AI prime or red sea?

[James5214]

From your guys experience would you purchase the AI prime lights or the red sea lights? Which is the all around better light? And if you guys have any suggestion on lights just as good that could be cheaper I'm open to ideas. And also I need to mention I don't have anything to suspend the lights from so it has to be something that goes on the tank. Thanks

 

[904Floridaman]

what size tank?

 

[A Young Reefer]

Primes for the win!
I just like them and stand by them. the app is great too. Running two on my reefer 250 and one hydra 32.

 

[James5214]

My tank isn't big it's only a 20 long so 30 inches. I know I will have to turn intensity way down.

 

[A Young Reefer]

My tank isn't big it's only a 20 long so 30 inches. I know I will have to turn intensity way down.

What corals are you planning to have?

 

[James5214]

Softies nothing special. This is first tank. Still learning alot. Don't want to take on task of dosing yet either. So things like xenia maybe GSP possibly some zoas.

 

[A Young Reefer]

Softies nothing special. This is first tank. Still learning alot. Don't want to take on task of dosing yet either. So things like xenia maybe GSP possibly some zoas.

The prime will be more than sufficient for these. From a spread perspective: the ai primes have a 24x24 inch spread. The ReefLed 50 is 20x20 and the ReefLed 90 is 24x24. So as you can see no difference.
I think you will like the prime more and it will grow with you if you upgrade to a larger tank. Like my situation.
Would still be nice to hear from others if they have other suggestions.

 

[James5214]

That's what I was thinking yes the initial price is high but I can take it with me to a future tank and will grow better corals in the future as well like LPS instead of wasting 100$ now on a cheap one and then still having to buy a better light down the road.

 

[A Young Reefer]

That's what I was thinking yes the initial price is high but I can take it with me to a future tank and will grow better corals in the future as well like LPS instead of wasting 100$ now on a cheap one and then still having to buy a better light down the road.

What you just mentioned is exactly my mistake. On my first nano I bought a cheap led then saw that I had to upgrade to a better light so I purchased the Ai prime. If I went with the prime from the beginning it would have been nice to save some money.

 

[James5214]

Well thanks for the help and yes I want to avoid wasting money as much as possible so I can put it towards future things.

 

[A Young Reefer]

Well thanks for the help and yes I want to avoid wasting money as much as possible so I can put it towards future things.

Happy to help!

 

[James5214]

Question real fast. So once I find a place in my tank that I like where I want the coral to go and I place it there and let's say the coral doesn't like that spot because lighting is to bring it flow is to strong or etc will I have to break that frag off each time and re glue it if that spot isn't good or should I adjust the other factors around it?

 

[Titleist1964]

hey @James5214 , I too am a novice, I just started my 1st saltwater tank 8 weeks ago. so my opinion is soley based on my beginners experience. I went with the AI Prime, I also have the AI Nero 3 in a JBJ 20 RL Nano. I really enjoy the ease of the app and the "feed mode" is perfect, it slows the wavemaker down to a crawl and adjusts the lights to a brighter white, so as soon as you activate it, the fish know what's coming.

Also, one thing I've found is that there seems to be a lot more online support for the AI Prime, for instance you can check out the AI Prime / Hydra page on Facebook, I only joined FB for reefing and it's helped as much as these guys in here, also you can find several downloadable map schedules for the Prime. I'm currently running one from the Signature page on AI's site. Good luck, but be warned, you're going to want to go bigger before you know it. lol

I'm no professional photographer as you can tell, but here's my JBJ 20 Gal at 8 weeks.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1477764189220183

 

[James5214]

Oh wow that's amazing! It's already popping! Do you dose? And see I want to be able to use somebody's else program since I'm so new I don't know how much blues and whites and what intensity to run them at yet. So much to learn lol.

 

[Titleist1964]

Question real fast. So once I find a place in my tank that I like where I want the coral to go and I place it there and let's say the coral doesn't like that spot because lighting is to bring it flow is to strong or etc will I have to break that frag off each time and re glue it if that spot isn't good or should I adjust the other factors around it?

When I added my frags first I didn't glue them down right away, I gave them a few days to see how they reacted. So far with the advice in here, and my local coral, everything seems to like where they are.

 

[Titleist1964]

Oh wow that's amazing! It's already popping! Do you dose? And see I want to be able to use somebody's else program since I'm so new I don't know how much blues and whites and what intensity to run them at yet. So much to learn lol.

I do not dose, I've been told Red Sea AB+ or Reef Roids will help, but I'm still very new and the thought of adding something to my aquarium frightens me a little.

My set up is very very basic, I purchased live rock and live sand, I skipped 99% of the ugly stages that most go through, but not without the few headaches of unwanted hitch hikers you get from LR/LS. Nothing fancy in the AIO, top layer-filter floss, middle layer is ChemiPure Elite and 3rd the bio balls that came with it, I do not do weekly water changes, I feed once a day, but a lil heavy. Oh, and no protein skimmer.

 

[Titleist1964]

And see I want to be able to use somebody's else program since I'm so new I don't know how much blues and whites and what intensity to run them at yet. So much to learn lol.

Karen Vazquez – AquaIllumination

www.aquaillumination.com

This is the schedule I run.

 

[James5214]

What salt mix do you use? I see you have a hammer coral correct? And what is that other lps you have? I was reading that lps you have to dose. I want lps so bad but don't want to dose yet as I'm still very new and learning

 

[James5214]

I wanted to get live rock to help cycle my tank but I herd there are alot of steps to making sure it stays alive once you get it and bringing back some of the bacteria that died in transit. Where did you purchase your live rock? From LFS?

 

[Titleist1964]

What salt mix do you use? I see you have a hammer coral correct? And what is that other lps you have? I was reading that lps you have to dose. I want lps so bad but don't want to dose yet as I'm still very new and learning

I only have a 20 gal and do about 3 gallons every other week or so, therefore I get my salt water pre-mixed from my LFS, it's what I started my tank with and continue to use it since the beginning. My ATO is filled with Polar Springs Distilled water.
I have 2 Hammers on the left side, the other 3 are Acans, green one in the middle, and a red and orange one on the same rock. There's a Duncan above the Hammers, Pulsating Xenia in the center of the tank up high, and the corals mid tank on the right are Zoas. I don't know how true dosing is a requirement for LPS but I don't. So far everyone is happy.

I wanted to get live rock to help cycle my tank but I herd there are alot of steps to making sure it stays alive once you get it and bringing back some of the bacteria that died in transit. Where did you purchase your live rock? From LFS?

I purchased LR/LS from TBS https://tbsaltwater.com/ I wouldn't buy from an LFS, I wanted real ocean reef rock, I'm well aware that this is actually artificial rock that has been aquacultured on the ocean floor for several months, and also well aware of the nasty hitch hikers that come with it, but I did not want to look at tank going through the "ugly stages for a few months, and some cases longer. My rock was flown up from Florida, and I'd say in my tank in less then 5 hours, I had so much life in my sand and rock, I didn't notice any die off in transit. I'm very pleased.