AquaIllumination Blade Announced

RZGreef · Jan 16, 2023

Would you say my Blade Grow 12" is defective after looking at the photo? The light seems to be more blue towards one end, and very noticeable on the sand bed. It's not the rocks or shading or anything else doing it because when I flip the blade around the other end of the tank ends up more blue. The individual LEDs in the clusters all seem to be lit, and not dead. Is this normal fluctuation, or a defect? Opinions, especially if you have one yourself to compare? To my eyes it looks bad. Thank you.

Tamberav · Jan 16, 2023

I don’t have one but I would consider it defective. I know this happens with primes, where two different primes do not match but it seems bad to have it on one fixture.

Try contacting AI.

Tamberav · Jan 16, 2023

rtparty said:
AI has messaged me back and is replacing my Blade for the defect. No questions or hassles.

Nice! Do you have to send yours back?

rtparty · Jan 16, 2023

Tamberav said:
Nice! Do you have to send yours back?

I am sure they’ll send me a new one and include a return label and I’ll box up my current Blade and ship it back

Acros · Jan 16, 2023

RZGreef said:
Would you say my Blade Grow 12" is defective after looking at the photo? The light seems to be more blue towards one end, and very noticeable on the sand bed. It's not the rocks or shading or anything else doing it because when I flip the blade around the other end of the tank ends up more blue. The individual LEDs in the clusters all seem to be lit, and not dead. Is this normal fluctuation, or a defect? Opinions, especially if you have one yourself to compare? To my eyes it looks bad. Thank you.

Switch the light around, so that ends switch sides and try taking another pic. The left side has more shadows, making it harder to conclude if the light is defective or not.

RZGreef · Jan 17, 2023

Tamberav said:
I don’t have one but I would consider it defective. I know this happens with primes, where two different primes do not match but it seems bad to have it on one fixture.

Try contacting AI.

I contacted AI, provided them the photo of the light imbalance, and they're sending a new replacement out. I've heard people have mixed experiences dealing with their customer service, but honestly mine has been great so far.

Tamberav · Jan 17, 2023

RZGreef said:
I contacted AI, provided them the photo of the light imbalance, and they're sending a new replacement out. I've heard people have mixed experiences dealing with their customer service, but honestly mine has been great so far.

Well I would hope they would replace brand new products. New reefing stuff generally has kinks to work out.

I remember when radion G5's hit the market and they were showing up cracked.

Hooz · Jan 17, 2023

After seeing @telegraham spectrum graphs of the Blade, and combinations of Blades... I'm out.

That sucks because I like every single other thing about them.

rtparty · Jan 17, 2023

Hooz said:
After seeing @telegraham spectrum graphs of the Blade, and combinations of Blades... I'm out.

That sucks because I like every single other thing about them.

What are they missing that has been proven to be essential to grow and color corals?

Only thing I can think of is what have been nice to see some warm white on the Grow model.

Devaji · Jan 17, 2023

what is everyone's thought about tank mounting the blades?

Hooz · Jan 17, 2023

rtparty said:
What are they missing that has been proven to be essential to grow and color corals?

Only thing I can think of is what have been nice to see some warm white on the Grow model.

Technically, I'm sure they will grow coral just fine. But, while growing coral is the primary goal, I also like to look at my coral.

A combination of Grow+Glow had a much narrower blue band than I hoped. Narrower than a G4 Radion. It really falls off on the lower end.

rtparty · Jan 17, 2023

Hooz said:
Technically, I'm sure they will grow coral just fine. But, while growing coral is the primary goal, I also like to look at my coral.

A combination of Grow+Glow had a much narrower blue band than I hoped. Narrower than a G4 Radion. It really falls off on the lower end.

The Glow has 405, 415, and 430nm LEDs.

The Glow Blade looks almost identical to the old VHO Actinic bulbs which had a ton of light in the 400-430nm region.

So to state that a Grow and Glow combo had nothing in the low end is testing error, misunderstanding, and/or misleading.

Devaji · Jan 17, 2023

This is why I am concerning the blades.
light spill.
Here is a photo comparing a 3’ BML light bad at 100% to one AI prime with diffuser.

