AI Sol Review

[Aquattro]

I got home in time to actually see the lights on today. After the trial of attempting 3 units on the 180 and seeing it was obviously not enough, I added 3 more for a total of 6 Sol Blue units (Black casing).

I have replaced 3 x 400w Radium MH bulbs in lumenarc mini reflectors.

Thoughts so far...the color of the light is nice, maybe nicer than the radium bulbs. 6 units at 75% are fairly bright, but I'll ramp to 100% over the next week. That will still not compare to the MH bulbs in top of the line reflectors.

Color separation between white and blue still clearly evident, but that's a LED thing, not specific to any fixture.

My controller showed 12amp running the halides, it now shows 0.6amp. Substantial savings there. My chiller also hasn't come on in a week. Nice!

No more fans in my canopy, so I can turn the volume down on the TV. another nice feature.

Light quality - Unfortunately I have to say the light from the MH was far better for coral color than LED. I can see differing shades flickering in the corals as the lights hit it through the water shimmer. Some look like cuttlefish flashing. A couple of pieces are nicer, but some of my favorites are lacking the pop they had. Pink lemonade is lacking the brilliant yellow. Some of the blues and purples are washed out. Not much, most people would still say wow, but I notice the difference.
The sand bed has a couple of focused blue spots here, some white over there.

Most of these issues are not Sol specific, if any. While LED is certainly the way of the future, I'm sure I'll miss the color that the radiums gave. It just doesn't compare.

Overall, the Sols themselves are good solid units, well made, easy to setup, even via the Apex controller. No heat, don't have to replace bulbs, although I should start saving now for the day I need to replace the entire units :) Great price compared to other similar products, and I think the best value for my dollar given my needs.
I've seen other tanks without as noticeable points above, but those either had DIY units or Vertex units with a lot more LED bulbs, which probably minimizes these effects.
I don't think I'll be sorry I went LED in the long run, but sitting in front of the tank right now is a bit sad...don't get me wrong, it still looks great, but it's just not the same as Radiums....

I'll update my thoughts on this in a month :)

[sphelps]

My thoughts where the same when I switched to LEDs, I wanted to throw mine in the garbage or at least sell them off. However it does get better overtime and you adapt by selecting certain corals and colors that do better under the LEDs. In addition your eyes will adjust and you'll kind of forget about how good it was before, that is until you visit someone else still running halides.

Another thing you'll benefit from is red and green LEDs, not to say you should have bought the Radion but these colors actually do make a significant difference. They can be easily added as you continue on.

[Aquattro]

In addition your eyes will adjust and you'll kind of forget about how good it was before.

Lol, I think that about sums it up!! haha. I agree, I think it will sink in. From across the room, the tank looks fantastic. Maybe better than the Radiums. More of a magenta tone to it, which is really nice.

I thought of maybe adding a T5 across the front to fill in some areas of concern, but I'll leave it for now and see how quickly I forget how good it was before :)

[sphelps]

I think you're current is off to, no way 6 sols running close to full blast are only pulling 0.6amps which is only 70W. 3 400W halides using 12amps sounds right as that's 1400W. The sols should be pulling closer to 4 amps so you're basically using 1/3 the energy.

[Aquattro]

I think you're current is off

You're right, just checked at peak usage, it's probably 2.8amp

[sphelps]

They are rated at 72W each I believe so if you run them 100% then you're looking at 3.9A.

[Aquattro]

Here's a crappy phone pic showing coverage. Colors are washed out in the photo, but you can see the 6 units cover the area well..

http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd101/reef_raf/phone_AI.jpg

[sphelps]

Aaahh don't show my wife, if she sees those angels in a reef tank I'm screwed!

Looking good btw, obviously coverage isn't an issue anymore. So I know you said the pic washed out the color but do you find color in general more washed out with the LEDs compared to your halides?

[Madreefer]

I'll update my thoughts on this in a month :)

I'm thinking it wont be a good review. Seriosly dude. Turn the intensity down. I started mine out at the recommended 30% and got impatient and cranked them up to 75% and my corals went down hill. It took a couple of months for them to recover. 10 months later after slowly ramping them up 5% every week or so I now am at 100% for 1 hour a day and slowly increasing the time. The corals are now used to the change to LEDs and growth is way faster and color is great. You did alot of research on these lights and your failing to follow almost everybodies advice on the intensity settings.

