AquaIllumination Blade Announced

[aquaticlog]

New light by AquaIllumination is announced and it is called Blade!
There are two versions - Glow and Grow and they are strip LED lights that are akin to T5. Here's the first look:


What do you think?

Blade Grow – AquaIllumination

www.aquaillumination.com

 

[Duffer]

looks promising, curious on pricing

 

[spawn79]

TSA is the only one I could find so far. https://topshelfaquatics.com/product-category/aqua-illumination/blade/

 

[Acros]

Looks very promising. LED strips are the way to go.

 

[stefan09w]

Blade Smart LED Strip - Coral Grow

Extremely Versatile Mounting, Spectrum, and Sizing Options.. Aquarium Lighting, Your Way! Available in 7 different sizes from 12 to 66 inches Balanced blue and white spectrum optimized for coral photosynthesis Mounting solutions for every tank need Cluster group LED diodes with 95 degree spread...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

Looks like BRS has them up now as well.

 

[Ryebreadiest]

looks promising, curious on pricing

30” are 240 bucks, which is AI prime price. I imagine 2 of these blades would light a 3 foot tank more evenly than 2 primes. Certainly have a lot of mounting options as well.

 

[doubleshot00]

Nice. Definitely thought these would have been more budget friendly

 

[spsick]

These look really slick but the price is a bit obscene. $569 for 1x 48” Glow model?

 

[spawn79]

Budget friendly from AI? You need to give me whatever you're on.

 

[MichaelReefer]

I wonder if they will make a mounting system so its more of a supplemental light, like Reef Brites.

 

[MichaelReefer]

Budget friendly from AI? You need to give me whatever you're on.

AI is a lot more budget friendly than Ecotech lol.

 

[vetteguy53081]

They are a budget light and I dont expect it to be a radion or orphek but curious to see what lighting benefit-par-growth they offer

 

[ReefingDreams]

Tons of lenses to melt on these guys. Good luck.

 

[Hooz]

I have been after LED strip lights for a while now. I wanted to use them to light my latest tank, but nothing has been quite what I'm looking for. I was hoping this would be the light solution I've been waiting for for quite a while now. Some people have gotten close, but nothing has been "perfect" for my needs/wants.

ReefBrite has the dimming, control and spread, but the spectrum is lacking.

Quanta has the spectrum and spread nailed, but there are no options for dimming, or anything other than on/off, actually.

I won't even get into the other (Current, Fluval, etc) strip lights.

Anyway... I am impressed by almost everything about the Blade. The controllability, form factor, spread, etc are all exactly what I have been wanting. But, the devil is in the details... To get the coverage and PAR I want, I would need multiple lights for my 3' tank, so a minimum of two Grows. Then, if I want pop (Who doesn't want pop?) and a fuller spectrum, I'd need to add a Glow.

Granted, I would have the control I want, the spread I want and it would easily meet my PAR needs, but that's two $240 Grows and a $370 Glow ($850 total) ... and that's before I even start on the multiple bar mounting system, HMS mounts, etc, etc.

 

[Poochaku]

A "me too" product that doesn't add anything unique except Mobius control (lol). There are better and cheaper bars on the market already. Waiting for aperture to release something that makes me pay attention.

 

[hart24601]

Looks very promising and I like they have a tank rest for those of us with tanks near sofas where we want them mounted low for no light in the eyes. More light bars in the hobby is a trend I like. Not sure they are better than the orphek bars, but again nice to have options. 30” and 60w is pretty powerful especially if they blend well enough to mount low.

 

[Hooz]

30” are 240 bucks, which is AI prime price. I imagine 2 of these blades would light a 3 foot tank more evenly than 2 primes. Certainly have a lot of mounting options as well.

They would absolutely light it better than 2 Primes from a coverage/spread standpoint, but the spectrum of the Blade isn't as full as the Prime. Its spectrum is more comparable to the Sol, and the Sol is at different price point.

 

[jft]

PRICES ARE RIDICULOUS I USE LEDS OFF AMAZON for 62 bucks a pop for 48 to 60 inch Tanks for 3 years and corals grow like made and color good. AI MUST HAVE GOLD IN THEM SOMEWHERE< YEAH RIGHT!!!

 

[spsick]

The fact they left the 415-430 out of the Grow model just to get you to buy another fixture is dumb. Pretty sure most people want a homogenous spectrum across the tank without having to mix and match fixtures.

 

[rtparty]

Depending on how you want to mount them, these are heads and shoulders above other LED bars on the market. Individual lens LEDs are obsolete and old technology that hopefully dies off in the near future. It has always been a poor way to light our tanks unless you wanted a dozen fixtures covering every square inch and mounted 14" or more from the tank. For some, that works great and that is the way they should go

For fill light, these are defintely the better choice (assuming they match up nicely with your current lights.)

Where they completely missed the mark is not having one between the Grow and Freshwater spectrum wise. Think of these like T5s. We have the actinic, Blue Plus, and 6500k bulbs. We need the Coral Plus version and these 100% make a compelling case to be a main light.

6 of them will cover my 72x36 peninsula. That is roughly $3600. 4 Radions aren't going to sniff that coverage for the same price and the Radions won't mount as cleanly. Large panel LEDs are the future and making them modular is key. Just wish I wouldn't need SIX PLUGS to run them. Even with a splitter putting 2 on one outlet, that is a lot of wires to manage and clean up.