AI Vega Color/Blue Owners Thread!

[mypepper]

While reading the question and answer section of the AI support page, it says for the lunar cycle to work properly, the start and end date must be in the future.

If this is true, how do you do this?

I went into the Lunar cycle mode and there's no date to set in the future.

Thanks,
Randy

[newenglandreef]

Here are some rough PAR readings from the Vega. The readings are through a piece of thin acrylic I use as a cover and a 24" deep standard 90G on one side of the tank. Light is about 4" above water and distances are from the light itself.

1.25 feet (center): 550+
1.5 feet (center) 330
1.75 feet (midway towards the side of the glass) 200
2.4 feet (bottom of tank, almost against glass) 100-150.

This is with all colors at 100%

Stan

[kajung2k]

sorry duplicate post

[kajung2k]

5.5" above water, all LEDs at 100%. My tank is 48 wide x 30 deep x 21 tall. I also did 7" above water as well, but the 5.5" is much better. Less spread, obvious, but better overall. I think a 48"x24" tank needs three. I have two, and I could use 1 more to get more par in the middle and on the sides.

PAR is not the end all, or tell all of course. They are just numbers.

[qfrisco]

Originally Posted by mypepper

While reading the question and answer section of the AI support page, it says for the lunar cycle to work properly, the start and end date must be in the future.

If this is true, how do you do this?

I went into the Lunar cycle mode and there's no date to set in the future.

Thanks,
Randy

This has got to be a typo. I've been doing it this way (setting both dates in the future) and could never get it to work. On a suggestion in this thread, I set the beginning date to a day in the past and it worked just fine.

[bvoss]

PAR may just be numbers, but they are unimpressive numbers. I used to get 400 on the sand with an ATI Powermodule.

[mypepper]

Qfrisco,

Where in the controller do you set the day in the past?

Thanks,
Randy

[kajung2k]

I don't disagree with 500 per module they should get more. I could lower them and get more par but I'd lose the spread.

My understanding is these are made to be 2-3" above water. I'm trying to cover a 30" deep tank and that's not AI's fault.

If I lower them 2-3" I'm sure I'd get 300 on the sand but my spread would suffer.

What it comes down to is these lights I think are fine so long as you get enough of them over the tank.

On my tank I would need to put 3 or 4 of them so I could lower them to 3" above water.

Originally Posted by bvoss

PAR may just be numbers, but they are unimpressive numbers. I used to get 400 on the sand with an ATI Powermodule.

[qfrisco]

Originally Posted by mypepper

Qfrisco,

Where in the controller do you set the day in the past?

Thanks,
Randy

Go to the coral acclimation menu, and for beginning date, enter yesterday's date. Make note of the current date shown in the main screen and set the beginning date to the day before that.

[gsoler]

Originally Posted by kajung2k

5.5" above water, all LEDs at 100%. My tank is 48 wide x 30 deep x 21 tall. I also did 7" above water as well, but the 5.5" is much better. Less spread, obvious, but better overall. I think a 48"x24" tank needs three. I have two, and I could use 1 more to get more par in the middle and on the sides.

PAR is not the end all, or tell all of course. They are just numbers.

kajung2k

I see you have something that covers the tank, I think it interferes with PAR readings.
I appreciate it (if possible) to test repitieras with nothing between Vega and water.
Excuse my English
regards

[newenglandreef]

Originally Posted by bvoss

PAR may just be numbers, but they are unimpressive numbers. I used to get 400 on the sand with an ATI Powermodule.

I don't believe that a typical PAR meter accurately reflects PAR from an LED.

[kajung2k]

The PAR meter was used WO the screen on

Originally Posted by gsoler

kajung2k

I see you have something that covers the tank, I think it interferes with PAR readings.
I appreciate it (if possible) to test repitieras with nothing between Vega and water.
Excuse my English
regards

[qfrisco]

Originally Posted by qfrisco

Go to the coral acclimation menu, and for beginning date, enter yesterday's date. Make note of the current date shown in the main screen and set the beginning date to the day before that.

So sorry! I just now realized this was about the lunar function. I thought the original question was about the coral acclimation mode. Apologies!

