AI Vega Color/Blue Owners Thread!

[arioch]

I haven't had any issues with the 2.18 update and I'm on 4 sol->vega kits on a single controller. Just another data point for whatever that's worth.

And I'm running 3 of them over a 12" shallow tank.

[Seng]

Is that possible a mixing of SOL , Vega and Hydra running together in a tank and control by only one controller ?

[bangbangkhan]

Originally Posted by Seng

Is that possible a mixing of SOL , Vega and Hydra running together in a tank and control by only one controller ?

i asked AI support and you can run hydra and vega on the same controller. you won't get a lot of customization with hydra as it has 7 channels as oppose to vega having 20. but they will work on the new controller. I didn't ask about SOL.

I am planning on running 1 vega with 1 hydra....my LFS said he should be getting the hydras by third week of June.

[alpineroush]

Do we know about the director release

[shookONES]

I've been getting a lot of vague responses to my question, so I apologize for asking here. I'm a long time t5 guy and am considering the switch. I've got. 36x18 40b and was wondering if i could get away with a single LED unit, be it a Vega or Hydra? I keep minimal sps and mostly lps and softies.

[alpineroush]

You probably could but would have to raise it pretty high off your tank. There would be a lot of light lost outside your tank if you did this. With this size tank two would be better. I have two on a four foot tank and almost need three.

[dougdstecklein]

^+1

[Giovanni]

Two positioned long way would be optimal for your minimal SPS IMO. You could get away with one but it will be far from optimal. I will get one of my units down and show the spread over the area you have if you like. What is the depth of the 40b? LMK

[qfrisco]

Originally Posted by dougdstecklein

Even with the wider lens on the Vegas, the light beam seems very focused. I'm not sure why AI is recommending 4 inches AWL. I had my lights 6 inches AWL and moved them to 8 inches AWL to help spread the light more evenly over the tank.

I spent some time talking to AI at MACNA 2012 back in September, and they said they designed the fixtures to sit low to the water to take advantage of the light bouncing back in from the glass sides. If the fixtures are mounted too high, you lose this light completely.

[theReefKing]

Originally Posted by dougdstecklein

I can't freakin sleep so I'll give this a go.
White- 50
Red- 35
Green- 35
All blues-70
I have them on manual timers.
4 hour ramp up. 9:00-1:00 4 timers/1 hour each
9:00 white-3 red-5 green-5 blues-7
10:00 white-7 red-10 green-10 blues-15
11:00 white-20 red-20 green-20 blues-35
12:00 white-50 red-35 green-35 blues-70
4 hour ramp down. 6:00-10:00 4 timers/1hour each
6:00 white-50 red-35 green-35 blues-70
7:00 white-20 red-20 green-20 blues-35
8:00 white-7 red-10 green-10 blues-15
9:00 white-0 red-0 green-0 blues-1
I do not like the automatic timers. The sunrise/sunset turns dark blue immediately and doesn't look very natural. I wanted a normal daylight color with just increasing/decreasing intensities for most of the sunrise/sunset.
This allows for great viewing of the tank all day without frying your corals.
The lights are only at my max intensities for 5 hours of the day; 1:00-6:00.
At least if my controller ever loses it's programming I have it written down now.

Thank you. Most complete setting description in the 65 pages I have read.
I spent a lot of time on this thread before I made the purchase back in October. But stopped coming after the purchase.
MISTAKE
We have four VEGA colors over our 180, and have been so disappointed. Watching corals just get placed and fade away. All sps, lps.
After a three month acclimation, I had the whites and blues at 100% and red and green at 70% from 7AM to 8PM, three hour ramp. That was 10 hours of 100%!!!!
We have 9 reef tanks, so we would move the coral into another tank and watch it return to former glory. Very frustrated about the $2200 spent. I have now lowered the intensity to what I am seeing from reading the thread.
I am hopeful.
Thanks all.

[Typlus5]

Since the controller updated I tweaked my schedule.

[jonnyeatworld]

Just picked up a vega color. Still waiting for my controller to get here. When i put it in manual, and press the red button to go through the intensities. after 100% it should go back to 0. Instead it doesn't stop flashing, like a strobe light and pressing the red button doesn't do anything. i have to unplug it to turn it off. Am i missing something? Will the controller fix this or do i have a broken one?

[jg93]

Originally Posted by theReefKing

T
We have four VEGA colors over our 180, and have been so disappointed. Watching corals just get placed and fade away. All sps, lps.
After a three month acclimation, I had the whites and blues at 100% and red and green at 70% from 7AM to 8PM, three hour ramp. That was 10 hours of 100%!!!!

IMO, the problem isn't the lights. That intensity is crazy (depending on how high AWL they're placed and the depth of the tank...)

Pale colors aren't a problem of too little light - the opposite. Too much. Not to mention 9 hours at max intensity is also too long IMO - you really want 6, max.

There's a lot of debate on LEDS and certain SPS corals. Some I agree with, some I don't. However, LPSs are a dead lock with these lights. I put colonies I've been keeping for years and years under AIs and they're not only look fantastic but grew like gangbusters.

[jonnyeatworld]

Can some one please post a picture of the back of their vega power supply. Just bought one used, and I'm having some power issues. just want to compare it to the one that was given with the light i got. thanks!

