AI Sol vs Evolution 200 Watt 3G

[Troylee]

AI's do look pretty darn good though compared to pretty much all DIY's I've seen...

They are good looking fixtures no doubt... I thought my diy looked pretty good but hey I can't judge it it's mine haha... I know cncniel has a sick looking diy fixture one of the nicest I have ever seen... I personally don't want to see a fixture hence the reason mine looks like a piece of furniture it's skinned un cherry wood with crown moulding etc... I got some real hot ideas for my new cube it's gonna be something real sexy....;)

 

[reefkoi]

I'm way too lazy to do a DIY anything LOL but I'm not the DIY guy here LOL

 

[Geppetto]

I have been looking to make the switch to LED myself and viewing the AI units, the light coverage is concentrated, which would make using these very costly. The Evo's have great spread at a fraction of the price per unit. While these are factors, we have to keep in mind the engineering and quality of the units. The Evo's are a small heaksink, which is a concern of mine because LED's need to be kept cool. I have looked into purchasing the Evo unit myself but the concern of of the longevity of the LED to perform well down the road. In my research I was unable to find data regarding the temperature of the LED during operation, does anyone have numbers?

 

[AZDesertRat]

This photo is 2x250w XM 15k MH SE bulbs powered by Coralvue E ballasts and in PFO parallel reflectors over a 60" 100 G reef.

This second photo is the same 60" tank with 2x AI Sol Blues, installed parallel to the tank and amazingly running at only 45 % intensity on all three colors.
Show me the difference?
I know they both look very blue, my point and shoot camera does not take true colors with the tank for some reason, but the yare not really that blue pus I had just installed them and am still playing with the color adjustment which you can't do with most fixtures other than the AI Sol.

That 45% intesnity on the white, blue and royal blue equates to 49 watts! 49 watts vs 500 watts is good in my book any day.

Here is a pic of how good the coverage is with the canopy open. The fixtures are exactly 12" above the water line and notice the light striking the canopy back below each fixture about 8-9" down and also on the two sides slightly lower. Coverage is much better than they advertise and 2 fixtures covers 5 feet x 18" just fine.

The coverage is only concentrated if you use their 6" high legs and rails, mount them higher and they provide tons of light, enough to burn corals in fact, I had to lower the intensity as they were cooking my caps and turbinarias up high on the rocks.

 

[wld1783]

Not at all........ haha if you have a large tank a 200 isnt gonna melt anything, if you put it on a nano yes it would haha I take it all in stride, this guy has never owned an evolution 200w led muchless probably never seen one in person so I don't take it personally at all :)
OK carry on, sorry if I derailed the thread at all, just was trying to help with the comparison, which I still say there is none in this case......

C

Gotta add our 2 cents

The Evolution is a great bang for the buck and we've seen many similar fixtures and this is the only one we like...The AI is also great but at a much higher cost...

As with any change in lights the corals must be acclimated. Going from PC to MH needs acclimation same as changing to LEDs.

Some 3 watt fixtures are close but until they get the spectrum right we wont support them....

That said DIY can offer better results with more work and less cost...

 

[reefkoi]

I have been looking to make the switch to LED myself and viewing the AI units, the light coverage is concentrated, which would make using these very costly. The Evo's have great spread at a fraction of the price per unit. While these are factors, we have to keep in mind the engineering and quality of the units. The Evo's are a small heaksink, which is a concern of mine because LED's need to be kept cool. I have looked into purchasing the Evo unit myself but the concern of of the longevity of the LED to perform well down the road. In my research I was unable to find data regarding the temperature of the LED during operation, does anyone have numbers?

I can tell you we were playing with a temp gun at a show this year going around checking various temps of various brand of LED fixtures, after running for about 6 hours, they checked my evo 100w 3G and couldnt get a reading above 90 anywhere on the unit, we checked the led surface, the heatsink, the top, etc, and it was all in the 85 degree range. I know some other ones we checked you couldnt touch some parts for more than a few seconds!! or your hand was on fire......just saying thats what i can tell you about the temp of an evo, the others I cant say maybe owners or manufactures will jump in with the temps they measure on their units.

C

 

[reefkoi]

And as far as coverage..........hows this for an 8' long - 30" tall 300 gallon tank? 3-120w units......thats it!

 

[AZDesertRat]

I have never heard the fans come on on my AI Sols. I do have a heat gun, I'll have to take some readings this afternoon when they come on.

 

[Kbra]

I have never heard the fans come on on my AI Sols. I do have a heat gun, I'll have to take some readings this afternoon when they come on.

I've seen mine come on but you won't hear them. Silent.

 

[thewackyreefer]

I've seen mine come on but you won't hear them. Silent.

I can't say I've ever seen mine come on but if they have they're definitely silent.

