Ai prime HD on 20g?

[Jake_the_reefer]

I plan on upgrading the light of my 20g nano reef from a black box to something a little stronger, would an ai prime be good enough for softies, lps, and some sps (mainly montipora)

 

[Syed123]

I have an ai prime on a reefer 170. Plenty of light for my softies and lps. For sps you could keep them up near the top, right under the prime.

 

[Syed123]

Woops double post.

 

[AZ Hobo Reefer]

Agree with Syed123, I currently have 2 AI Primes on a 29 gallon, about 12 inches above the lid. I decided to dab into some montipora and digitata. They're currently on the top of my scape.

 

[Coastie Reefer]

I plan on upgrading the light of my 20g nano reef from a black box to something a little stronger, would an ai prime be good enough for softies, lps, and some sps (mainly montipora)

Stronger than a black box??? Most black boxes will smoke the power of an AI Prime. Don't get me wrong I love my AI Primes, but they're a different animal compared to black boxes. 1 Prime could light your 20L but you'd probably have dim edges. The prime is good for up to about 18" where a 20L is 30" long.

EDIT: thought I read 20L in the original post... is it a 20 long or tall? An prime would do just fine on a 20 tall.

 

[Jimmy Long]

I have an AI prime on my nano 24 gallon cube, grows Montis + BTAs just fine. AI primes bode really well for cubed tanks

 

[Jake_the_reefer]

Stronger than a black box??? Most black boxes will smoke the power of an AI Prime. Don't get me wrong I love my AI Primes, but they're a different animal compared to black boxes. 1 Prime could light your 20L but you'd probably have dim edges. The prime is good for up to about 18" where a 20L is 30" long.

EDIT: thought I read 20L in the original post... is it a 20 long or tall? An prime would do just fine on a 20 tall.

It's a 24×16×12 so 20 tall. Should I stick with my black box? This is what I am running currently
I have it I think 9 inches above the tank which provides full tank coverage (some dim spots in corners)

 

[Coastie Reefer]

It's a 24×16×12 so 20 tall. Should I stick with my black box? This is what I am running currently
I have it I think 9 inches above the tank which provides full tank coverage (some dim spots in corners)

Really all comes down to aesthetics and if you want to spend the money but a Prime could grow anytime you want and has the benefit of more control and WiFi. Personally I love the prime. Here’s my 10g under a 3 year old non HD prime.

 

[Jake_the_reefer]

Really all comes down to aesthetics and if you want to spend the money but a Prime could grow anytime you want and has the benefit of more control and WiFi. Personally I love the prime. Here’s my 10g under a 3 year old non HD prime.

That's stunning! I'm super new to the hobby so heres a dumb question. How well does that hob work for you? I have an old aquaclear 70g hob that I would love to use to make a nano 10g aquarium and was wondering if it would work!

 

[Jake_the_reefer]

Still a big wip. I need to tint the back I regret not doing it earlier

 

[Waynerock]

I plan on upgrading the light of my 20g nano reef from a black box to something a little stronger, would an ai prime be good enough for softies, lps, and some sps (mainly montipora)

2 prime HD’s on a reefer 170 and I can grow whatever I want. SPS need to be higher but they are growing like crazy

 

[Jake_the_reefer]

2 prime HD’s on a reefer 170 and I can grow whatever I want. SPS need to be higher but they are growing like crazy

So why would someone use 2 ai primes instead of something like one hydra 26 is it to do with shadows or the range of 2 ai primes spaced apart from one another

(again I'm super new to all this only been in the hobby for like 6 months been into freshwater for years)

 

[Waynerock]

So why would someone use 2 ai primes instead of something like one hydra 26 is it to do with shadows or the range of 2 ai primes spaced apart from one another

(again I'm super new to all this only been in the hobby for like 6 months been into freshwater for years)

Well the shadowing is almost gone because I can spread them out more than a 26 except where my VFG nozzle is

that leaves a gnarly shadow. More importantly I had 1 prime already on my biocube so when I upgraded last year buying another prime was a no brainer 200.00 was better than 350. I am very happy with these two I would do it again. I have them at a 26% reduction with the David Saxby light setting and I have 3 acros and a few BN’s and a Monty as well as bunch of LPS and i have to trim the SPS all the time.

I don’t have any super light hungry SPS though let me stress that. Get one you will be happy and the resale value is very good too if you ever want to upgrade again and you will sell it fast here on R2R.

 

[Jake_the_reefer]

Well the shadowing is almost gone because I can spread them out more than a 26 except where my VFG nozzle is

that leaves a gnarly shadow. More importantly I had 1 prime already on my biocube so when I upgraded last year buying another prime was a no brainer 200.00 was better than 350. I am very happy with these two I would do it again. I have them at a 26% reduction with the David Saxby light setting and I have 3 acros and a few BN’s and a Monty as well as bunch of LPS and i have to trim the SPS all the time.

I don’t have any super light hungry SPS though let me stress that. Get one you will be happy and the resale value is very good too if you ever want to upgrade again and you will sell it fast here on R2R.

I do notice that the AI prime doesnt change in value, you lose like 20$ in resale. What would you say the tank limit is for AI primes? I have a 60g I will be working on at some point and i was thinking the hydra 26 for this project (possibly t5 supplementation as well) so I'm guessing ai primes in this case would not be the way to go

 

[Coastie Reefer]

That's stunning! I'm super new to the hobby so heres a dumb question. How well does that hob work for you? I have an old aquaclear 70g hob that I would love to use to make a nano 10g aquarium and was wondering if it would work!

It’s a aquaclear 50 and works just fine. I run a bag of carbon and filter floss (quilt batting from Walmart-super cheap and super effective) Change the floss when it gets nasty brown, about every week and a half. Do a 5g water change about once a month. I only have a single fish so I don’t have a big bioload or feed much. I ran a sumpless 40B with just an aquaclear 50 for about a year and a half till I upgraded to a drilled 75.

 

[Waynerock]

I do notice that the AI prime doesnt change in value, you lose like 20$ in resale. What would you say the tank limit is for AI primes? I have a 60g I will be working on at some point and i was thinking the hydra 26 for this project (possibly t5 supplementation as well) so I'm guessing ai primes in this case would not be the way to go

This would be awesome with a hydra 26 on that tank. I want one of these some day when I get something bigger and slap my two primes into it. They have a 36 inch too but takes two hydra’s/primes.

 

[bonjorno2]

I have a im 20 peninsula and I am leaning towards the prime also. I know it won't be the best, but better than the marine orbit pro.

 

[Coastie Reefer]

I have a im 20 peninsula and I am leaning towards the prime also. I know it won't be the best, but better than the marine orbit pro.

Keep an eye out for used ones... you can often find pretty good deals on a light mount combo.

 

[bonjorno2]

Thank you, I am surfing the ads as often as I can.

 

[DatsoonDave]

Keep an eye out for used ones... you can often find pretty good deals on a light mount combo.

Hello. How did the ai prime 16 work out on the 20g pennisula? I have a hydra 32 on mine and I think it's bleaching my corals. About to switch to an ai16