AI Vega Color/Blue Owners Thread!

[kajung2k]

Fan? What fan? Jk. I don't hear the fan even when it comes on and my room is dead silent.

Originally Posted by Rennsport

As I am one who is researching which LED system to invest in, one question that comes to mind is fan noise. Are the fans on the Vega loud? Can they be heard over a tv on in the same room?

[Rennsport]

Originally Posted by kajung2k

Fan? What fan? Jk. I don't hear the fan even when it comes on and my room is dead silent.

Cool, thanks much for the feedback!

[luvreefs23]

i ordered 2 vegas & a 34" 2x150watt pacific sun metis hyperion R2 for my 120 build. I got the vegas & am a week or 2 away from getting the pacific sun fixture. I want to compare the lights & decide which one to keep. Maybe ill start a build thread & do some comparisons.

[qfrisco]

Originally Posted by Rennsport

Cool, thanks much for the feedback!

Yes, fans are dead silent. You will love them. I promise you your skimmer and return pump will be much louder than the Vega's fans.

[qfrisco]

Originally Posted by ukguy

anyone seen/played with the AI Director ? I can't work out if it replaces the controller or not.
I don't want to buy a controller only to then want the AI Director to give me more controls?

The Director completely replaces the controller. I confirmed this with AI at MACNA.

AI released the Controller as a separate product from the Director as they think there will be quite a few people that will be perfectly happy with the limited controls on the Controller and won't need/want the Director.

[qfrisco]

Originally Posted by luvreefs23

i ordered 2 vegas & a 34" 2x150watt pacific sun metis hyperion R2 for my 120 build. I got the vegas & am a week or 2 away from getting the pacific sun fixture. I want to compare the lights & decide which one to keep. Maybe ill start a build thread & do some comparisons.

And post pics here, too, if you can.

[Skipponator]

I hope they offer a trade-in for those of us that don't want the controller and apply it towards the director. Otherwise I am sure they will be easy sells on here. But then again, it is only $80 to keep as a backup...

I have no idea if my fan has ever came on, it is silent. Plus my Powermodule has noisy fans, and my skimmer is hellishly loud! I have only had one silent tank, and I miss it. I don't know what the secret is with tank/stand setups....

So after the update, I adjusted my coral acclimation mode. It has appeared that since day one I have never had a functioning accl. mode. So they have maybe been running full? I don't understand tho, as the #s on the screen read different than my set values. Specifically the red/green. If I set at 32% red, the screen when on, would still show 80s....

[qfrisco]

Originally Posted by Skipponator

....

So after the update, I adjusted my coral acclimation mode. It has appeared that since day one I have never had a functioning accl. mode. So they have maybe been running full? I don't understand tho, as the #s on the screen read different than my set values. Specifically the red/green. If I set at 32% red, the screen when on, would still show 80s....

I'm still having an email dialog with AI about my coral acclimation mode problem, so no conclusion yet. Basically, the coral acclimation mode reduces your max intensities by the reduction you specify, and gradually decreases the reduction over the course of your acclimation period.

So say you have your White at 80% max intensity and Royal Blue at 100%, having a 50% reduction will cause the White to run at 40% and Royal Blue at 50% on Day 1 of your acclimation. The controller then automatically reduces the reductions proportionately throughout the acclimation period so that after the last day your lights are being lit at the maximum intensity you specify.

This isn't how it's working for me or @kajung2k. For both of us, the Day 1 reduction is fine, but then the days subsequent to that jump way too high, I'm afraid I'd cook my corals.

I'm waiting for another reply from AI tech support to see what they say. Below is what they've sent me previously:

Originally Posted by AI Tech Support

Hello Joel,

Hope all is well. Here is a scenario on how the coral acclimation mode works. Let me know if you have any questions after reading through this.

Here's an example:

I bought this beautiful coral today. I want to acclimate it for a week. Let's say I want to dim down my lights to half my normal intensity.
Today is Friday, Oct 5th, so I want the acclimate for 7 days, so I want acclimation to run until next Thursday, Oct 11th.

Dialog setup:
Enabled: YES
Reduction: 50%
Start: OCT 05, 2012
End: OCT 11, 2012

The way it works is this:

On the first day the lights get the full reduction setting (in this example 50%). So let's say my normal WHITE intensities (in the middle of the afternoon) are 80%. With coral acclimation enabled, that will max out the WHITES at 40% intensity (50% reduction of 80%). So basically, whatever the light intensities are they all get reduced by 50%. It's important to note that the reduction setting is NOT an intensity value itself- it is the amount you want to reduce all the timer intensities by.

Coral acclimation reduces ALL colors and intensities in ALL timers. So If my Royals are set for 2% at night, those too will be reduced by 50%, so that Royals will be at 1% at night. Its the same as if someone went through all your timers and reduced all the intensity settings by half.

As the week goes by, the amount of reduction doesn't stay at 50% buts gets less and less until you return to normal intensity. For our 50% example, this means the lights need to increase intensities over a 7 day period back to 100%. The actual reduction values will change as follows:

DATE - REDUCTION
============
Day1/Fri/Oct5 - 50%
Day2/Sat/Oct6 - 43%
Day3/Sun/Oct7 - 36%
Day4/Mon/Oct8 - 29%
Day5/Tue/Oct9 - 21%
Day6/Wed/Oct10 - 14%
Day7/Thu/Oct11 - 7%
Day8/Fri/Oct12 - 0% (timer intensities return to normal)

Thanks for choosing the AI Vega and have a great day!

Best,

Justin
AI

[Dee12Dee12]

I just set my acc mode and so far so good. Ill see what it does tomorrow. So far the update is working great. The key sensitivity option is great also.

