Swap Kessil A360WE for Two AI Sol Blues?

TheEngineer · Sep 20, 2017

Long time everyone... I've been around, just not really digging a lot of the negativity on the internet these days so I've been steering clear. My tank's still having its same zoanthid issues with no solution in sight. I mostly gave up on trying to figure out what it is at this point. What zoas I have will remain or die, but I'm not buying any more.

I've recently put a couple of good sized SPS colonies (tricolor sicala (sp?) and green birdsnest) in the tank and they're growing pretty well for me. I've got my Kessil cranked to 90% so they should be getting around 125-ish PAR. I've been considering swapping my light out for a while and I've been primarily focused on a Radion XR15W Pro G4. I also have a pair of AI Sol Blues in my basement just collecting dust right now. So, on to my question....

If you had to pick, would you stick with the Kessil over the two Sol's? Further, if you could pick between the A360WE, the Sol blues and an XR15W which would you go with?

EDIT: This is for a 50g cube, by the way. 24x24x20"

saltyfilmfolks · Sep 20, 2017

Long time man!

Xr15 if you're going to upgrade.
A . It's fun to try something new. And it's the top of the line in reefing.
B I have the ai sols. I think there's better out there.

One ai sol is probably 3x more powerful than one 360. Fwiw.
You'll get better coverage and less shading with the sols because of the size but....

And yea, look at the sb ultras. Larger sources = less shading. I like the SB spectrum for growth. You might not like the color visually.

TheEngineer · Sep 20, 2017

saltyfilmfolks said:
Long time man!

Xr15 if you're going to upgrade.
A . It's fun to try something new. And it's the top of the line in reefing.
B I have the ai sols. I think there's better out there.

One ai sol is probably 3x more powerful than one 360. Fwiw.
You'll get better coverage and less shading with the sols because of the size but....

And yea, look at the sb ultras. Larger sources = less shading. I like the SB spectrum for growth. You might not like the color visually.

How'd I know you'd be an early responder?

I agree about trying something new. I've been pretty down about the tank with my zoa issues and I've been putting effort into getting ready to try SPS. I bought a two-part dosing system that's going in soon. I thought it would be a good time to swap lights while I'm messing with my controller programming anyway.

What don't you like about the Sols? I grabbed them from someone local breaking his tank down with the intent of using them on the frag tank I also bought which is collecting dust near said sols.

saltyfilmfolks · Sep 20, 2017

TheEngineer said:
How'd I know you'd be an early responder?

I agree about trying something new. I've been pretty down about the tank with my zoa issues and I've been putting effort into getting ready to try SPS. I bought a two-part dosing system that's going in soon. I thought it would be a good time to swap lights while I'm messing with my controller programming anyway.

What don't you like about the Sols? I grabbed them from someone local breaking his tank down with the intent of using them on the frag tank I also bought which is collecting dust near said sols.

I have two tanks . If I take the ok coral from the sol tank and put it in the sb tank. It changes color and takes off with growth.

In the now sol tank, I had t5 previously, no dosing, the sps took off.
It's odd. Some of corals under the sol are fine, don't die, some grow fine but..

trevormass7 · Sep 20, 2017

saltyfilmfolks said:
Long time man!

Xr15 if you're going to upgrade.
A . It's fun to try something new. And it's the top of the line in reefing.
B I have the ai sols. I think there's better out there.

One ai sol is probably 3x more powerful than one 360. Fwiw.
You'll get better coverage and less shading with the sols because of the size but....

And yea, look at the sb ultras. Larger sources = less shading. I like the SB spectrum for growth. You might not like the color visually.

Not trying to hijack but I just got a 50 long for free and was wondering if an ai sol would be enough for just softies and lps or put it over my 40 breeder and just do 2 black boxes over the 50?

saltyfilmfolks · Sep 20, 2017

trevormass7 said:
Not trying to hijack but I just got a 50 long for free and was wondering if an ai sol would be enough for just softies and lps or put it over my 40 breeder and just do 2 black boxes over the 50?

I think you'd need two ai on either
Both the ai and the Bb's will do about a 20x20 area at about 14 inches. Kinda depends on the lenses in them. The ai usually come with a 40/70 lens set.

I'm afraid I'm not familiar with the dimensions of the 50 long.

trevormass7 · Sep 20, 2017

I'll measure when I get home

trevormass7 · Sep 20, 2017

saltyfilmfolks said:
I think you'd need two ai on either
Both the ai and the Bb's will do about a 20x20 area at about 14 inches. Kinda depends on the lenses in them. The ai usually come with a 40/70 lens set.

I'm afraid I'm not familiar with the dimensions of the 50 long.

I'll just get 2, thanks

TheEngineer · Sep 20, 2017

trevormass7 said:
Not trying to hijack but I just got a 50 long for free and was wondering if an ai sol would be enough for just softies and lps or put it over my 40 breeder and just do 2 black boxes over the 50?

HEY GET OUT OF HERE! haha j/k

TheEngineer · Sep 20, 2017

saltyfilmfolks said:
I have two tanks . If I take the ok coral from the sol tank and put it in the sb tank. It changes color and takes off with growth.

In the now sol tank, I had t5 previously, no dosing, the sps took off.
It's odd. Some of corals under the sol are fine, don't die, some grow fine but..

That's interesting...I've been leaning towards the XR15W. I'm planning to sell the A360W and with a gift certificate I have already it would likely be no cash out of pocket for it anyway...But they're supposed to be coming out with a filter for it....so do I wait!?

saltyfilmfolks · Sep 20, 2017

TheEngineer said:
That's interesting...I've been leaning towards the XR15W. I'm planning to sell the A360W and with a gift certificate I have already it would likely be no cash out of pocket for it anyway...But they're supposed to be coming out with a filter for it....so do I wait!?

Lol. You can send me the 100 for the filter and I'll send you a pice of the acrylic I sanded.