[mkballer]

Vega owners...I have a question. When the AI Director comes out, will it completely replace the need to have an Apex VDM controller?

[mlott132]

Originally Posted by Typlus5

Since the controller updated I tweaked my schedule.

I was going to try out your lighting setup, but you did not mention your ramp time for each timer. What do you have this set as?

[NYCEnglish]

The Vega cannot be controlled by an Apex VDM. Director will completely replaces the new AI controller however.

Originally Posted by mkballer

Vega owners...I have a question. When the AI Director comes out, will it completely replace the need to have an Apex VDM controller?

[Giovanni]

Originally Posted by jonnyeatworld

Can some one please post a picture of the back of their vega power supply. Just bought one used, and I'm having some power issues. just want to compare it to the one that was given with the light i got. thanks!

Here you go.

[malady]

hey guys

the vega fixture comes with: White/Royal Blue/Blue/Deep Blue/Green/Deep Red

what would you change to make the spectrum better?

they offer: http://www.aquaillum...om/colorconfig/

Should i customize every puck or just two? or just get rid of greens and reds an replace with violet and uv with warm whites?

I appreciate your time

[jg93]

FWIW the sol to vega upgrades dropped 2 of the Royal Blues for 2 Violets.

It looks like the new Hydras did that, and then dropped the 2 Blues for 2 UV.

I would at a minimum get some violet in there. I know no one is hot on the green or red b/c they don't see a difference with them in their tank but a word of caution - most of the advance aquarist articles I've read site these bandwidths as essential for certain types of corals. Metal Halides actually have a spike in the green bandwidth. I will say that *something* in my new lights is making most of my more difficult corals color better, and grow better - but I admit this is of course anecdotal and I can't tell you which spectrum of light is causing this. I will say for *certain* that my blues look much better, and many of my corals that shifted from red to orange very quickly shifted back to red again under my upgraded Vega's w/ Violet.

[arioch]

I checked with a buddy of mine who's had contributions in AA and one of the things I noticed with the vega kits he told me is because basically, for a lot of corals you need the green leds to turn out the pinks.

My pink yumas turned orange under the Sols and went back to pink under the Vega.

[Dadekster]

Update-

Been a couple weeks since I upgraded three Sol Blues to Vegas. I have also added 3 new Vegas for a total of 6 lights above my tank. Based on my observations everything in my tank has responded very well. I used the acclimation feature and corals that were pale have gotten deeper greens along with blues coming back as well. I have to say the three upgrade Vegas with the UV's have had the biggest impact. I have them on the back row on my rack and the corals on that side (in-wall/viewable from two sides) have shown the greatest improvement in coloration. I understand that color is a very subjective topic but imo the Vegas are a step up from the Sol Blues I had been running. My wallet may have not liked the upgrade but my corals are benefiting. I am planning on swapping out some of my pucks for some additional UV as well as it really seems to have been the thing missing from the Sol Blues.

[Reefer94]

Originally Posted by jg93

FWIW the sol to vega upgrades dropped 2 of the Royal Blues for 2 Violets.

It looks like the new Hydras did that, and then dropped the 2 Blues for 2 UV.

I would at a minimum get some violet in there. I know no one is hot on the green or red b/c they don't see a difference with them in their tank but a word of caution - most of the advance aquarist articles I've read site these bandwidths as essential for certain types of corals. Metal Halides actually have a spike in the green bandwidth. I will say that *something* in my new lights is making most of my more difficult corals color better, and grow better - but I admit this is of course anecdotal and I can't tell you which spectrum of light is causing this. I will say for *certain* that my blues look much better, and many of my corals that shifted from red to orange very quickly shifted back to red again under my upgraded Vega's w/ Violet.

I think the problem about the red and green is that they are so pronounced, people turn them way down to prevent disco effects. That pretty much absolves them of being very "usable," as it were.

I dunno, it seems that you want at least a couple of warm whites instead of cool to get the red. Would the yellow intensity from the warm white create a green when mixing with blue? I haven't ordered my upgrade as I was holding out for director, but that might be a dream atm. Since the upgrade comes with violet now, I may not even do powerpucks unless people are getting crazy results on certain configs.

[arioch]

TBQH I never understood that complaint--I don't know how anyone gets color banding effects from 80 degree lenses with LEDs mounted so close to each other, particularly if their light ramp schedule turns the red/greens down before pulling the whites down all the way.

[NYCEnglish]

Do you mind sharing your thoughts on how your UV customized puck would be configured? Which color would you replace with UV?

Thanks.

Originally Posted by Dadekster

Update-

Been a couple weeks since I upgraded three Sol Blues to Vegas. I have also added 3 new Vegas for a total of 6 lights above my tank. Based on my observations everything in my tank has responded very well. I used the acclimation feature and corals that were pale have gotten deeper greens along with blues coming back as well. I have to say the three upgrade Vegas with the UV's have had the biggest impact. I have them on the back row on my rack and the corals on that side (in-wall/viewable from two sides) have shown the greatest improvement in coloration. I understand that color is a very subjective topic but imo the Vegas are a step up from the Sol Blues I had been running. My wallet may have not liked the upgrade but my corals are benefiting. I am planning on swapping out some of my pucks for some additional UV as well as it really seems to have been the thing missing from the Sol Blues.