gonna go with led's bunch of questions

btwk12

btwk12

Member
i have been researching led fixture's and i have it narrowed down to either the ecoray or the aqua illumination's. here are my concern's with the AI fixture the dimensions are only 5 1/4 x 11 3/4 inches and my tank dimensions are 72''x18''x18'' with a center brace, so i have 2 sides that are 36''x18''to cover. my ? is do you think one light on each side will spread far enough to hit the whole tank?
and now the eco ray i am not sure to go with the 60d or the 112d the 60d dimensions are bigger than the AI fixture at 14''x8 1/2'' and the 112d is 19.6''x11.3'' and the 112 has almost double the bulbs. but i don't want it to be overkill to the point where i can't even have them turned all the way up without bleaching.
i like the AI fixtur better than the ecoray and it also has a controller that can be purchased for the AI fixture that seems like it can do just about everything. i just don't want to have to by 4 of these AI fixtures because they run at $530 a piece.i think the ecoray 112d is the fixture for me as far as coverage, but i really like all that the AI has to offer. so what i was hopeing for is that someone with more experiance with these has a little input. my tank is an sps dominant tank and very shallow i have some coral's that are as close as 4'' to the top of the tank. so i figure i would hang the light's 10-12'' above the tank which would put the lights from 28-30'' from the lights to the bottom of the tank. and it say's they can easily light a 36'' deep tank with the lights 6'' above the tank so if i have to raise the fixtures even higher to get coverage than thats what i will do.
sorry for the long post but this is a lot of money im talkin about dumping on these lights so i want to know everything i can. thanks for your time
 
gemmy

gemmy

Active Member
Honestly, I would try pm'ing NikeSB. He is very informative on this topic. I know Spanko has the AI fixture and some others maybe able to chime in on the topic.
 
btwk12

btwk12

Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kiefers http:///forum/thread/386716/gonna-go-with-led-s-bunch-of-questions#post_3398271
I had the very same question a few weeks ago. I too was comparing the ecoray to the AI's. Still haven't made my mind up yet, or should I say I have but the $$$ made up my mind for me. Lol...what
what size tank do you have? it says on the AI site that each fixture will cover a 36''x36'' area with the outer areas having a minimum of 150 par, if i read it right. (not sure) thats why i need opinions!! lol
 
kiefers

kiefers

Active Member
I have a 56 gallon column. I believe I would need two fixtures. Can you saw "$$$$$$" Lol....
 
1guydude

1guydude

Well-Known Member
i have a 36bow and im thinkin the 1 112 ecoray should cover it fine! I would say u need two for u tank man! Stinkin Nike hasnt been on in awhile! Idk where he b?!?!?!
 
2quills

2quills

Well-Known Member
There's a guy over on RC who has just 2 of the A.I. units over his 48"x48" cube and has excellent coverage. Ofcorse he has the 70 degree optics on them and has them raised a little bit higher off of the tank. But he's got SPS in the tank and from what I remember things were doing fine. I'm sure you're going to sacrifice some par going with only 2 units but it can be done. 3 would probably be a good number for the 72x18x18, if not 4. It's a shallow tank so less units with a wider spread would be applicable in this case I believe.
 
geoj

geoj

Active Member
If I were you I would go with 4 A I SOL Super Blues
One can cover 2x2 if you hang it about 12" above the water. This is more par then you will need and you would run at half power but get full coverage.
If this was a new tank and you could move the sps to the light then going with only 2 AI s and raising the light height up and then turning the power up might make it work out. But if you could not move the corals and some wound up in shaded area, would be tough.
What AI has over the Eco-ray is the ability to adjust the color temp by changing the power to the different colored LED W B RB This is what sold me big time.
 
1snapple

1snapple

Active Member
go AI, you dont want the individual dimming of the blues and the whites you NEED it, go AI and you wont regret it, epecially with 4 SOL super blues.
You can place them how high you want or need, then acclimate with the dimming feature, and then at night turn on full blue and get some great colors while also giving your corals possibly 24hrs of light, the blues running alone will be enough to grow your coral and you give you great colors.
 
kiefers

kiefers

Active Member
Okay now.... just got off this web site selling the AI's. Would it be good to still a 24" for the 56 gallon columnor would I do better with the 36. The 36 is 1600+ dollars WOW... (heart palpitations)
 
2quills

2quills

Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kiefers http:///forum/thread/386716/gonna-go-with-led-s-bunch-of-questions#post_3398533
Okay now.... just got off this web site selling the AI's. Would it be good to still a 24" for the 56 gallon columnor would I do better with the 36. The 36 is 1600+ dollars WOW... (heart palpitations)

I think the 2 module deal would be more than plenty for that tank. Honestly don't see why you couldn't even just try 1 module at first with 70 degree optics and then upgrade to 2 if you think you need it. Do you have alot of SPS in the tank?
 
btwk12

btwk12

Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kiefers http:///forum/thread/386716/gonna-go-with-led-s-bunch-of-questions#post_3398533
Okay now.... just got off this web site selling the AI's. Would it be good to still a 24" for the 56 gallon columnor would I do better with the 36. The 36 is 1600+ dollars WOW... (heart palpitations)

a 24'' fixture they say is just 2 fixtures on a hanging kit and a 36'' is 3 on a kit and so on. for your tank keifers i would do what corey said start with one. my self i am going to go with 2 (one on each side) it makes no sense to me to put a fixture over the center brace, and if it dont seem like enough i will have to go 2 on each side (lets hope not) and like i said i have an sps dominant tank. right now i have a 12 bulb extreme pro t-5 fixture with all ati bulbs. and i think 2 ai's would be quite a bit of an upgrade. thats my opinion from the research i did.
 
btwk12

btwk12

Member
i read some where they had par of 150 at 5' so even if i had my lights 18'' above my tank and have them up quite a bit i should get more than enough par and coverage. so like i said i am going with 2, and i will play with them for a while and see what i come up with.
 
geoj

geoj

Active Member

i read some where they had par of 150 at 5' so even if i had my lights 18'' above my tank and have them up quite a bit i should get more than enough par and coverage. so like i said i am going with 2, and i will play with them for a while and see what i come up with.

A must read is CalmSeasQuest thread on AquaIllumination PAR Measurements
 
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