Could I Get Away With 3 AI Sol?
 

So i bought one AI sol to try it out and to determine how many more id need.

here i took a picture of my tank with the light in 3 different positions and then stitched it together

http://i579.photobucket.com/albums/s...at121324PM.png

seems like the light spread is pretty good and the bright ness is pretty good.

would probably get a a couple more Par38 LEDs for the ends

I'd be interested as well.

AI has a chart and looking at it for my display since the fixtures will be close to the water I'm looking for 5 units (as opposed to 3 if higher) and that's compared to the 2x250W MH that I know is sufficient for SPS growth.

Guess the issue is spread.

Nice idea the stitching

5 units equal to 2 250watt halides?

i read that 1 unit is equal to a 250 watt halide

Looks good marko

I went and bought 2 more

how high will your lights be above the water?

About 5 inches. Same as my mh where. I'm actually getting more spread from each ai than I did with each halide

Since your AI Modules are less than 12" from the water surface 5 or 6 modules is the way to go on a 72"+ aquarium. I assume you have have changed the way they are mounted. Pics show them parallel with front glass.

I've been debating switching over to the SOLS as well, my heart was hoping for three but my brain is saying five.

Start with 3 and mount them high. (above 12") Depending on coral placement all will be fine....especially for new systems where you are just adding coral.
If you have a well established fully stocked display then go with the 5 right away.

I am not sure if AI made that chart to sell you more units, but when I contacted customer service at AI, they told me that I would need 12-15 units on my 300DD which I thought that was a bit ridiculous. I would say depends on what you are planning to keep 1 unit should be good for a 24x24 area coverage if they are situated 10-12inch awl. I was thinking about getting all 70 degrees lens so I can get a bigger spread since these things are par monster anyways.

Hey Marko, how areyou liking the AI compare to your aquamedic fixture in terms of front and back coverage?

i am basically buying enough AI units to cover my rock where the corals are going to be. fall off light will light the sand around it.

since my tank is a peninsula it has 6 inches of overflow box on one end. and my rock structure starts about 6 inches from the left end of the tank so basically 5 feed of rock to cover.

and front to back the rock structure is about 1 foot deep (rocks dont lean on the back glass)

so with 3 AI modules mounted perpendicular to the front glass i can cover all the rock and the middle section where my clams are.

the coverage is similar to my halides

well with your 5" AWL I'll definitely be following along since with my canopy and the what AI says is needed to clearance above (3") if I went with Sols would have the same AWL.

No way could I convince the wife needed 5 modules, 3 maybe.

Marko did you buy a controller with the lights are running them on 100%

I got a controller. Currently at 50%O

I would suggest you turn them down to 30%

why? they seem pretty dim at 50% even.

i've had three 250 watt metal halides running over the tank for the past 5 months

Cause you'll bleach your corals. They are not dimmer. They just appear that way to the human eye. It's good to start them out at 30% and increase by 3-5% per week. I switched over fron 2 250W with 4 54w T5s. I've had 4 for a couple of months now and they are now running at a max 55w 60b 65rby. Probably going to keep it like that. I had them turned up alot higher due to impatience and started to have issues with a bit of algae on my sandbed. Several other people who have switched over to the Sols have experienced the same problems.

how many units are you running and what are your tank dims?.....just trying to get a feel for coverage.....

4 units 12" above the water line

57"wide, half circle so bows out the front 29" at center and 27" deep

New program i run: No lunar or lightning storms used

Time w b rby ramp in mins
08:00 5 5 15 30
10:00 10 10 10 30
11:00 30 40 40 30
12:00 55 60 60 180
17:00 50 60 60 180
19:30 20 25 30 1
20:00 5 10 20 30
22:30 - - 10 30
23:15 - - 2 30

unless your looking for more pretty white colours in your tank hehe:):)

You think three would be enough on a 7' long 30" deep tank @12" awl?

i think it all depends what you're trying to light up.

with 3 mounted parallel to my front glass i get no light on the glass (which is what i want) because i dont have rocks going directly to the glass.

if you have a 7 foot tank but only 5 feet of rock to light, then it'll work with 3 fixtures

I agree with MarkoD. In the last couple of months I helped with 2 300DD installations. Neither hobbyist went by the AI recommendations. One 300DD has 3, yes 3 modules, the other 300 DD set up started with 3 AI Modules but has since added two more. Both systems are outstanding.
The key was placement, height above water line, water parameters and supplemental coral feedings.
The AI modules have enough PAR to deliver results in an aquarium 36" deep. Your depth of 30" will not be an issue.

As for strength, I've had my 5 units 18 inches over the 225 (72,24,30deep) for 4 weeks now, and they are running at 70 white and 100 both blues for over a week now, everything is growing like mad, I did have some cyano on the sand for a bit, but I just broke out the Hanna checker and found out that my gfo needed to be changed, sitting at .22 phosphates..... So ditched the gfo and put in some foz down and the next day cyano almost gone..... So it wasn't the lights causing the algae, but an underlying problem of phosphates.....

Steve

I saw the tank at the store yesterday, SOL's or SOL blues?

they're all SOL blue now

One my 48x18 footprint I'm only planning on running 2. look into changing out your 40 degree optic lenses to something with more spread like 70 or 80. should reduce the spot light effect

Marco did you go with the blues?

Yeah I did. I didn't realize there was others

My wife gave me the go ahead to buy 3 for now. We'll see how it works out.

electricity went up 46% it totally makes sense.

and since they're modular you can always add more down the road if you need.

i think as my corals grow, ill probably end up getting another one in 6-8 months. maybe not the same one but whatever is out at the time