AI Sol Review

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by 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.

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]

Originally Posted by Tyler Werbowski

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?