AI blade upgrade?

[j.speaks]

Hello everyone

So, I have one AI blade grow 30’’ for my 65g (36” by 18” by 24”). It’s running on the basic softies and lps mode that’s built in to the app. I want to make an upgrade. I know the blades are generally good supplementary lights, so I want to add some more lights in addition to the blade. Right now I’m keeping softies and some easy lps, but I want to move into some harder lps and easy sps in the future.

Would an AI blade glow be sufficient? I know that would be a lot of blue and violet with not a lot of white. Another concern I have is that my tank has a big support beam in the middle of the lid, (this is why I went with a bar light) so I would probably need two lights to get full coverage. I would like to keep the budget under around 500$ but if it goes over it’s fine.

Any suggestions would be awesome!!

 

[aquaman67]

I use a single Blade grow on my 50 gallon (30” long”) with just toadstools and mushrooms.

A glow might be enough.

If you find it’s not sufficient you could add one more grow and put the glow in the middle you would have enough light for anything you wanted.

 

[j.speaks]

I use a single Blade grow on my 50 gallon (30” long”) with just toadstools and mushrooms.

A glow might be enough.

If you find it’s not sufficient you could add one more grow and put the glow in the middle you would have enough light for anything you wanted.

So it’s a question of quantity rather than quality? Or would a grow AND glow be a good spectrum

 

[bubbgee]

I switched to Orphek OR4 bars for my 36" and very satisfied with it instead of buying an AI Blade. you should look into that.

 

[rtparty]

I would get another Grow

Or even look at something like the Noopsyche K7 and add them to the Blade

 

[j.speaks]

I switched to Orphek OR4 bars for my 36" and very satisfied with it instead of buying an AI Blade. you should look into that.

Is that something that I could combine well with the blade I have?

 

[j.speaks]

so, is it just more power (par) that I’m looking for to keep better corals? Or does it have to do more with the spectrum.

 

[SaltyArms]

IMO the Glow bars are really only for showing off color... If you want to stick with what you know, another "Grow" blade would probably be the option if you want "more light" for more demanding corals.

If you want to try something different in the "bar" style you could look at the Orphek option mentioned above, but you could also look into the Quanta Helix bars as well.

I'm about to swap my AI Blade Glow lights on my main SPS display out to the Quanta bars to try them out. Personally the Blades just lack the power I think they should have. I have glows on my SPS display and Grows on my Frag tank and I'm underwhelmed by the performance of both. Especially considering the cost...

EDIT: I should add, the Glow lights on my SPS display are just supplemental color. Primary lights are 3x XR15 G6 pros. On the frag tank the Blade Grows are a primary light and supplemented by T5s. They'd be great for soft and LPS... but they lack the oomph I feel like they should have, even with the T5 supplement.

 

[Hooz]

A Glow would add spectrum (good thing) and another Glow would add PAR (also a good thing). If you're already invested in a Blade and you're happy with it, I'd just add more Blades. The 2 Grow 1 Glow combo would grow absolutely anything you want to grow in that tank, and it'd do it with no shadows and a respectable spectrum.

There are other bars with better spectrums as mentioned but, the thing with Quanta bars or Orphek bars... They need to be mounted 8-12" off the water to get decent spread. Blades don't suffer from that issue. You can lay them right on top of the tank.

 

[lil sumpin]

The glow is really just accent lighting IMO, if you can personally forego the violets and heavy blues I'd recommend going with a second grow. You'll be able to grow mostly anything

 

[rtparty]

3 Blades (2 Grow and 1 Glow) over my 250g (72*36*22) was enough PAR for SPS anywhere in the tank. The 2 ReefBrite were from the setup when I ran halides. I replaced the halides with the Blades and had more PAR throughout the tank and much better spread.

I ended up running 5 Blades for 7-8 months since I wanted total blanket coverage over the tank. It allowed me to run the lights at a lower power and had more PAR than I ever needed. This picture is the day I switched out to Radions for the fun of it but all the growth you see is from the Blades

 

[Hooz]

The glow is really just accent lighting IMO, if you can personally forego the violets and heavy blues I'd recommend going with a second grow. You'll be able to grow mostly anything

I wouldn't call the Glow an "accent" light. It provides an important part of the light spectrum to the corals that the Grow alone is missing.

Yes, you can absolutely "grow coral" with nothing but 450nm blue LEDs, but your coral won't color up like it will with a better, "fuller" spectrum.

 

[bubbgee]

Is that something that I could combine well with the blade I have?

You could. It's a par monster but you can't change the spectrum--just the intensity. I recommend the blue plus bar for supplementation and color.

 

[bubbgee]

so, is it just more power (par) that I’m looking for to keep better corals? Or does it have to do more with the spectrum.

You need both. Blue is usually what's recommended but whites, reds and greens are needed for coloration as well. I run full spectrum in some parts of the day and heavy blue at night.

 

[Steven Garland]

I feel like Orphek OR4 bars would be better and cheaper than glows. Have better punch the deeper tank than the blades.

Also,a Reefi Duo at $550 would light the whole tank and you wouldn't need supplemental leds.

 

[j.speaks]

I’m thinking another blade just from the consensus of the replies. (I’m also familiar with the interface and I know what I’m getting) I’m not sure as to whether a grow or a glow would be better though! SLIGHTLY leaning towards another grow but I’ll have to look into it more.

 

[j.speaks]

I have a sicce voyager 3, if I wanted to add some flow would a ai Nero 3 be sufficient?

 

[bubbgee]

I have a sicce voyager 3, if I wanted to add some flow would a ai Nero 3 be sufficient?

how large is your tank again plus dimensions?

 

[j.speaks]

how large is your tank again plus dimensions?

My dt is 65 g and it’s its 36” by 18” by 24” o attached a fts so you can get a scope for the scape

 

[bkwonnn]

I have a 5ft 160 g DT with 2 AI blade grow. Underwater par bottom 125 ish and top around 350. This would be more than plenty for most corals. The spectrum on the grow is better for corals. The blue’s are nicely balanced and the red green yellow etc is there but very little. Enough for those colors to pop, and not to much for nuisance algae growth. Only downside for me is that they don’t dim and Mimick sunset and rise very well. 1% is alot of light allready. Also no moonlight function, although the app mentions moonlight but it’s pretty useless if u ask me.