[kajung2k]

@mbsl55 - dimensions of tank and how high above the water line are those lights ?

Originally Posted by MBSL55

I haven't checked-in for a while as I was recovering from MACNA, dealing with fighting off a cold, and just getting caught-up finalizing some things with my build.

I thought I'd add a few pictures but unfortunately, I suck at taking pictures and need to get one of our local club members who is good with a DSLR to come over and show me how to use the wife's Canon.

I attached a couple of pictures that show red and green LED coverage with all others off as I was curious as to how well the red and greens would cover the whole tank given the number of red and green compared to the other color LEDs. I've also included a quick FTS.

I went from AI Sols on my old tank to the Vega on this new one. I've noticed my LPS like candy canes, cynarina, bubble coral, etc. have greater polyp extension and are "puffier" for lack of a better term. Zoas and chalices look about the same.

On my SPS the two I've really noticed are my orange digi is a deeper, fuller color and my Copps tri-color has developed better coloration and PE similar to what qfrisco posted in his photos. Areas that were encrusted have also started to shoot up branches with some bright and vibrant coloration.

[mypepper]

Has anyone had success with using their lunar lights?

If so, please give me your setup sequence, which would be greatly appreciated.

The problem that I'm having, I enable the lunar cycle, set the times and adjust the intensity for the moon lights.

When the lights shut down for the evening at 6:30pm, the lunar lights turn on before there schedule time of 9:00 pm.

I'm starting to think it's a software issue?

Thanks,
Randy

[ReeferGil]

Originally Posted by mypepper

Has anyone had success with using their lunar lights?

If so, please give me your setup sequence, which would be greatly appreciated.

The problem that I'm having, I enable the lunar cycle, set the times and adjust the intensity for the moon lights.

When the lights shut down for the evening at 6:30pm, the lunar lights turn on before there schedule time of 9:00 pm.

I'm starting to think it's a software issue?

Thanks,
Randy

The way AI setup the lunar and moonlight modes sucks. Although lunar lights have an end time, it's not really an end time. You have to select the % of light you want for your "nite" lights. With lunar mode on, your light brightness will be determined by the actual cycle of the moon, full moon brightest and no moon no lights, very cool. BUT once your end time comes rolling around, you would expect you lunar lights to shut off, right? Well technically they do shut off, but they are immediately replaced by your moonlights, which will stay on all night long until you manually turn them off OR your normal light cycle begins. Not a software issue, but AI needs to make lunar and moonlights totally separate. This is my main complaint with these lights.

Did all of that make sense? Did it kind of answer your question?

[bezlar]

Mine have been off the last couple nights is this what everybody else's have been doing? I checked the lunar calendar and it had moon last couple nights but AI's were off. I'm still not quite sure what's happening with mine?

[bezlar]

I set my lunar cycle same time as my off and on cycle. Lights off at 9pm lunar starts 9pm. Lights on at 7am. Lunar off 7am.

[bezlar]

Tonight, two modules on one off? I suppose we will figure these out sooner or later?

[theReefKing]

Originally Posted by newenglandreef

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

You are correct, LEDs have more PUR per PAR than other light sources. I posted an article on this. PUR, photosyntheticly usable radiation, is the important number, but we have access to the equipment used to read PAR so it is what we hear about more.

A reading of 100 PAR with LEDs will have more PUR than 100 PAR with other sources.

[theReefKing]

Originally Posted by 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.

Hold for 5 seconds not 3 (right)

[ReeferGil]

Originally Posted by bezlar

Mine have been off the last couple nights is this what everybody else's have been doing? I checked the lunar calendar and it had moon last couple nights but AI's were off. I'm still not quite sure what's happening with mine?

Have you set your "nite" light %? If they are at 0% OR if it's a no moon night, then lunar will not work.

[theReefKing]

Originally Posted by kajung2k

Thanks. There is another issue I found, and someone might have mentioned it earlier.

When the clock is suppose to change to midnight it changes to 12:00pm quickly, the lights turn on briefly then the clock changes to 12am and the lights go back to moonlight.

You can verify this by testing your light schedule.

Kevin

Did u get any more info about this? Anyone else have this issue?

[ReeferGil]

Originally Posted by bezlar

Tonight, two modules on one off? I suppose we will figure these out sooner or later?

Only one of two modules are on for you?

[theReefKing]

Originally Posted by MBSL55

.

What size is your tank?

[theReefKing]

So thank you to everyone on this thread who jumped right in from day 1. I took the plunge and my 4 VEGA Colors arrived today (my Birthday :-) I wil be sure to post pictures of before and after on our 180gal.

I also am mounting them inside a canopy, anyone else do this already?

I have this idea to modify track lighting to hold my Vegas.

[ReeferGil]

Congrats, Happy Bday, you'll love the lights.

[ReeferGil]

Yes, mine do the same thing. At 1204 am, on the dot and like clockwork, one of the two modules will turn on to full brightness and then back off after about one minute.

[qfrisco]

Originally Posted by theReefKing

So thank you to everyone on this thread who jumped right in from day 1. I took the plunge and my 4 VEGA Colors arrived today (my Birthday :-) I wil be sure to post pictures of before and after on our 180gal.

I also am mounting them inside a canopy, anyone else do this already?

I have this idea to modify track lighting to hold my Vegas.

Yep, congrats and happy birthday. Enjoy them!

I don't have mine installed inside of a canopy but rather on top of it. I have holes cut out of the top of the canopy that the lights shine down through. This way I'm able to maximize the height of the lights, but still kinda have them in/on a canopy.

If you plan to mount yours in a canopy, make sure the fan on top of the lights isn't obstructed. Beyond that, they should work very well inside a canopy - not very much heat at all.