Hooz · Jan 17, 2023

rtparty said:
The Glow has 405, 415, and 430nm LEDs.

The Glow Blade looks almost identical to the old VHO Actinic bulbs which had a ton of light in the 400-430nm region.

So to state that a Grow and Glow combo had nothing in the low end is testing error, misunderstanding, and/or misleading.

Maybe @telegraham can post his Spectral graphs in here. The Grow+Glow overlaid on the G4 Radion graph would be good enough.

telegraham · Jan 17, 2023

rtparty said:
The Glow has 405, 415, and 430nm LEDs.

The Glow Blade looks almost identical to the old VHO Actinic bulbs which had a ton of light in the 400-430nm region.

So to state that a Grow and Glow combo had nothing in the low end is testing error, misunderstanding, and/or misleading.

Hooz said:
Maybe @telegraham can post his Spectral graphs in here. The Grow+Glow overlaid on the G4 Radion graph would be good enough.

Just because the diodes exist, it doesn't mean that they send light down range at any sort of appreciable amount when compared to other lights. This is the Blade combo compared to the Gen 4 XR30 running AB+. Same distance away from the spectrometer and same spectrometer.

telegraham · Jan 17, 2023

Here's a two-bar Quanta Pro combo.

That's Meso Blue and Reef Crest Daylight.

shwareefer · Jan 17, 2023

telegraham said:
Here's a two-bar Quanta Pro combo.

That's Meso Blue and Reef Crest Daylight.

Curious do those Quantas have any disco effect?

rtparty · Jan 17, 2023

telegraham said:
Just because the diodes exist, it doesn't mean that they send light down range at any sort of appreciable amount when compared to other lights. This is the Blade combo compared to the Gen 4 XR30 running AB+. Same distance away from the spectrometer and same spectrometer.

Yeah a spike at 395nm just as the Radions claim. Looks to me like the Blades hit the exact spectrum they claim to have.

There is also zero evidence corals need, or even use, anything below 400nm. Even 400nm is highly questionable since Violet and UV filter pretty quick.

Don’t take the above wrong, I really liked the G4 Pro I ran for more than a year. I went to the G5 Blue expecting it to match the G4 Pro AB+. It’s not even close. I switched to the G5 Pro and found that way more to my liking.

Anything past about 480nm starts to become useless outside providing the color for corals to reflect, maybe even fluoresce a little. Almost always drowned out by the 440-460nm light.

Total opinion here but I don’t think the Blade was made to compete with any of the Radion lineup. Comparing them to each other and declaring a “winner” is kind of odd. I believe these were made as supplemental lights and then they started to show they could make a decent stand alone. AI and Ecotech certainly haven’t made any claims comparing them.

spsick · Jan 17, 2023

telegraham said:
Here's a two-bar Quanta Pro combo.

That's Meso Blue and Reef Crest Daylight.

Now if only you could get them in 4ft

Hooz · Jan 17, 2023

rtparty said:
Yeah a spike at 395nm just as the Radions claim. Looks to me like the Blades hit the exact spectrum they claim to have.

There is also zero evidence corals need, or even use, anything below 400nm. Even 400nm is highly questionable since Violet and UV filter pretty quick.

Don’t take the above wrong, I really liked the G4 Pro I ran for more than a year. I went to the G5 Blue expecting it to match the G4 Pro AB+. It’s not even close. I switched to the G5 Pro and found that way more to my liking.

Anything past about 480nm starts to become useless outside providing the color for corals to reflect, maybe even fluoresce a little. Almost always drowned out by the 440-460nm light.

Total opinion here but I don’t think the Blade was made to compete with any of the Radion lineup. Comparing them to each other and declaring a “winner” is kind of odd. I believe these were made as supplemental lights and then they started to show they could make a decent stand alone. AI and Ecotech certainly haven’t made any claims comparing them.

I don't think anyone was saying they didn't have the spectrum they claimed to have. I was just hoping for... more, I guess.

I'm a little spoiled since I've been running LUX pucks for 2 years now.

I'm not knocking the Blades. I like almost everything about them. They're probably not for me though.