morphing the hell out of my red corals. My red acans turned rainbow bright orange and my red bowerbanki morphed to different shades or red to light orange to yellow. These light are super powerful I have 2 above my 50g CAD. My orange/pink motipora cap rim is actually curling downward now since the light is so bright. I'm pretty much trying to mimicking mother natures light schedule with these lights. I was lucky that I only lost one cheap chalice and a dragon soul favia frag that were near the top. Also your not gonna get any deep colors unless you run with no actinics. My pink ******* went from a pink deep violet to a super pink neon chalice.

I do about a 30 min ramp time which isn't enough
The lights hang about 25-26 inch from my sand bed
I run them around 30-25% white and 50 blue and 50 royal blue
Manuel set up royal blue only at 100% looks to be ok just for viewing. I didn't see any of my corals spewing their zooxanthellae or bleaching over several hours of viewing.
My yellow tang got ***** ***** when my lights were at 100% white
The corals that seem to care about how bright the light is my ricordias and zoas. I'm talking about 10 inches away from 2 ai sol blues and they thrive like crazy same with my rose anemone morphed from red to bright orange
Also there is no way for me to run these at 100% or even try to acclimate them to 100% with out corals bleaching. Maybe its okay for like 1 hour but any more then that would be dangerous. I noticed mine to slightly start to bleach at 30% white, 60% blue and 87% royal blue

I haven't pushed a chalice towards the top. There all on my sand bed growing well. My acros are at mid water level and I have sunset monti and rainbow monti and setosa doing good near the top. Only monti that half bleached over a long period of time was my true undata.

From Goldenboy

thewackyreefer · Mar 27, 2011

Thanks for the input guys!

I think for the time being I'm going to go with 25% white, 30% blue and 35% royal blue from 12pm - 9pm with a 2 hour ramp up/down period and then at 9pm go to 35% royal blue only for viewing. Then at 11pm I'll go to 2% white only with the lunar phases on. We'll see how everything reacts to this. It's only been about 2 weeks at this point and I haven't seen any significant changes in the coloration of any of my corals so I hope I'm increasing slow enough. I figure I'll never really take my whites past about 35-40% with everything else adjusted accordingly. I couldn't imagine anyone running these things at 100%, that would just be insane!

thewackyreefer · Apr 6, 2011

Anyone have any idea what % would equal a 20k look? Still having trouble finding exactly what I like for viewing.

Mavjoy · Apr 6, 2011

I got 1 AI super sol blue in my tank, dims are 17x17x16, light is 8" above water so it's about 24" distance from the sandbed. It's been running for a little over 2 months now. Started low and finally got this setting...see below.

My lighting schedule right now is:

9am W20 B30 RB30 120m ramp time
1pm W30 B40 RB40 120m ramp time
7pm W20 B30 RB30 15m ramp time
8pm W 0 B10 RB20 15m ramp time
9pm W 0 B 0 RB 4 10m ramp time, lunar on

I was doing 40 50 50 at 1pm and it bleached some of my sticks, so I turned it down and still waiting for a week or two to see if holds up. These lights are really strong and almost melted some of my chalices. I had to moved them to the side with shade..hehe.

shelbyc · Apr 6, 2011

I have 3 modules over a 30" deep 110 gal, hung 10" above water. I recently found the perfect lighting schedule.

It is :
6am 4hrs ramp 80% royal blue 6pm 4hrs ramp 3%
6:30am 4hrs ramp 70% blue 5:30pm 4hrs ramp 0%
7am 4hrs ramp 50% white 5pm 4hrs ramp 0%
10pm 3% royal blue with moon phase

Corals are loving this too:tongue:

thewackyreefer · Apr 6, 2011

Wow, I can't believe how low everyone is running their lights! I guess that just goes to show you just how powerful these things really are.

It's pretty interesting to see how everyone's schedule differs, even with the same lights.

thewackyreefer · Apr 20, 2011

What percentages of the w/b/rb do you guys think create a 10k, 14k and 20k look?

slovan · Apr 20, 2011

To create a 20K look, I would go with something like this. 25W/50B/50RB I haven't tried to create a 10K or 14K look so I can't tell you there.

AlvaradoL · Apr 25, 2011

How many modules would I need to light a 20x30x20 65 gallon tank?

fsu1dolfan · Apr 25, 2011

luvmyacans said:
Wow, I can't believe how low everyone is running their lights! I guess that just goes to show you just how powerful these things really are.

It's pretty interesting to see how everyone's schedule differs, even with the same lights.

I agree...thats the reason i really want to get one of these some day...the possibilites are endless!

thewackyreefer · Apr 25, 2011

AlvaradoL said:
How many modules would I need to light a 20x30x20 65 gallon tank?

I'd suggest 2, one just won't be enough.

Mavjoy · Apr 25, 2011

To get a 14k look, I would set it to 30 40 40, 40 50 50 etc...you get the idea.

Stpatrick · May 9, 2011

luvmyacans said:
What percentages of the w/b/rb do you guys think create a 10k, 14k and 20k look?

I think 30 - 38 - 38 looks like 14k

Greg'n-Reef · May 13, 2011

I've had mine since January and currently run W 75% B 100% RB 100% from 10am-7pm with no issues to any of my corals and looks close to a 20k. I kept ramping mine around 5% per week.

AZDesertRat · May 14, 2011

I've only had my two modules and controller a week now, replacing 2x250w XM 15k MH over a 60" 100G display. Thye are mounted 12" above the water level on T Track so they can be moved both side to side and front to back until I find the best look.
I am running them at 40-45-45 right now for 5 hours a day with a 10 minute ramp up and down.
The goal is to eventually use more of the timers for a more natural morning to evening look once I get the hang of them. So far I have been extremely pleased other than having trouble getting my hands on them. I ened up buying the lights from Aquarium Specialty and the controller locally in Tempe AZ from Reef Encounter.
What amazes me the most is I am consuming 49 watts versus 500 with the old MH and have the same amount of light if not more!

Mavjoy · May 26, 2011

I'm running mine at 50-60-60 and increasing it bi-weekly by 5 each, so far no bleaching.

Stpatrick · May 26, 2011

I have mine at 50-70-80 and my colors are coming back.

AZDesertRat · May 27, 2011

I lost a large piece of Yellow Turbinaria high on my rockwork at 50% so I have backed mine down and am starting the acclimation over. I also have a Green Slimer that is not looking so hot again pretty high up on the rocks so closer to the fixture.