[Aquattro]

Aaahh don't show my wife, if she sees those angels in a reef tank I'm screwed!

Looking good btw, obviously coverage isn't an issue anymore. So I know you said the pic washed out the color but do you find color in general more washed out with the LEDs compared to your halides?

The angels are my favorites, especially since they haven't eaten my clam!

No, the colors are good, not washed out at all, just don't have the pop they used to.

[Aquattro]

I'm thinking it wont be a good review. Seriosly dude. Turn the intensity down. I started mine out at the recommended 30% and got impatient and cranked them up to 75% and my corals went down hill. It took a couple of months for them to recover. 10 months later after slowly ramping them up 5% every week or so I now am at 100% for 1 hour a day and slowly increasing the time. The corals are now used to the change to LEDs and growth is way faster and color is great. You did alot of research on these lights and your failing to follow almost everybodies advice on the intensity settings.

Well, here's my thoughts on this. Running a 400w bulb 12 inches away from the coral is a lot of light. The AI isn't nearly the light. I ran the 3 units at 100% for a week, 10 inches from the coral, no issues at all. The people that said they had issues, had them in a day or two. Adding 3 more was a big jump, so I did turn them down, and I'm happy with the level. Not too dark, and not what I used to have.

Still, I needed to consider more. Rich (bblinks) took some of my frags from under the 400w, and added them to his 9 AIs at 100%, no problem. So if we reverse that move, taking his lights at 100% and putting them over my frags, still should equal no problem. Right? Or am I not considering something in that example?
Now I'm not gonna leave town and just believe they're going to be ok, 'cause that's reckless. Ok, I'm a bit reckless. But I'm on vacation now and home for the next three weeks, and able to closely watch the corals every hour or so. I've seen them react to too much light before, so I'm confident that if they start going bad, I'm there to catch it.
I'm not just MarkoD'ing the advice, I've carefully considered everything. My SPS collection is worth thousands, so I'm not just going to let them get toasted. Yes, I could be wrong, but I don't think so (this time)

[tang daddy]

Brad, that's awesome you got 6 ai blacks!!

Your new name should be darth vader, could I make a suggestion?

I found that after a month of running my sols that alot of stuff browned out, the intensity was alot lower for acclimating but previous to this I had ran diy led and had decent colour but the temperature ofthe light was more 10k because the ratio of cw to RB/b was 1:1 now with the ai it 1:2 so it's pretty obvious that there is less white making the tank abit dim.

Getting back to what I was saying alot of the corals browned, I noticed the reds pinks and yellow suffered abit even purple and blues were browning abit, that is until I added 2 Fiji purple....

Within a week everything colored up and is continuing to color, I was so fascinated I told Rich to add some to his tank.
I truly believe that as the colour blends the only colour missing is the reds. I oftensee green in the sand and that is a mix of the cw/b. You previously mentioned that you may want to add t5 supplementation in the future, if you do try the KZ Fiji, you will be happier with the colour of the corals.

Also if you think about it there is only 24w of white per fixture multiply that by 6 and you got 144w of light that the corals use that is nearly not enough for fast sps growth. I am sure now my 75g sps tank may need another 2 fixtures because 2 fixtures isn't enough light for my sps.

[Willito]

Although this is a AI Sol review, is there any reason why you didn't want to wait for the release of the AI Vega? This light is supposely the latest greates in LED that AI has to offer and is closely price to the SOL.

[Aquattro]

Ya, I'm probably going to try a single strip of T5, probably that bulb. I gave away my T5 strip fixture, guess I'll see if I can get it back :)

On a good note, this morning is the first day I've been able to see the sunrise ramp, and I'm really liking it!

[Aquattro]

Although this is a AI Sol review, is there any reason why you didn't want to wait for the release of the AI Vega? This light is supposely the latest greates in LED that AI has to offer and is closely price to the SOL.

The Vega is to be released anytime now. I've heard this for 6 months :) Price is about another 100 bucks, times 6 plus taxes, made it out of my price range. I also saw the disco promo video and thought that was the dumbest thing ever, and completely swayed me into not waiting.
Overall, I'm very pleased with my choice of unit, most of my issues are LED generic, so the Vega wouldn't have resolved most of them.

