AquaIllumination Blade Announced

[spsick]

So does anyone have a glow running on their tank yet they can share?

 

[rtparty]

So does anyone have a glow running on their tank yet they can share?

I have one. It’s not over the tank yet but I put it on the rim and tested it out for fun. It’s almost identical to the old T12 VHO actinic bulbs. Tons of pop and violet. I am definitely not good enough with a camera to show it off but can try once it is over the tank full time

 

[spsick]

I have one. It’s not over the tank yet but I put it on the rim and tested it out for fun. It’s almost identical to the old T12 VHO actinic bulbs. Tons of pop and violet. I am definitely not good enough with a camera to show it off but can try once it is over the tank full time

Oh nice so more of the violet than the powder blue kinda look of T5 actinics? That’s surprising with how many royals are in the fixture. But good as violet is usually skimped on most led fixtures.

I sent BRS a message re: the Glow if they have different lenses that won’t turn brown like the Hydra/Primes but they just said they won’t burn. I’d hope to see something for the extra $180 the Glow commands.

 

[spsick]

Picked up the finally released Refugium model for my QT tank. Puts off a very nice looking spectrum anywhere on the slider from 10-20k And then obviously goes very red down to 5k. Running the reds lower allows you to give more power to the others. The UI for these on Mobius is however is somehow more infuriating to use than Radions even.

 

[rtparty]

Picked up the finally released Refugium model for my QT tank. Puts off a very nice looking spectrum anywhere on the slider from 10-20k And then obviously goes very red down to 5k. Running the reds lower allows you to give more power to the others. The UI for these on Mobius is however is somehow more infuriating to use than Radions even.

Did you try MyAI? I found it simple to get them setup and running. Learning how to tweak them now

 

[spsick]

Did you try MyAI? I found it simple to get them setup and running. Learning how to tweak them now

I did not yet.

 

[spsick]

Did you try MyAI? I found it simple to get them setup and running. Learning how to tweak them now

Ok so yeah that was much easier with the little easy program button. Mobius is so cryptic that you can’t figure out how to program your premium lights it’s nuts.

Initial feedback on the refugium model (which I feel like will be close to a 1:1 grow and glow) set with the reds at 10% and Violet, Royal, and Whites set at 100% is that it looks EXACTLY like my morning/evening ramp on my t5 display of 1x Coral Plus and 1x Actinic. Mild shimmer and mild side glare also nicely comparable to t5. The 12” strip covers a standard 10g very nicely at an obnoxious height of 18”. I’ll make a new cable
to get it closer to 9” another day.

 

[monkiboy]

Following up on my earlier post about my 12" Blade Grow having out of balance color cast.

I just got in the 2nd replacement from AI, and once again same issue. One side is more blue, the other side is more white. This makes it 3 in a row now. I'm going to contact them again, but I'm kind of at a loss at this point

I got the replacement couple days ago and the color is less obvious than the old one. I have to look very closely at the sand to notice it , well I guess I can live with it.

Please keep us updated @RZGreef & @Makomek . I have the same issue on two 39" grows. both have one end bluer than the rest of the fixture. it is very obvious on the rock and on the sand bed. What is going on?! What explanation did AI customer support give you?

 

[RZGreef]

Please keep us updated @RZGreef & @Makomek . I have the same issue on two 39" grows. both have one end bluer than the rest of the fixture. it is very obvious on the rock and on the sand bed. What is going on?! What explanation did AI customer support give you?

I'm on my 4th one now, and it too exhibits the same light imbalance. I've been thinking about it, and I believe there's a basic design issue. I'll try to lay it out with some photos, and some really poor artwork on my part. I'm attaching three photos to explain my thinking.

First, there are two overhead shots of the tank. In one of them, I have it oriented so the wire end of the Blade is towards the left. In the other, I have it oriented so that the wire end of the Blade is towards the right. This shows that the light imbalance is following the orientation of the strip itself.

Next, I have a photo of the LED clusters. You can see that the white LEDs are all to one side, and the blue LEDs are all towards the other side. There is also a little ridge next to the LEDs because the LEDs themselves are inset a little. I took the photo at an angle to show (on the right cluster) that part of the blue light is reflecting off the plastic ridge and not spreading to the right. The same holds true for the white.

In thinking about this, I have to conclude that what is happening is that all the clusters are sending white light down and to the right (while blocked from spreading left), and the blue is going down and to the left (while being blocked from spreading right). The reverse would be true if we oriented the Blade in the opposite direction. And so, thinking about the whole length of the strip, probably what's happening is that less white spreads to one direction, and less blue spreads to the other direction. It's the compounding effect from multiple clusters that causes a more blue appearance to one side and more white appearance to the other. To be more accurate, it's actually less white to the blue side, and less blue to the white side.

