Ai blade or prime for Fluval 13.5?

[spamvicious]

I have a Fluval 13.5 and had upgraded the light to a Fluval marine 3.0 to fit into the lid. However I’ve removed the lid as it was far too fiddly.

I’m looking at the ai prime or the ai blade but wanted some recommendations. I only want to grow softies and possibly lps. No interest is growing sps.

The ai prime plus bracket is around £300 and the ai blade plus bracket is around £200. I was also looking at the kessil tuna blue but I think I read that you can only programme it manually.

 

[Doctorgori]

The Primes just aren’t hardened enough for life over a saltwater tank.
The over all finish and age of the unit looks “worn” in short order, in less than 2yrs the case/shell plastic looks like crap
I’ve had to replace several lenses and power bricks….I can’t endorse this brand save for the price…
IME Nicrew is a bettter quality/price mix in the Low/mid light choice sector

 

[spamvicious]

The Primes just aren’t hardened enough for life over a saltwater tank.
The over all finish and age of the unit looks “worn” in short order
I’ve had to replace several lenses and power bricks….I can’t endorse this brand save for the price…
IMO Nicrew is a bettter quality/price mix in the Low/mid light choice sector

Ah that’s interesting thanks. What Nicrew would you recommend?

 

[twentyleagues]

With the kessil you will need the spectral controller if you want to automate it, Another $100. I love the look of a tank with kessils on it. I have a 21" blade and it worked well on my 30g tank for the types of corals you are looking at. All controllable right out of the box. I did purchase the extended tank mount legs to get better spread I think they were another $30. No real experience with the prime other than at the lfs i worked at seems a decent light not sure its needed on that size tank since the blade were released.

 

[Just John]

Since you mentioned Nicrew, I have thee one at the link below and it is OK, but I am going to replace it with something better. I would not recommend it. Why are you not keeping the Fluval light?

www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0819MQQ76/ref=ppx_od_dt_b_asin_title_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1

also, watch this if you have not seen it:

 

[KandAReefs]

The Primes just aren’t hardened enough for life over a saltwater tank.
The over all finish and age of the unit looks “worn” in short order, in less than 2yrs the case/shell plastic looks like crap
I’ve had to replace several lenses and power bricks….I can’t endorse this brand save for the price…
IME Nicrew is a bettter quality/price mix in the Low/mid light choice sector

Going to have to disagree with you I have had a ai prime HD over both my nano and now 75 gallon for over 5 years now and have never had to replace a thing.

 

[Doctorgori]

Going to have to disagree with you I have had a ai prime HD over both my nano and now 75 gallon for over 5 years now and have never had to replace a thing.

There isn’t disagreement but sample….quality will vary amongst units for low quality products….and that’s the issue: some units fail, some don’t…
I think I replaced 4 lenses out of 8 and apparently this was a common issue..
You lucked out …