[blaster]

I think it looks good.It looks like i'm getting the elos aquatop lighting and tempo controller for my elos tank.I'm guesing probably double the price.I hope i dont see any regretts paying over 2000.00.

[Aquattro]

I think it looks good.It looks like i'm getting the elos aquatop lighting and tempo controller for my elos tank.I'm guesing probably double the price.I hope i dont see any regretts paying over 2000.00.

I'm not sure you'd have any issues setting up a new system, really nothing to compare it to. For me, removing the MH and adding the LED I could immediately see the difference.
The elos looks like a nice unit, I'm sure you'll be happy with it.

I added a 4' fiji purple T5 to see if it would fill in some of what's missing. It hasn't really, might need a bigger one.

[blaster]

You should be doing frag packs brad,you have some juicy stuff and a very nice looking aquarium.

[Aquattro]

You should be doing frag packs brad,you have some juicy stuff and a very nice looking aquarium.

Thanks. One day, I'll have some frags available. My frag tank went south, so I need to start it over...

[lastlight]

Have you tried supplementing with radiums?

[Aquattro]

Have you tried supplementing with radiums?

Thought about it, but figured they might bleach my corals...

[freezetyle]

Word on the street is that you will be able to order custom pucks with the vega colours for the sol fixture in the coming months. so i wouldn't feel too left out

[Aquattro]

Word on the street is that you will be able to order custom pucks with the vega colours for the sol fixture in the coming months. so i wouldn't feel too left out

not really something I would be interested in, pretty happy with the color of these.

[Aquattro]

Thought I'd post a weekly update. Chris was right, you tend to forget how good it was and enjoy what you have. Overall, pretty happy with the setup.

After the 2+ weeks without MH, the corals, for the most part have not lost any color. Some colors don't show as well, but that's life I guess. I ramped the white up to 80% and will probably keep it there, seems bright enough to keep the colors, and still allows a lot of room for tuning the blues.
No heat to speak of, tank temp doesn't go up at all from lights, even though they're enclosed in a canopy (which I may change).
They use about 1/3rd of the power my MH did, so happy in that department too.
The color separation thing only really gets emphasized directly under the center where the crest of my wave forms, the other areas of the tank are fine, so unless you have a really turbulent surface, you may not notice this effect as much.
No views on growth yet, but I'll update that in a few more weeks.

Overall, good move to the LEDs

[Bblinks]

Glad to see the corals are adjusting to the lights, more so that you are adjusting to the new lights. :smile: I have been thinking about adding some Fiji pink T5's for some time since Chris retrofitted his tank with them but truthfully I really don't think we need it. The color of the coral doesn't seen to change much instead the reflection under different lighting system alters it's true color. I had a piece from Peter's tank that looked brownish with white polyps under his AI sols but once I put it in my frag tank with T5s 3 whites, 2 blues, and 1pink. That piece instantly changed into a redish purple body with white polyps. Same with a bubble gum nana I got from JL a week and half ago. The body under T5 was baby blue and as soon as it hits my tank the blue washed out and the body just look like its bleached white, I took it back to the JL just to see that I am not mistaking and as soon as it hits their water BAM the piece turned baby blue. I am not gonna pretend that I am some kind of light spectrum expert but I do know that coral grows and they do keep color under LED but to make them "pop" we should supplement it with a red spectrum so it will be more asethetically appealing.

[Aquattro]

Rich, I talked to Chris about the T5 thing, and I added a single fiji purple bulb to see if it made a difference. Visually, none at all. I couldn't tell if it was on or off. I suppose enough of them and you might see a difference. Not sure it affects color either, the colors lacking pop are simply lacking from the full spectrum intensity of the MH.

An example is that piece I got at the frag swap that Chris brought over from Tim...the pink and blue milli. It was probably the "popiest" coral in the tank until I added the LED and instantly, the colors blended. Not so much washed out, but the difference between pink and blue weren't as distinct. Still a nice piece, but not what it was under MH.

But overall, the difference in colors only happened at light change over. What they were then is still what they are today, no changes due to the LED.

Which for me is huge, I was really scared they would all brown out.

[Bblinks]

That's the main reason why I wanted you to keep the intensity relatively close to your halides is so that the corals won't brown out. The only other thing I want to mention is that not all of the corals will react positively 100% to the switch at first, I found that majority of the deep water ones will take longer to be accustomed to the new lights but no more than a month or two in my experience.

