AI Vega Color/Blue Owners Thread!

[reefervinny]

So do you recommend a phosban reactor with that GFO? GFO is what makes up phosban correct? PM me so were not hijackin threads if you don't mind

[bezlar]

Originally Posted by reefervinny

So do you recommend a phosban reactor with that GFO? GFO is what makes up phosban correct? PM me so were not hijackin threads if you don't mind

Yes and watch how much frozen food you feed if you do. Also change out about 20 to 30% until you get them down. Buy a Hanna checker they are only $50 and throw away your other phos tester. It will not give you a accurate reading. Read up in the reef chemistry forum about phos. Lots good info.

Barry

[kajung2k]

Just signed up for the director beta tester.

Excited!!

[ukguy]

How do you get on the beta testing?

[kajung2k]

http://www.aquaillumination.com/director/

[reefervinny]

Originally Posted by ukguy

How do you get on the beta testing?

I followed a link through FB that took me to their site. Signed up a few days ago but you have to be selected I believe.

[treetopflyn]

Originally Posted by BlakDuc

The upgrade is supposed to be $200 not $250.

Got this email from them on March 5

Thank you for your inquiry. Yes, we do have an upgrade kit that will be released at the end of this month and available directly from AI.
The conversion from the Sol to Vega will be similar to the first AI module conversion: pretty substantial. The majority of the internal components are replaced, with the exterior looking the same. When the conversion is complete, the performance will be virtually identical to the Vega and allow the use of PowerPucks and any other feature upgrades. A new Controller or Director will be necessary to control the upgraded modules, as previous Controllers cannot be used.
The price will be $250 per module. Due to this low cost, users who want to upgrade will need have their product registered and provide a serial number for each module to be upgraded.

[Caronte]

Originally Posted by Swamp Donkey

I much prefer this look with the conduit to 2 cables coming from my ceiling. The conduit makes it the whole setup come together vs 2 thick black cables hanging from a ceiling IMO

Did you know any frame that looks like this one and works for AI SOls?

[Fury165]

Originally Posted by treetopflyn

The price will be $250 per module. Due to this low cost, users who want to upgrade will need have their product registered and provide a serial number for each module to be upgraded.[/I]

The preorder page on AI's site shows 200.00 plus S&H.

[treetopflyn]

Originally Posted by Fury165

The preorder page on AI's site shows 200.00 plus S&H.

hmmm

[tannersmith2000]

Guys and Gals

I have two Vega colors over my 75g reef.

My gorgonias, LPS and "HALF" of my SPS are doing great (growing well) under these lights. Other SPS of mine are not doing well.

If you are having success with these lights, what settings are you all using? What percentages are you using for each color and what's optimal? My lights are hanging approx 6" above water surface.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

[Hooked4life]

Originally Posted by tannersmith2000

Guys and Gals

I have two Vega colors over my 75g reef.

My gorgonias, LPS and "HALF" of my SPS are doing great (growing well) under these lights. Other SPS of mine are not doing well.

If you are having success with these lights, what settings are you all using? What percentages are you using for each color and what's optimal? My lights are hanging approx 6" above water surface.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

I am having the same experience - everything doing great except for some sps.

I have access to a PAR meter and took some readings and found the intensity can be rather uneven near the fixture. One place showed about 170, but less than 3" away, the PAR actually doubled. I'm finding sps are difficult unless you understand where these "hot spots" are located.

[reefervinny]

Originally Posted by Hooked4life

I am having the same experience - everything doing great except for some sps.

I have access to a PAR meter and took some readings and found the intensity can be rather uneven near the fixture. One place showed about 170, but less than 3" away, the PAR actually doubled. I'm finding sps are difficult unless you understand where these "hot spots" are located.

I agree with the possibilities of areas getting hot spots but how do you determine what areas are hot spot prone other than a par meter? The other question is that from what I have read is that a par meter doesn't read LED light well so you won't get accurate readings. Could this cause the jump in par in certain areas and not necessarily a hot spot? Yet my LPS and Softies are thriving all over the tank no matter where you put them

[BlakDuc]

Here is my 80 cube with 2 Vegas.

[tannersmith2000]

Originally Posted by Hooked4life

I am having the same experience - everything doing great except for some sps.

