Can you use multiple AI Primes to grow SPS coral? | BRStv Investigate

Ryanbrs · Sep 22, 2017

Hey guys!

Many of you have been asking us to test Aqua Illumination lights and this week we’re throwing you a curveball! A common way of thinking is that AI Primes are really made for smaller sized tanks, but we wondered how multiple fixtures over a 4ft tank would work when compared to our model for an SPS dominate tank.

Share your thoughts on using AI Primes for your reef tank and if you would consider lighting your tank the way we did during testing!

nautical_nathaniel · Sep 22, 2017

Great video! I was interested in adding two of the AI primes to my Nuvo 20 but was little hesitant after learning that they sometimes have synching issues, such as variability in color and intensity output, in a multiple fixture setup. Is there any truth to that statement after your experience with testing as many as 8 fixtures all at once?

Ryanbrs · Sep 22, 2017

pensacola-aquarist said:
Great video! I was interested in adding two of the AI primes to my Nuvo 20 but was little hesitant after learning that they sometimes have synching issues, such as variability in color and intensity output, in a multiple fixture setup. Is there any truth to that statement after your experience with testing as many as 8 fixtures all at once?

I have not run into any issues like personally. I'd have to ask the CS team if that was a common occurrence but I doubt it. I can say we had no issue running one master with seven slave units.

Davy Jones · Sep 22, 2017

Great stuff as always guys!

nautical_nathaniel · Sep 22, 2017

Ryanbrs said:
I have not run into any issues like personally. I'd have to ask the CS team if that was a common occurrence but I doubt it. I can say we had no issue running one master with seven slave units.

That's interesting, if things don't work out with the Maxspect Ethereal I have on the way, AI Prime's will probably be my next route.

revhtree · Sep 22, 2017

Why haven't I thought of this before? Good video!

chipmunkofdoom2 · Sep 22, 2017

Call me an old codger, but I absolutely cannot stand the level of customization available on current LED fixtures. How on Earth can an LED channel produce more than 100% of its rated output? What does that even mean? Are you overdriving the LED, providing more current than the diode was designed to take? I hope not.. there's no better way to make an LED go "pop" than to feed it too much current (if you've ever done DIY LEDs and you've made an LED go pop, you know the sound I'm talking about). Additionally, how does running a white LED at, say, 5% of its rated capacity suddenly mean the blue diodes can now accept more current than they're designed to accept? Running one LED far below its rated capacity does not suddenly change the other diodes to allow them to accept more current. Are all the LEDs in AI fixtures underpowered, and the +100% output means you're just getting more power that AI didn't want to let you have in the first place? It makes absolutely no sense. And that doesn't even factor in that you have no clue what spectrum the resulting mix is, or how much PAR it's providing. That's a whole different issue all together.

Aside from ramping up and ramping down to emulate sunrise and sunset, I have no interest in playing with spectrum. Give me a 10,000K, 14,000K, 20,000K and maybe 24,000K preset, and I'm satisfied. If I don't like the color, I can at least start tweaking the spectrum from a known starting point. Of course, this is just my humble opinion, and it's likely not in the majority. If it was, I would see more people complaining about the spectrum choices available, and the manufacturers wouldn't be making something that people don't want. Still. Just don't get it.

EDIT: Regardless, good video again from BRS. Thanks for taking the time!

Crabs McJones · Sep 22, 2017

Great video! Thank you!

Antics · Sep 22, 2017

Great video! Really happy you guys provided that data for getting close to Ecotech's AB program!

sternicus · Sep 22, 2017

chipmunkofdoom2 said:
Call me an old codger, but I absolutely cannot stand the level of customization available on current LED fixtures. How on Earth can an LED channel produce more than 100% of its rated output? What does that even mean? Are you overdriving the LED, providing more current than the diode was designed to take? I hope not.. there's no better way to make an LED go "pop" than to feed it too much current (if you've ever done DIY LEDs and you've made an LED go pop, you know the sound I'm talking about). Additionally, how does running a white LED at, say, 5% of its rated capacity suddenly mean the blue diodes can now accept more current than they're designed to accept? Running one LED far below its rated capacity does not suddenly change the other diodes to allow them to accept more current. Are all the LEDs in AI fixtures underpowered, and the +100% output means you're just getting more power that AI didn't want to let you have in the first place? It makes absolutely no sense. And that doesn't even factor in that you have no clue what spectrum the resulting mix is, or how much PAR it's providing. That's a whole different issue all together.

Aside from ramping up and ramping down to emulate sunrise and sunset, I have no interest in playing with spectrum. Give me a 10,000K, 14,000K, 20,000K and maybe 24,000K preset, and I'm satisfied. If I don't like the color, I can at least start tweaking the spectrum from a known starting point. Of course, this is just my humble opinion, and it's likely not in the majority. If it was, I would see more people complaining about the spectrum choices available, and the manufacturers wouldn't be making something that people don't want. Still. Just don't get it.

EDIT: Regardless, good video again from BRS. Thanks for taking the time!

You do sound alttile of the older reefing styler which can come across annoying, but I get what you’re saying. The lights don’t get overloaded, but they have a preset spectrum rating they can handle. A giant company with high paid engineers aren’t designing a system where you overload technology with more watts than it can handle. That would be ludicrous. I’d also add your opinion is the .1%. Most if not almost all reefers love more control ability.