The other thing I thought about was why more people aren't reporting this problem. I think it's because this effect is more noticeable if your tank happens to be wider than the Blade itself. You can see this is true in my case from the tank photos. Once you get past the last LED cluster on either end, the only light that can get cast past that point is either blue, or white, depending on the orientation of the Blade. And so, it's only the central part, between the two outermost LED clusters, that is actually getting the light correctly, according to what we set it to with the app.

@monkiboy Is your tank wider than your Blade too?

In speaking to the AI folks, at this point they have no more answers, and have said the Blades, including the ones previously returned, are all within spec on their spectrometers and their bench testing. They have offered a refund at this point, but did not respond to my question showing the above analysis to them and asking if it was a design issue.

I'd love to hear what others think after reading this. Please point out any flaws in my analysis. I'd love to be proven wrong or find a solution.

 

[Tamberav]

All these videos of blades and all I can think of is how my cat would have them in the water in about 5 min.

 

[rtparty]

That is really bad! My 57” models don’t look anywhere close to that. I did notice that my tank on the cord side is a little more white than the opposite side but nothing like that. With my halides, I also noticed the one side of my tank always seemed off even though all the bulbs were the same. I figured it was just the black background messing with the light a little.

 

[RZGreef]

That is really bad! My 57” models don’t look anywhere close to that. I did notice that my tank on the cord side is a little more white than the opposite side but nothing like that. With my halides, I also noticed the one side of my tank always seemed off even though all the bulbs were the same. I figured it was just the black background messing with the light a little.

I used the Orphek camera lenses to capture those images. They do seem to add a little extra contrast punch in the photos, but it's still pretty darn bad to my eyes in reality too. My phone isn't able to capture anything unless I use them.

I've seen a number of videos online of people showing off their Blades. They were all larger than my 12" one, typically 36" or more. While I did see that imbalance in them often, it wasn't quite as bad as my experience. I don't know if that's because the cameras aren't capturing in sufficient fidelity, or perhaps since they were being used on larger tanks this in turn meant the height of the aquarium itself was greater which allowed for more light from adjacent LED clusters to reach and help balance things a little more than on my smaller one?

 

[Tamberav]

I'm on my 4th one now, and it too exhibits the same light imbalance. I've been thinking about it, and I believe there's a basic design issue. I'll try to lay it out with some photos, and some really poor artwork on my part. I'm attaching three photos to explain my thinking.

First, there are two overhead shots of the tank. In one of them, I have it oriented so the wire end of the Blade is towards the left. In the other, I have it oriented so that the wire end of the Blade is towards the right. This shows that the light imbalance is following the orientation of the strip itself.

Next, I have a photo of the LED clusters. You can see that the white LEDs are all to one side, and the blue LEDs are all towards the other side. There is also a little ridge next to the LEDs because the LEDs themselves are inset a little. I took the photo at an angle to show (on the right cluster) that part of the blue light is reflecting off the plastic ridge and not spreading to the right. The same holds true for the white.

In thinking about this, I have to conclude that what is happening is that all the clusters are sending white light down and to the right (while blocked from spreading left), and the blue is going down and to the left (while being blocked from spreading right). The reverse would be true if we oriented the Blade in the opposite direction. And so, thinking about the whole length of the strip, probably what's happening is that less white spreads to one direction, and less blue spreads to the other direction. It's the compounding effect from multiple clusters that causes a more blue appearance to one side and more white appearance to the other. To be more accurate, it's actually less white to the blue side, and less blue to the white side.

The other thing I thought about was why more people aren't reporting this problem. I think it's because this effect is more noticeable if your tank happens to be wider than the Blade itself. You can see this is true in my case from the tank photos. Once you get past the last LED cluster on either end, the only light that can get cast past that point is either blue, or white, depending on the orientation of the Blade. And so, it's only the central part, between the two outermost LED clusters, that is actually getting the light correctly, according to what we set it to with the app.

@monkiboy Is your tank wider than your Blade too?

In speaking to the AI folks, at this point they have no more answers, and have said the Blades, including the ones previously returned, are all within spec on their spectrometers and their bench testing. They have offered a refund at this point, but did not respond to my question showing the above analysis to them and asking if it was a design issue.

I'd love to hear what others think after reading this. Please point out any flaws in my analysis. I'd love to be proven wrong or find a solution.

This looks terrible.. I wouldn't even pay $50 for a tank to look like that. Would drive me bonkers.

 

[RZGreef]

This looks terrible.. I wouldn't even pay $50 for a tank to look like that. Would drive me bonkers.

Pretty much been how I've felt since I got the lights! :disappointed-face:

 

[luxdium]

I'm on my 4th one now, and it too exhibits the same light imbalance. I've been thinking about it, and I believe there's a basic design issue. I'll try to lay it out with some photos, and some really poor artwork on my part. I'm attaching three photos to explain my thinking.