I have access to a PAR meter and took some readings and found the intensity can be rather uneven near the fixture. One place showed about 170, but less than 3" away, the PAR actually doubled. I'm finding sps are difficult unless you understand where these "hot spots" are located.

Interesting.

Yeah. This could very well be my problem. Several of my SPS are thriving and growing rapidly but others such as my Red Planet Table Acros have almost bleached totally. I have moved those corals to a special 20g SPS holing tank. They are coming back nicely though.

[Hooked4life]

Originally Posted by reefervinny

I agree with the possibilities of areas getting hot spots but how do you determine what areas are hot spot prone other than a par meter? The other question is that from what I have read is that a par meter doesn't read LED light well so you won't get accurate readings. Could this cause the jump in par in certain areas and not necessarily a hot spot? Yet my LPS and Softies are thriving all over the tank no matter where you put them

I am having the same experience - LPS and softies thriving all over the tank. I also have a Copps Bonsai frag that is almost right under one fixture and doing great. Corals placed on the sandbed directly under the fixture seems fine too. Since I've had the Vegas, I've found placing SPS in the top 1/2 of the tank is a lot more difficult.

I can't answer your question about the PAR meter, but I can tell you that the intensity was definitely much higher there. The SPS that was in that spot was getting fried. I've moved it and it seems to be recovering. I'm reserving that spot for a yet-to-be-determined, light loving coral.

Without a PAR meter, I would say you should definitely assume that your highest par areas are within about 2-3" of the outlines of the fixture and carefully watch any thing you put in the top 1/2 of the tank in that area.

[MikeD]

Why are there so many inconsistencies with LED still? I thought 'kinks' would have been worked out by now. I'd hate to buy coral that does poorly because of the LEDs.

[JP Reef]

I don't think a lot of the issues are LED inconsistencies. I think many of the issues are inadequate acclimation to the new light. It is very similar to people who change their MH or T5 light bulbs and not take any precautions to account for the new intensity.

I have seen many people just put up their new LED fixtures, pick a percent and just run it. These new fixtures have a lot more PAR than what many PAR meters read. It is better to start low percent and slowly increase over a few months. New corals need to be acclimated too.

[jg93]

"I think many of the issues are inadequate acclimation to the new light"

+1

I switched to AI SOL blues 9 months ago - my highest light % is still at 40... 6 Hour main photo period. Everything is growing great - but I needed to start low and now I'm staying low. I may try to super slowly raise it once some other things in my tank have settled (switching to vinegar for carbon.)

I may upgrade to Vega's as the colors do look better in many corals. Like the lower spectrum of blue to.

Another SOL secret is to read and understand how the lenses work. I didn't realize the SOL Blue's had 70's in the corners (wider, less intense spread) and 40's in the middle (narrower, more intense.) This makes a *huge* difference in where you place your corals. For instance, SPSs placed in the middle of the lights, but lower, will get much more light than those placed in the back, but higher up. I'm not sure what the lens's on the Vega's are- but do your research. And start at ~25 or 30% intensity - and ramp up. And I notice many folks here are placing their lights 6" above the tank - if you have a deep tank with lots of room between the water and the corals you're fine. If you're like me and have a more traditional set up - you will fry your corals unless you keep the intensity very low. I raised my to 12" - it helps the light spread better across the tank and allowed me to increase my intensity.

Best of luck -

[reefervinny]

Originally Posted by JP Reef

I don't think a lot of the issues are LED inconsistencies. I think many of the issues are inadequate acclimation to the new light. It is very similar to people who change their MH or T5 light bulbs and not take any precautions to account for the new intensity.

I have seen many people just put up their new LED fixtures, pick a percent and just run it. These new fixtures have a lot more PAR than what many PAR meters read. It is better to start low percent and slowly increase over a few months. New corals need to be acclimated too.

I agree to an extent but definitely not in my case. I have been running these lights since November and gave 80 days of acclimation starting from 25%. I have further adjusted my whites considerably and keep them in the low 30's and the blues up in the 55-60% range. And still having issues from a species to species basis.

[reefervinny]

Originally Posted by jg93

"I think many of the issues are inadequate acclimation to the new light"

+1

I switched to AI SOL blues 9 months ago - my highest light % is still at 40... 6 Hour main photo period. Everything is growing great - but I needed to start low and now I'm staying low. I may try to super slowly raise it once some other things in my tank have settled (switching to vinegar for carbon.)

