AI Prime over SPS Reef

childress5tyler · Jan 18, 2017

Hello,

I'm in the process of setting up a 28 gallon Deep Blue rimless SPS reef and am planning on going with the AI Prime. The tank dimensions are 20x20x16 and I plan to have 12-14 4-6" colonies. Do you think that the AI Prime will "pack enough punch" to give the colonies all that they need to have good growth and great color (given that water quality is good and there is enough nutrients available)?

Tyler

joseserrano · Jan 18, 2017

with those dimensions, probably not.

childress5tyler · Jan 18, 2017

joseserrano said:
with those dimensions, probably not.

Do you think the AI Prime HD would be better?

chefjpaul · Jan 18, 2017

Hydra 26hd would be more sufficient

chefjpaul · Jan 18, 2017

childress5tyler said:
Do you think the AI Prime HD would be better?

The HD is only about control, same power

childress5tyler · Jan 19, 2017

I thought that with the PRIME you could utilize 100% of the true power of the light. For example, if you only are using 80% of your whites, you could compensate and use 120% of your blues (I know that there are more colors than white and blue, just an example). But wouldn't this allow you to use more watts of your light?

Water Dog · Jan 19, 2017

Either way you cut it, having a single puck fixture will lead to shadowing problems as your SPS grow from frags to colonies. At least with the Hydra 26HD, you will have 2 pucks to help with shadowing... what I consider to be the Achilles heel of LED puck format lighting.

Water Dog · Jan 19, 2017

Remember, for an SPS tank, it's not always about power. More important factors to consider are spread and coverage.

Shameless_Dood · Jan 19, 2017

I have 2 primes over my 24x24x12, had trouble with SPS. Encrusting motiporas grew just ok for me, but not much else. When I started supplementing with t5's is when I started seeing better results, then the AC went out in August for a couple days and lost everything.

It may have been how I had it programmed, but I suspect there was something missing spectrum wise with it.

childress5tyler · Jan 19, 2017

Shameless_Dood said:
I have 2 primes over my 24x24x12, had trouble with SPS. Encrusting motiporas grew just ok for me, but not much else. When I started supplementing with t5's is when I started seeing better results, then the AC went out in August for a couple days and lost everything.

It may have been how I had it programmed, but I suspect there was something missing spectrum wise with it.

I'm going to look for an AI Hydra 26 HD instead

tangerine3486 · Jan 19, 2017

Agreed with getting the 26 instead. I have a AI prime, and that is not cutting it for the SPS that is in there. Losing color.

cpvince · Jan 20, 2017

With a price difference of a little over $100, the Hydra26 would be your better bet. I've had both and although it is possible to keep SPS in the upper half of the tank (I've done this before with a Prime), most acros will survive but not thrive. The single puck also limits the amount of light spread so there will be quite a bit of shading once the acros start branching.

childress5tyler · Jan 23, 2017

Would the AI Hydra 52 be too powerful? Still leaning towards the 26HD but would be silly not to look into the 52

Water Dog · Jan 23, 2017

I would look at something like the Maxspect Ethereal instead. Look at the puck layout of the fixture and you'll see how it's multiple pucks would aid in reducing shadowing issues.

Better yet, if you're looking at spending Hydra 52 HD money, look at the GHL 6200 Hv. With the new 7200's recently released by GHL places like Premium Aquatics are selling the 6200s for $599. Again you can see how the multi dimensional puck layout is better than both AI and Ecotech puck layout designs.

mcarroll · Jan 23, 2017

It really depends on your layout, but with proper setup a Prime should work fine.

The limits will be coverage from side to side...if you don't mind some shadows out in the corners, no problem.

Switching to a larger, single light doesn't do a lot to solve this "problem", but it does shrink your wallet.

Things that will help are thing like:

adding more Prime's
adding some LED strips like an Orbit Pro or GHL Lightbar2
not using spotlights like the Prime at all, instead using area light such as the strips above

Again, the shadows are only a problem if you say so.

If you mount the light at the proper height, intensity should be great for such a shallow tank.

Water Dog · Jan 23, 2017

mcarroll said:
It really depends on your layout, but with proper setup a Prime should work fine.

The limits will be coverage from side to side...if you don't mind some shadows out in the corners, no problem.

Switching to a larger, single light doesn't do a lot to solve this "problem", but it does shrink your wallet.

Really!?! A single puck fixture won't only have shadowing issues from side to side but from front to back as well. It's inevitable with a single point source of light that doesn't use a reflector.

These shadowing issues will only compound as SPS grow from frags to mature colonies.

IMO switching to a larger single light with the proper puck layout will most certainly alleviate the problem of shadowing in a 20"x20"x16" SPS tank.

mcarroll · Jan 24, 2017

Sorry, I wasn't intending to say there'd be no problems front to back....it's a square footprint so the same dimensions (and limits) apply both ways.

The only thing a larger fixture buys you in terms of "better coverage" is that the LED's are now (somewhat) spread over a 10" space instead of a 5" space. Multiple small fixtures will do the same thing as one larger one, only you'd be at least somewhat unlikely to stack your pucks so closely.

Let's not conflate coverage with intensity.

Intensity is the quantity of photons hitting a surface or an area.

"Coverage" is how intensity covers the area.

"Shadows in the corners" is from that coverage being very uneven – from being weighted toward the center of the coverage area.

Jacking the center up to 2000 PAR just so you can have 150 PAR in the corners instead of shadows may let you grow corals, but it is not an answer to the light being weighted too much to the center.

hart24601 · Jan 24, 2017

I would get a couple primes, can angle them a bit inward for more overlap. I would go for multiple fixtures, primes or even 26s over the 52 to spread out pucks unless the tank is quite deep.

I would be more concerned about keeping up on flow as the colonies grow!