Aqua Illumination Blade par readings

[Fasthandsslowmind]

I haven’t seen much actual PAR results from the AI Blades, so here’s mine.
Cade 1800S2/p 1800x800x600mm
3x Coral Grow 57”
1x Coral Glow 57”
7” above the water
Red numbers are 100%, Yellow is 50%

 

[Spare time]

Lol BRS trying to get you to put 5 on a tank

 

[Fasthandsslowmind]

I actually might put 5. Monitoring the heat produced by the units. With 5, I could put the single Glow in the middle, and angle the two end units (it’s a peninsula tank) to produce less shadowing and light spillage.
To be fair, for the price of 5 57” Blades, you couldn’t evenly light this tank for SPS with XR30s.

 

[nbooks]

are you measuring with an apogee or something else?

 

[Fasthandsslowmind]

Yeah, apogee.

 

[Spare time]

I actually might put 5. Monitoring the heat produced by the units. With 5, I could put the single Glow in the middle, and angle the two end units (it’s a peninsula tank) to produce less shadowing and light spillage.
To be fair, for the price of 5 57” Blades, you couldn’t evenly light this tank for SPS with XR30s.

That last statement is like saying to be fair, for the price of 5 prius, you couldn't even drive a Ferrari for that much lol. I would imagine just adding 1 or 2 more would fix that issue on most tanks. Albeit your tank seems pretty deep ( (800mm right? and 600mm tall?), so it would make sense. BRS just lights like a 60 gallon cube with 5 and uses that as the standard that one should have haha

 

[Aaron75]

This might be a dumb question, why do they lose strength from the center just like a normal light? Doesn't that kinda defeat the purpose of a bar?

 

[MichaelReefer]

I am looking at using them as supplemental with my Hydra 32s...the only thing I dont understand is why AI released them before finishing mounting systems.

 

[Fasthandsslowmind]

This might be a dumb question, why do they lose strength from the center just like a normal light? Doesn't that kinda defeat the purpose of a bar?

No, not at all. They do lose a little par at the edges, because AI hasn't yet found a way to change the physical laws of how light works, but it's still much more even that a set of larger lights grouped close together (Like an XR30). If I needed that much par in the corner of my tank, I'd have just gone with the 66" light. Not desirable though. All my rock work, and almost all of my sand, gets plenty of par to grow anything I'd want.


Another, less measurable benefit - Seeing the tank in person with the blades after having XR30s, the filler light produced is impressive. Light gets into ALL the nooks and crannies that it didn't before, due to the simple geometry of the diodes. That's not subjective, it's a fact.

I know there's a lot of naysayers, but if I were designing an LED lighting system for SPS reef tanks, it would look a LOT like the Blade (hope I don't sound like a fanboy, but they're good.

 

[Fasthandsslowmind]

I am looking at using them as supplemental with my Hydra 32s...the only thing I dont understand is why AI released them before finishing mounting systems.

YES! My thoughts exactly. So odd.

In the end, I was glad though because it forced me to fabricate my own mount system that turned out really good. The supplied clips are a pretty clever basis for future / custom mounts.

 

[Fasthandsslowmind]

That last statement is like saying to be fair, for the price of 5 prius, you couldn't even drive a Ferrari for that much lol. I would imagine just adding 1 or 2 more would fix that issue on most tanks. Albeit your tank seems pretty deep ( (800mm right? and 600mm tall?), so it would make sense. BRS just lights like a 60 gallon cube with 5 and uses that as the standard that one should have haha

Yeah, fair point. 4 would suffice for almost anything on a tank this size. It's 800mm deep, yeah.

One benefit of the addition of a 5th - I'm nervous about the passive cooling and its impact on the internals. Heat is the enemy of electronics, so having one more light might allow me to run them all a little lower. I'm not 100% confident that AI has built in enough heavy-dutyness to run them at 100% for years and years like an Ecotech light can.

 

[Fasthandsslowmind]

Sadly, my opinions of the Blades has been declining, rapidly. One of them failed after only a few weeks of use.

It happens.

Then AI / Ecotech really took their time getting me a replacement. Once it FINALLY showed up…….They had sent the freshwater version.

Meanwhile my coral continue to whither away

I’m going to try to get the supplier (Whos always been wonderful to deal with) to let me return them all for a refund, then replace them with Orphek. It’s a shame, I had really high hopes.

 

[Daftendire]

Sadly, my opinions of the Blades has been declining, rapidly. One of them failed after only a few weeks of use.

It happens.

Then AI / Ecotech really took their time getting me a replacement. Once it FINALLY showed up…….They had sent the freshwater version.

Meanwhile my coral continue to whither away

I’m going to try to get the supplier (Whos always been wonderful to deal with) to let me return them all for a refund, then replace them with Orphek. It’s a shame, I had really high hopes.

That's too bad about the failure and botched replacement. I was hoping that these would be my new build light of choice and I even bought a 12" glow to test out.
But it looks like they cheaped out on the smallest aluminum profile for the body of these things. Do you think your unit died from heat related issues?

 

[Daniel]

That's pretty quick for a new system to fail... sorry to hear about that. Are the other bars performing normally? Which bar failed? Also, were they at 100% or ramp/schedule?

 

[Kfactor]

i have learnt from buying many ai stuff that i will never buy anything made buy ai again . it seems like i have had very bad luck with there stuff.

 

[Hot2na]

I agree they stink.. my coral grow is more blue on one side of the bar and more white on the other... i dont have the patience to return it..but i'm done with blades

 

[hart24601]

I have liked mine enough I just ordered another blade, hope quality control isn’t an issue.

 

[Hurricane Aquatics]

The blades aren't rocket science. They're actually cheaper to make than an XR30 Radion. They're a long strip of light and multiples will literally cover the tank in light.

That's one of the key factors LED is lacking, light coverage. If someone ever makes a fixture that is about the size of a T5 fixture to cover the entire tank, it will be perfect. An LED could be very thin line the ATI Straton and just larger.

 

[Fasthandsslowmind]

As an update -

I did get the replacement 57" Grow from Ecotech, finally. It's been running for about 20 days. So far so good.
The first failure may be attributed to a poor power cord attachment method that they SAY they've fixed. None of the 4 lights I'm currently running have experienced further issues (I mean, they're brand new, so you wouldn't expect otherwise) I've installed a fan blowing across the top of the tank to increase evaporation, and it's got the added benefits of actively cooling the blades. Maybe that'll extend their life.

I never could gather the energy to return them all, so I'm going to stick with them for now. To be clear, reliability is the ONLY issue I've experienced so far. When they're running, they look great, produce nice, even, powerful light, and my coral seem happy.

Now - Time will tell. At the Blade price point (Which, lets be honest, is lower than most SPS lighting options by a margin) I need at least 5-6 trouble free years.

 

[WestMI-Reefer]

I haven’t seen much actual PAR results from the AI Blades, so here’s mine.
Cade 1800S2/p 1800x800x600mm
3x Coral Grow 57”
1x Coral Glow 57”
7” above the water
Red numbers are 100%, Yellow is 50%

How helpful! Thanks for the post!