I may upgrade to Vega's as the colors do look better in many corals. Like the lower spectrum of blue to.

Another SOL secret is to read and understand how the lenses work. I didn't realize the SOL Blue's had 70's in the corners (wider, less intense spread) and 40's in the middle (narrower, more intense.) This makes a *huge* difference in where you place your corals. For instance, SPSs placed in the middle of the lights, but lower, will get much more light than those placed in the back, but higher up. I'm not sure what the lens's on the Vega's are- but do your research. And start at ~25 or 30% intensity - and ramp up. And I notice many folks here are placing their lights 6" above the tank - if you have a deep tank with lots of room between the water and the corals you're fine. If you're like me and have a more traditional set up - you will fry your corals unless you keep the intensity very low. I raised my to 12" - it helps the light spread better across the tank and allowed me to increase my intensity.

Best of luck -

I agree for the most part of what you are saying but understand that the optics are different from the Sols to the Vegas. AI says keep them 4" AWL (i keep mine at 6) or you are going to lose a good amount of Par if you raise them too high. Vegas do best on a tank 24" or under do to their optics per AI. Intensity will fry your corals but light placement should be between 4"-6" and adjust the intensity to avoid frying corals. Not to sound rude but you said "I don't know what the optics are on the vegas but do your research" but you still want to put out information that is not valid and simply basing your information off of you Sol's experience.. This is a Vega light and their are differences from the Sol light. I really just don't like seeing people take advice from a user experience on a different light. Hence the reason why this is a AI Vega thread for user experiences and questions for soon to be Vega users.

[twiddle]

I have been running Vegas (from MH250 and T5s) since Dec 1 and am still acclimating...none of my colors over 50% yet. And yes..I have lost a lot of SPS since switching to these LEDs. Some SPS flourished right off the bat and some not so much but everything seems to be comfortable now. Its takes time and patience and when adding new coral keep them low or in some cases in some diffused shade and watch them.

[DOJO21]

Originally Posted by Nob35

Forgot to say about the "no change" this means that the color that is showing will have no change for that timer as in 01. So it will not change on this timer or ramp time.
Example of timers
01................. 02.......................03........................ 04
8:00am........... 8:30am........... 9:00am....................10:am
D.blue...............R.blue...............Blue................. White red green
80%.................75%..................70%..................65%, 50%, 40%
3 ramp............. 2.5 ramp..........2 ramp................. 1 ramp
Doing this all lights while reach there highest out put at 11:00am
05......................... 06............................. 07................................ 08
6:00pm...................6:30pm......................7:00pm........................7:00pm
White,red,green........ Blue......................... R.blue....................... D.blue
0%,0%,0%................ 0%...........................0%............................. 2%
1.5 ramp................. 1.5 ramp....................2 ramp.........................2.5 ramp
This will get white red and green off at 7:30pm, blue at 8:00pm, R.blue at 9:00pm,
And D.blue will go to 2% for moonlight at 9:30pm.

Hope this helps explain it, you will need to find what looks best for %s and just put them to what you like. You have 30 time slots so if you want to do more changes you can or you can have red and green on its own timer and ramp instead of having them grouped with the white timer.

How do you assign multiple colors to a specific timer. When I go to choose a color it only rotates between each specific color. I guess I do not fully understand all the options.

[MikeD]

Originally Posted by twiddle

I have been running Vegas (from MH250 and T5s) since Dec 1 and am still acclimating...none of my colors over 50% yet. And yes..I have lost a lot of SPS since switching to these LEDs. Some SPS flourished right off the bat and some not so much but everything seems to be comfortable now. Its takes time and patience and when adding new coral keep them low or in some cases in some diffused shade and watch them.

I'd be worried and upset if I lost that many sps! So it's been 3 months and still fairly 'dim'? Are the LEDs really that strong?!? Seems like its stronger than the sun!

Do you guys keep the times on the same length as you have with your past Mhs?

[twiddle]

I also have 4 T5s going during the day. The Vegas ramp up, peak and then slowly dim., all depends how you have the timers setup.
Surprisingly...even at 50% they are quite bright. Brightness and par are quite different things.