First, there are two overhead shots of the tank. In one of them, I have it oriented so the wire end of the Blade is towards the left. In the other, I have it oriented so that the wire end of the Blade is towards the right. This shows that the light imbalance is following the orientation of the strip itself.

Next, I have a photo of the LED clusters. You can see that the white LEDs are all to one side, and the blue LEDs are all towards the other side. There is also a little ridge next to the LEDs because the LEDs themselves are inset a little. I took the photo at an angle to show (on the right cluster) that part of the blue light is reflecting off the plastic ridge and not spreading to the right. The same holds true for the white.

In thinking about this, I have to conclude that what is happening is that all the clusters are sending white light down and to the right (while blocked from spreading left), and the blue is going down and to the left (while being blocked from spreading right). The reverse would be true if we oriented the Blade in the opposite direction. And so, thinking about the whole length of the strip, probably what's happening is that less white spreads to one direction, and less blue spreads to the other direction. It's the compounding effect from multiple clusters that causes a more blue appearance to one side and more white appearance to the other. To be more accurate, it's actually less white to the blue side, and less blue to the white side.

The other thing I thought about was why more people aren't reporting this problem. I think it's because this effect is more noticeable if your tank happens to be wider than the Blade itself. You can see this is true in my case from the tank photos. Once you get past the last LED cluster on either end, the only light that can get cast past that point is either blue, or white, depending on the orientation of the Blade. And so, it's only the central part, between the two outermost LED clusters, that is actually getting the light correctly, according to what we set it to with the app.

@monkiboy Is your tank wider than your Blade too?

In speaking to the AI folks, at this point they have no more answers, and have said the Blades, including the ones previously returned, are all within spec on their spectrometers and their bench testing. They have offered a refund at this point, but did not respond to my question showing the above analysis to them and asking if it was a design issue.

I'd love to hear what others think after reading this. Please point out any flaws in my analysis. I'd love to be proven wrong or find a solution.

I'm not sure what spectrometers they're using but could test with mine if you ever wanted to do an investigation.

 

[Tuan’s Reef]

Seems like these was rushed and not tested and AI is using us as Beta testers. Is this a sign of things to come from AI and Ecotech?

 

[enb141]

Seems like these was rushed and not tested and AI is using us as Beta testers. Is this a sign of things to come from AI and Ecotech?

AI and Ecotech have been beta testers with customers for a long time.

 

[monkiboy]

@monkiboy Is your tank wider than your Blade too?

Yes, I have two SL39s on an eight foot tank so it leaves me a few inches in middle and few inches on each end. Everyone spoke about how incredible the spread was and I figured didn't need to run two 48s especially since my tank is only a FOWLR for now.

Your explanation makes a lot of sense and seems like a major design flaw/oversight. I will check my units shortly and see if indeed the blue light on each end I see much bluer follows when i rotate the fixtures 180 degrees.

Please keep me posted of any new details or solutions you come up with. I am still waiting for a reply from AI.

it’s very hard to capture with my phone but it’s glaring obvious in person and perhaps you can see some of it in the attached photo showing more blue on end of tank than in middle of looking at sand bed.
I also raised them much higher today on the temporary set up on a rms rail while I wait for the hanging kit to be released. It seems to have helped but once coral are in tank I likely won’t be able to keep them this high.

Thank you!

 

[spsick]

Here’s the refugium model and my settings. Putting down a perfectly even blanket of light over a standard 10g. Getting 70mmol measured as shown with the light 9” over a foggy from condensate piece of acrylic with an Apogee SQ-420 . This will change a bit once I actually get the tank full of water but good to know.


What you guys are seeing with the Grow gives me pause before rushing to get a set of these for my display but I’m REALLY liking the light this one casts.

 

[jake37]

I picked up a blade 30 freshwater - here are the pictures (set at 70%) the third picture is the same tnak a couple of months ago with plant 3.0:


--
I kind of wish it would sit a little higher on the tank like the wrgb-2 - so not happy about that aspect. Other than that verdict is still out - i was never happy with the wrgb-2 visually since i could never get decent colours (too blue) the pro has a white light but i don't feel like buying something like that for the 29 test aquarium.

I got around to testing par today; and was seeing around 60 par at 15 inches (the substrate is 2 inches and the sensor 1 inch and the tank 18 inches) at 65% so near 100 par at 100%;

I've been following the comments about imbalance on the blue reef unit; but i'm thinking the freshwater version which is what i have does not have these problems or it is not as bad as the light seems to maintain good colour balance visually across the length at 65% setting. I.e, one side does not look more red or blue than the other side.