 

[AZDesertRat]

OK, I used my Ryobi infrared heat gun to test the Sols. The room temperature is 76 degrees and the lights have been on 1 hour now with a 10 minute ramp up time. I tested the heat sinks and fins individually along the length and the width, everywhere I could place the red laser dot and the temp varied from 83 to 90 degrees. The internal fans are not running and the lights are at 50%; white, 45% blue and 40% royal blue and drawing 51 watts with the two fixtures on the Kill A Watt meter.
I am not sure about the heat you are referring to, I'm not seeing it and my corals are very happy.

 

[Geppetto]

I can tell you we were playing with a temp gun at a show this year going around checking various temps of various brand of LED fixtures, after running for about 6 hours, they checked my evo 100w 3G and couldnt get a reading above 90 anywhere on the unit, we checked the led surface, the heatsink, the top, etc, and it was all in the 85 degree range. I know some other ones we checked you couldnt touch some parts for more than a few seconds!! or your hand was on fire......just saying thats what i can tell you about the temp of an evo, the others I cant say maybe owners or manufactures will jump in with the temps they measure on their units.

C

Good to hear the temp on the Evo's are running at those levels!

In response to the other manufacturers running hot, I would be really worried about the longevity of the LED's if the LEDs themselves are running hot. I know with the AI units, the LED seem hot to the touch due to the optics, similar to a flashlight and a magnifying glass.

 

[Murfman]

And as far as coverage..........hows this for an 8' long - 30" tall 300 gallon tank? 3-120w units......thats it!

Yep, My Chalices and Acans love the amount of light they get. I still think a lot of reefers feel they need triple digit PAR at the sand to grow corals. I grow SPS and LPS with no issues. Those are the PAR numbers I took last August.

Don't have a temp gun but yesterday was 90* day, here in Colorado and my tank temp was 78.5* and the air temp at the ceiling was 85*. This was with 4 Evo 120 watt units running (one is over my frag tank) and a window open. I also had my oscillating fan running but not pointed at the ceiling.

 

[AZDesertRat]

I checked the AI Sols after 3.5 hours runing time and it was still between 84 and 93 degrees. I did feel the fans running this time but could not hear them. Someone somewhere posted the fans were not very quiet but I had to lay my hand on them to teel if they were on or not.

 

[nlandgraf]

Go with the AI units, you will be glad you went with something that is dimmable.

 

[Wtyson254]

I just bought an ai sol, so I guess I'm biased. However I feel that it depends on what you want out of your lights, I'm sure the evo can grow coral just fine. However I wanted the ability to control my lights, to have dawn dusk simulation, and even lightning storms. Do you need these features, of course not. However I feel that the ai sol is more esthetically pleasing, can penetrate further and has more expandability, functionality, and is backed by a company who has a very good brand name.

So they are not fixtures that can be compared directly, and the value we put on the above listed features the AI has and the Evo doesn't should decide whiter or not it is worth spending the extra money for the sol. It parralles the Mac vs pc debate in my mind

 

[Irishguy]

I just bought an ai sol, so I guess I'm biased. However I feel that it depends on what you want out of your lights, I'm sure the evo can grow coral just fine. However I wanted the ability to control my lights, to have dawn dusk simulation, and even lightning storms. Do you need these features, of course not. However I feel that the ai sol is more esthetically pleasing, can penetrate further and has more expandability, functionality, and is backed by a company who has a very good brand name.

So they are not fixtures that can be compared directly, and the value we put on the above listed features the AI has and the Evo doesn't should decide whiter or not it is worth spending the extra money for the sol. It parralles the Mac vs pc debate in my mind

its funny when people chime in talking about how things are backed by a company with a good name, i know Chris does warranty the lights he sells himself, some of the biggest companies are the biggest PITA to get ahold of and get a replacement part, atleast when i call Chris im talking to him, not some outsourced call center in India where i dont understand what they are even saying to me....Just IMHO though

 

[eagleeyez5]

I personally love my AcanLighting LED fixtures, I have two of the 12 inch that easily cover a 30 x 30 inch section of tank at 30 inches from the bottom. They have a built in timer that can be set for 5 different times with the percentage of each color set for each time. Thus they can easily be adjusted to have as much or as little 'blue' that you want in the tank. I easily grow sps on the bottom of this tank.

Also I have a buddy who has three of the 18 inch Acanlighting fixtures(70watts each) totaling 210 watts running his sps dominated 210 gallon tank. He had one fixture that didn't seem to power up all the way on three LED's the company quickly dropshipped a replacement out to him on their dime. These are low heat and low power for such a high par output.

JUST MY OPINION.

 

[maddog2002]

Mine is DIY. But I think dimable is very important.

 

[Irishguy]

Been reading through a couple of forums and even though I'm sure it would void any warranty offered there are ways to add a different driver and use a dimmer