[qfrisco]

Hopefully someone can clear up my confusion. I finally got Coral Acclimation mode to turn on yesterday, thanks to the tips from @kajung2k. Yesterday (Oct 6, 2012) I set the following settings in the coral acclimation menu:

Begin: Oct 6, 2012
End: Nov 15, 2012
Reduction: 50% (in the Timer Setup I setup the LEDs with a max of 80%)

So yesterday, the controller set my lights to 40% intensity, which is good. Today (the second day of acclimation mode), however, the controller has my lights set to 60% intensity. I would have thought it would have increased the intensity accordingly based on an initial reduction of 50%, ramping up to 100% in mid-November.

Anyone know how the logic works for the coral acclimation mode? Jumping from 40% to 60% the next day seems like a big leap, and I don't want to risk cooking my corals.

Thanks!

[mypepper]

Hello qfrisco,

Is your lunar cycle working properly and if so, what steps did you take to make it work. I've tried everything and sill no lunar lights.

It looks as if I'll have to give AI tech support a call in the morning.

Either I'm missing a step or it's a software issue.

Thanks so much for all your help,
Randy

[Chappy]

Anyone know how to get the lights to reset so they aren't recognized by the controller? I'm trying to set them up to the controller and I can't get the red button, it will only go to green. My controller won't recognize the lights at all.

The lack of directions is really a pain. With their website and facebook, they should have these things spelled out. On their video it just says to hold the red button. When I do, it just goes to demo mode and if I try to set up the lights, it never finds them. I have unplugged the lights and controller and the same thing happens. I did a factory reset on the controller and nothing has happened.

[bnumair]

hold the red button for several it will go from green to flashing green then when it turns red un hold. also have the controller off before reset.

[Chappy]

Thanks. That did it.

[Ledo]

Originally Posted by mypepper

Hello qfrisco,

Is your lunar cycle working properly and if so, what steps did you take to make it work. I've tried everything and sill no lunar lights.

It looks as if I'll have to give AI tech support a call in the morning.

Either I'm missing a step or it's a software issue.

Thanks so much for all your help,
Randy

If you really have the function activated (#5 in menu), check which phase of the moon appears on the controller (there is a icon showing that).

At new moon, no light will be turned on.

[qfrisco]

Originally Posted by mypepper

Hello qfrisco,

Is your lunar cycle working properly and if so, what steps did you take to make it work. I've tried everything and sill no lunar lights.

It looks as if I'll have to give AI tech support a call in the morning.

Either I'm missing a step or it's a software issue.

Thanks so much for all your help,
Randy

mypepper - I have the feature enabled, but I've yet to see any kind of lunar lights in the 3+ weeks I've had the lights. I'm not sure if it's because I am still acclimating and have my lights set to 40% max intensity right now. My assumption is that the lunar lights are reduced by that same amount which basically rounds the adjusted intensity to 0%. Not sure.

As ledo mentions above, you can confirm that you have the feature enabled by seeing if you have the moon icon in the home screen.

[ihigh]

thanks guys for all the posts, I'm in between 2 ai sol blue or 2 ai vega colors. I think I'll end up getting the sols and my brother will get the sol vegas since I can afford $300 for a sol someone nearby is selling and I don't think I can put out an extra 400 on vegas XD!

[DiazE]

What is the light brightness vs the color? What is the need for green and red? It seems the blue has more light output due to more blue and white leds.

[qfrisco]

Originally Posted by DiazE

What is the light brightness vs the color? What is the need for green and red? It seems the blue has more light output due to more blue and white leds.

I haven't seen any PAR readings from the Vega Blues, but the assumption is that the Vega Color has less PAR then the Vega Blue due to the two reds and greens in the Color, but AI has mentioned that the PAR difference wasn't that great between the two.

The Reds and Greens are not bright at all, but are there to "complete" the spectrum.

[zachfishman]

Originally Posted by ihigh

thanks guys for all the posts, I'm in between 2 ai sol blue or 2 ai vega colors. I think I'll end up getting the sols and my brother will get the sol vegas since I can afford $300 for a sol someone nearby is selling and I don't think I can put out an extra 400 on vegas XD!

For that price go for the SOLs. They have more output and I hear they are getting swappable LED puck options in the near future.

[luvdiving]

So other than firmware issues , is everyone pretty happy with their purchases?