Ai Prime or Red Sea Led 50

Thesaltyreefer · Jul 19, 2020

New tank purchase a Nuvo 50 gallon with a fijicube 20 sump. Also new to the forum. I think the hardest part of the new tank build so far was going back and forth on the lighting. The tank is 30×24×16. With it being shallow iv been trying to figure out the best way to go as far as lighting for this with it being planned for just soft and LPS in a way I wont fry the coral with too much light. Iv looked at kessil but not a big fan of having to buy a controller when there are other good options that you can use with your smartphone. With that being said it came down to 2 choices, the AI prime or the Red Sea Led 50. Iv heard pros and cons from both with AI having bad costumer service and a more complicated set up but really good with making your corals pop to Red Sea having similarities to kessil in spectrum and led layout but have heard of connection problems. What are your options on this? Would love to hear owners of both to help make my decision.

Yates273 · Jul 19, 2020

I have the Ai prime actually 3 over my 40 gallon. I love the ease of the app and how I can control the lights. With that there are plenty of programs out there to mimic different lights. A popular one for the Prime is the AB+ setting that mimics radions. It’s as easy as getting the numbers from a forum and adding to your My Ai or there are plenty of preset settings you can download and try. I’m not on FB but they have a group where people share their settings you can try if you wanted. I can’t speak for the Red Sea since I never had. Good luck with your choice.

Thesaltyreefer · Jul 19, 2020

Thank you! I am leaning more toward Ai since so many people have them and with it being related to radions.

MaxxuM · Jul 19, 2020

I've been to several LFS's looking at lights to place over a new tank project. Have you compared these lights in person? That should probably be your best bet for choosing. The biggest difference between them is the spectrum. The ReefLED's are modeled on Kessil's. Great glitter lines, but mainly in the white to blue range. The AI's are very adjustable, but there's the disco ball thing which some people don't care about while it annoys the heck out of others. The only way to know which you are is to view them in person. Personally, I like the ReefLED's because they are bullet proof. Less options, but they use a proven spectrum. I passed on the Ai's due to the disco ball thing.

ahiggins · Jul 19, 2020

I have two ai primes over my 40 frag tank. They grow everything up to the harder to care for sps and I think it’s more of unstable parameters for sps opposed to the light situation

Thesaltyreefer · Jul 19, 2020

MaxxuM said:
I've been to several LFS's looking at lights to place over a new tank project. Have you compared these lights in person? That should probably be your best bet for choosing. The biggest difference between them is the spectrum. The ReefLED's are modeled on Kessil's. Great glitter lines, but mainly in the white to blue range. The AI's are very adjustable, but there's the disco ball thing which some people don't care about while it annoys the heck out of others. The only way to know which you are is to view them in person. Personally, I like the ReefLED's because they are bullet proof. Less options, but they use a proven spectrum. I passed on the Ai's due to the disco ball thing.

Yeah that needs to be the next thing I do is go compare in person. I really wanted to pull the trigger on Red Sea but I saw some reviews about the connection to the reefbeat app being a nightmare. Apparently not staying connected for more than a few days at a time and people waking up to their lights not being on.

MaxxuM · Jul 19, 2020

I'm looking at the 90's. I've read the iOS app reviews and have seen the complaints. Let me tell you, there's something wrong with all the choices if you look close enough. People are questioning Kessil's reliability and weaker PAR values as well as a higher price tag. Radion's have a pretty strong disco thing going on until you add the diffuser, which already adds to a higher average price. AI's can be laser beams in the tank so they typically have to be mounted higher than other options which can cause a lot of light spillage. The Chinese black boxes have to be mounted on wires which is a hassle, don't have WiFi/Apex controllability and don't usually have UL listing. The list goes on and on.

TBH I'm probably just going to use my Kessil 360WE and supliment with 2x old Kessil A150W's I have in boxes somewhere. They actually still work after 8 years, but I need to take apart one of them as it's fan is kinda loud (may be dusty inside).

Anything two of the popular BRS or Marine Depot lights in the 50w-90w range are going to work for you. The question is, will you like how they look?