Biznizface · Sep 22, 2017

Hi I am close to giving up on these lights i have 3 non hd primes lighting my 3 ft and have seen no growth from some sps frags in over a few months now.
Even tho I have the frags up high on my rock work and all other parameters are good I just can't seem to get any growth.
An LFS told me my white channel was to low so have gradually got that to 65% but still nothing happening.

Any advice would be great.

Here is photo of my tank and my light schedule.

2Wheelsonly · Sep 22, 2017

chipmunkofdoom2 said:
Call me an old codger, but I absolutely cannot stand the level of customization available on current LED fixtures. How on Earth can an LED channel produce more than 100% of its rated output? What does that even mean? Are you overdriving the LED, providing more current than the diode was designed to take? I hope not.. there's no better way to make an LED go "pop" than to feed it too much current (if you've ever done DIY LEDs and you've made an LED go pop, you know the sound I'm talking about). Additionally, how does running a white LED at, say, 5% of its rated capacity suddenly mean the blue diodes can now accept more current than they're designed to accept? Running one LED far below its rated capacity does not suddenly change the other diodes to allow them to accept more current. Are all the LEDs in AI fixtures underpowered, and the +100% output means you're just getting more power that AI didn't want to let you have in the first place? It makes absolutely no sense. And that doesn't even factor in that you have no clue what spectrum the resulting mix is, or how much PAR it's providing. That's a whole different issue all together.

Aside from ramping up and ramping down to emulate sunrise and sunset, I have no interest in playing with spectrum. Give me a 10,000K, 14,000K, 20,000K and maybe 24,000K preset, and I'm satisfied. If I don't like the color, I can at least start tweaking the spectrum from a known starting point. Of course, this is just my humble opinion, and it's likely not in the majority. If it was, I would see more people complaining about the spectrum choices available, and the manufacturers wouldn't be making something that people don't want. Still. Just don't get it.

EDIT: Regardless, good video again from BRS. Thanks for taking the time!

I would highly doubt they are "overloading" the diode. If anything my assumption is trying to make a system that runs cool and handles power in small form factor. The feature where you boost individual lights is allowing the PSU to supply more power to lights based on the fact you're not using it on another. It's more of an efficiency feature more than anything. I think the bottleneck isn't how much power a diode can support but rather the PSU and cooling of the unit being the bottleneck.

You say "why not give us this power to begin with". This is AI saying "Here is your rated power output i'm supplying to the unit but I will let you further customize to make efficient use of all AVAILABLE power based on your spectrum preference."

Saltydoug · Sep 22, 2017

I have an 80 shallow (48x24x16) and i only keep lps and softies mostly a sucker for euphyllia. Im wondering now if perhaps 3 of these units or something similar like the kessil 160s would provide adequate coverage giving the relatively low requirements for my favorite corals.

Ahogue21 · Sep 22, 2017

Saltydoug said:
I have an 80 shallow (48x24x16) and i only keep lps and softies mostly a sucker for euphyllia. Im wondering now if perhaps 3 of these units or something similar like the kessil 160s would provide adequate coverage giving the relatively low requirements for my favorite corals.

Funny I've got the same tank I assume (deep blue 80) and planing mostly solid zoas and was planning on 3 of these as well unfortunately tank won't be going up for several more months

landlocked303 · Sep 22, 2017

So appreciate seeing Ecotech's ab+ settings for SPS coral translated into the AI Prime HD settings! Could you show us the AI Prime HD settings for Ecotech's recommended settings for LPS and soft corals?

I would love to see AI start helping out with spectrum settings... There is so much anecdotal advice out there but I would like to see scientific evidence for settings and presets from the manufacturer; similar to Echotec. It would be interesting to have presets for types of coral (SPS,LPS,soft), algae, etc. Controllability is a blessing and a curse. Reefers need some guidance with the fancy new stuff!!!

Ryanbrs said:
Hey guys!

Many of you have been asking us to test Aqua Illumination lights and this week we’re throwing you a curveball! A common way of thinking is that AI Primes are really made for smaller sized tanks, but we wondered how multiple fixtures over a 4ft tank would work when compared to our model for an SPS dominate tank.

Share your thoughts on using AI Primes for your reef tank and if you would consider lighting your tank the way we did during testing!

Ahogue21 · Sep 22, 2017

landlocked303 said:
So appreciate seeing Ecotech's ab+ settings for SPS coral translated into the AI Prime HD settings! Could you show us the AI Prime HD settings for Ecotech's recommended settings for LPS and soft corals?

I would love to see AI start helping out with spectrum settings... There is so much anecdotal advice out there but I would like to see scientific evidence for settings and presets from the manufacturer; similar to Echotec. It would be interesting to have presets for types of coral (SPS,LPS,soft), algae, etc. Controllability is a blessing and a curse. Reefers need some guidance with the fancy new stuff!!!

X2

Oceanavekid · Sep 22, 2017

Good video

Was thinking about picking up the hydra HD 26. Might have to look into the prime HD

juanmanuelsanchez · Sep 22, 2017

I have AI lights in my aquarium I have 2 sps in the upper part of the tank and they are doing fine. Even growing. This are great lights and one of the best if money value in my opinion.

SuperDragon · Sep 22, 2017

It's incredible how the spectrum settings from Radions at the AB+ setting vary so differently than the Prime HD, they use clear lenses on Radions vs. frosty on Primes, and the kicker is they are both one company now.

Rattzreef · Sep 22, 2017

Id like to see this test done on a spread of Kessil A80s.. Not as controllable as some others but their focus on correct spectrum could produce interesting results.. I'm extremely happy with my A80 so far.. Ill be picking up the controller in a week or two..