I also dose some zeovit sponge power and amino acid to help with the transition period. just a thought.

[Aquattro]

That's the main reason why I wanted you to keep the intensity relatively close to your halides is so that the corals won't brown out. The only other thing I want to mention is that not all of the corals will react positively 100% to the switch at first, I found that majority of the deep water ones will take longer to be accustomed to the new lights but no more than a month or two in my experience.

I also dose some zeovit sponge power and amino acid to help with the transition period. just a thought.

I think all the corals are doing well, even the deep water piece I have.

I dose a bunch of zeo stuff, including aminos (but not sponge power). I can't really say there is an event happening that I'd call a transition period, the tank just looks like it does each year when my radiums were getting near replacement time. All in all, everything looks like it did pre LED, other than that fluorescing "pop" in colors.

[Werbo]

Brad - how many sols do you figure over a 24x48 120G?

[Aquattro]

Brad - how many sols do you figure over a 24x48 120G?

Tyler, you'd need 4 of them. If you have no center brace, "maybe" 3, but probably 4

[Aquattro]

Not exactly a month in, but here's my closing thoughts on this thread.

Overall, very happy with the AI Sol units, fantastic value for my dollar. Easy to setup on the Apex VDM module, no experience with the AI controller, but I'm told it's pretty simple too.
I chose to ignore most of the advice regarding initial intensity and started at 70/75/75, quickly increasing to 85/100/100 (w/b/rb). No issues at all with these numbers, as I suspected. These units are nice and bright, but they do not replace or compare to 400w MH lighting.

After a month, most corals have retained the color they had when I switched. A couple have become dull and almost brown. My pink and blue milli is now my mostly blue milli. Still nice, but not what it was.
I'm experimenting with supplemental T5 to see what I can get back in regards to color, I'll see how that goes over the next few months.

LED is nice for several reasons (less power, no heat, no bulb replacement, etc) and they do provide adequate light to bring out or maintain color in SPS corals. I've gotten used to the light separation, mostly, and overall I can live with this long term.

However, given unlimited resources, ability to more effectively manage evaporation and a lifetime supply of MH bulbs, I still feel that the 400w Radium MH is THE lighting choice for the best SPS tank possible.

[don.ald]

any more updates?
how did the supplementing t5s go; what colours did you use?
thanks

[Aquattro]

No more recent updates. Things have pretty much remained stable after my last review. The T5 single bulb was a Fiji Purple, I can't say that it really made any difference. I think more bulbs might have an impact, but then you're back to bulbs, heat and costs associated with them.
Overall the colors have remained the same, with a few exceptions. One piece browned out a bit, but came back quickly.
I ignored most advice about starting at some ridiculously low intensity and had the lamps at 100% blue, 85% white within two weeks. YMMV.

[Myka]

You're 11 months in now Brad, what do you think for growth and color changes?

[Aquattro]

You're 11 months in now Brad, what do you think for growth and color changes?

Picking on my because I called you chatty?? lol

Well, 11 months in, and overall I'm happy with the purchase. Chris (Tang Daddy) said it best with "LED are the best lights in the world, once you forget what the MH looked like". I don't remember clearly what the MH looked like anymore, so now I'm content with the AI's.
To be honest, I only had one real color change in coral; the pink and blue milli went all blue. The rest stayed the same, and growth, quite frankly, has been stupid. I'm constantly trimming and dealing with coral aggression. Colors are all bright and vibrant, PE is great and overall, tank is doing well. Last week's frag swap left more nose prints on the front glass than I could count, so that is probably a testament to what others thought of the tank.
I have one light that shuts off the whites later in the day once or twice a week, but unplugging and plugging back in turns it back on. I think it's related to power supplies getting hot, but haven't rearranged them yet.

I bought them at Modular, and the one concern I had about one unit went unheeded, and a follow up with AI didn't produce much better results. One of the units, very rarely, will have more of a green color to the blues when at less than 10%. Like twice a month. Martin didn't have much to say, and AI gave me "acceptable range" BS. But out of 7 units I own, 5 have given me no grief at all.
I do like the control I have over lighting with the Apex. You don't get that with other lighting solutions, so a big plus there.
Heat: I still require a chiller on warmer days, although to a lesser extent than with MH. This is of course to keep temp stable. I don't think it would get into dangerous temps if left to their own, but I don't want more than 1 degree swing.
Evaporation is considerably less now, which was the primary reason to switch.
So I guess, looking back, mostly a good move. Corals didn't lose much if anything, growth is the same as it always was, the tank is pleasing to look at and I don't terribly regret the choice.

