AI Sol Blues

Stpatrick · May 7, 2011

I just put up my two sol blues. WOW! beautiful. I am replacing two 250 watt MH HQI Phoenix bulbs. I adjusted the AIs to 35 - 40 - 40 and they look close to the same color as both 250 watt mh going full blast. The shimmer is identical. I will try to post some pics tomorrow. WOW. WHO would have thought LEDs can look like this.

thewackyreefer · May 7, 2011

Be careful! They're more powerful than they appear to be!

kungfujoe · May 7, 2011

haha yes.. ive been running my ai blue sols for a while now.. currently at 70/100/100 and the sps are looking really good.. growth is awesome.. i cut my electric bill by 75 a month..

Stpatrick · May 7, 2011

I just put up my 2 sol blues yesterday. Finally in. I love them. Color is awesome and it has the same shimmer ad my 2 x 250 HQIs. I am running them at 34 - 40- 40. Do you think thats to much? At that setting they are not as bright as my MHs.

AZDesertRat · May 7, 2011

Installed mine yesterday too, they replaced 2x250w XM 15k MH and I am blown away. I am at 45 white, 55 blue and 55 royal blue. Do you think thats too high to start with?

sdsocal · May 7, 2011

Patrick - The tanked looked awesome. Those Sol fixtures are super nice. Keep it . The corals are looking good in their new home.

-Chris

Stpatrick · May 8, 2011

sdsocal said:
Patrick - The tanked looked awesome. Those Sol fixtures are super nice. Keep it . The corals are looking good in their new home.

-Chris

It was nice to meet you Chris. I LOVE the forest fire digi. It might be my favorite coral now.

fbodykiller · May 8, 2011

what would you guys say the max light spread is on these fixtures? i am building a 30x30x24 cube. will probably start with one

chadfarmer · May 8, 2011

i keep hearing 24 x 24 spread

thewackyreefer · May 8, 2011

I'd say 18" x 18" max. No way it'll get 24" without being hung super high.

CONSTANTNE · May 8, 2011

MAYBE if you switched out the lenses to 70 degree optics it may be possible. Even then im still not sure if it definitely can.

JackoChang · May 8, 2011

fbodykiller said:
what would you guys say the max light spread is on these fixtures? i am building a 30x30x24 cube. will probably start with one

Don't they advertise that you need 1 unit per sq. ft.?

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

Stpatrick · May 8, 2011

I have a 30X24x30 tank at the moment. 2 AIs are perfect. When I dosed my coral snow this morning the lights were on and you could see the spread of the 40 & 70 deg lens. the coverage was perfect. You should also be good with a 30x30x24. I am upgrading to a 36x30x24 in a few months and I will probably need to add one more. Unless, I may switch out the center 4 lenses for 70 deg lenses. Time will tell.

Lights are set a W 35 B 40% RB 40%

I attached a couple pictures. Bare in mind it is in the middle of being converted to a sps tank. Most of the rock is being cured and not in the tank.

Stpatrick · May 9, 2011

Yup. I learned the hard way. I pull them back a bit. My cup coral start to fry. Nothing else seems to be harmed. I will say though, my rainbow mille turn from a nice yellow to a dark yellow. To much light? I am at 30, 38 and 38.

AZDesertRat · May 10, 2011

My two are 12" above the waters surface on a 18"x60" tank with great coverage. I ran them lengthwise rather than front to back.

I backed the settings down to 40-45-45 so I don't toast my corals and believe it or not the Kill A Watt meter says 49 watts! Thats compared to 500 watts for the two 250w XM MH and an additional 280 watts for the two VHO' actinics.

Don't know why the pic won't show up.

I did some quick math on the power bills and my summer rate of 18 cents a kw/H and the old 780 watts is around $35 a month and the new LEDs is $2.16 a month, both at 8 hrs a day. Not to mention the house AC savings from the MH heat and the water and sewer savings from making less RO/DI with the reduced evaporation since the fans won't need to run as much if at all.

eel-byte · May 13, 2011

So, do you think two for these will work over a standard 120g?

-Logzor · May 13, 2011

I love these lights but they desperately need some violet in them. Luckily the pucks are interchangeable, so when they do release one it will be easy to upgrade. I am currently running a single module over my new tank, until the big T5 light is ready to move over. The spectrum just lacks the color that my Fiji Purple (purple plus) bulb produces.

Stpatrick · May 17, 2011

I have an issue. I have had my 2 AI sol blues up for a week and a half. 7" above the water line. I moved most of my coral, mini colonies, to the bottom to be safe. Tank it 30" deep X 30 wide. My corals are starting to brown. Not all of them. My Blue bottle brush, red planet, green acro, and and another unknown sps are starting to brown. I have my lights set at w 27, b 35, rb 35. My water parameters are as follows: CA 430, DKH 11.5, ALK 4.1, MAG 1300, PH 8.1 - 8.2, and PO4 .02.

I just bumped my light levels to w 35, b 45, and rb 45.

Anyone? What do you think?