That being said, my dream tank still would run 400w Radiums, assuming I could manage heat and evap properly.

[Myka]

I actually meant to ask you yesterday, but I forgot and saw you today which reminded me. That's a very positive review Brad, good to hear. :)

[daplatapus]

As one of the nose prints left on Brad's tank last weekend, I was impressed with it. Makes me almost think the light spectrum debate may not have as much weight as I thought... maybe :)

Hey Brad, I can't remember if you had any pocillopora in there. It's the one coral so far under my LED's that just doesn't seem to do well. I've got a piece in both my tanks which share everything and under MH's they do fine, but LED's not so much.

[Aquattro]

Hey Brad, I can't remember if you had any pocillopora in there..

Unfortunately, yes, I have lots. It does really well. It has kept it's pink sheen across the tops of the colonies just as it did under the MH. Even at the bottom of the tank.

[Madreefer]

Hey this thread died. :lol:

[mark]

there's a AI Sol success stories thread on RC and picture below got my attention, (3 Sols on a 180g for 5 years)

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/10/11/ynyre3y9.jpg

[Aquattro]

Hey this thread died. :lol:

That's why I like you Bill, you're a cheeky f'er!! lol

I will finish off my assessment of AI's shortly :)

[Aquattro]

there's a AI Sol success stories thread on RC and picture below got my attention, (3 Sols on a 180g for 5 years)



I'm surprised at the 3 units on a 180, I really needed 6 to give me what I wanted. I'd also say mine was a success story, just not successful enough. I'll type up my closing thoughts on my LED experience later today.

[Madreefer]

That's why I like you Bill, you're a cheeky f'er!! lol

I will finish off my assessment of AI's shortly :)

Haha. Sorry just stumbled upon this thread while searching tank transfers.
Hey at least i've been behaving lately:wink:

[Aquattro]

Well, it is due an update. Now at the end of using these, I have to say my initial review is still pretty accurate. I think these are great lights at their price point, and better than some at higher. Overall, they did a really good job of growing my SPS and keeping most of the colors I had with MH. They did still require a chiller on my setup, but no biggie, I had the chiller inline anyways.
I think, for a 6 foot tank, I might choose differently now, with T5/LED hybrids hitting the market. OR, with the new radion, coverage might be better with less units. Probably still comparable total cost though. For smaller tanks on a budget, I think these are still a contender. I have a 22" frag tank, one does not cover the sides enough. For a 2x2 area, with SPS anyway, you should have 2 units. I've seen less, but for me, I wanted the same intensity as MH. 2 units gave me that.
The coverage and penetration of them is great, color rendition to the eye is pleasing, and the control via my Apex was easy. I do enjoy the ramping effects, which I'll miss with my new light, but I'm trying to find a way around that.
In closing, if you're looking for a decent LED at an affordable price, I'd have no problem recommending these. Especially now with the market flooding, they're much cheaper than the 399 new price last year. Yes, the newer offerings are reported to be better, but they are more expensive. One thing to consider with LED technology, what is great today will be old news in a year. Return on investment when selling is not good :)

[Madreefer]

I'd have to agree with you. But all of us that do run them obviously are not 100% happy with them as we are all trying to supplement them with something else to get the right coloring. Rich's tank for example, he's got T5s on there as well. He probably has one of the nicest tanks around too. I'm no where near the caliber of his tank but I swapped out 2 of my Sols for the Hydras and wow what a difference. Color is way better. Only thing I dont like about the Hydras is that you can not change out the pucks like the Vegas. I've seen the Vegas and IMO the Hydras look alot better. I always wondered what this "disco effect" was until I seen a Vega. The new controllor is way better than the original as well.

[waynemah]

Only thing I dont like about the Hydras is that you can not change out the pucks like the Vegas.

The pucks are really easy to remove ;) I'm pretty sure if you wanted to change a color or two, you could just buy the led and solder it up yourself. :mrgreen: