Saturday, June 29, 2013
Fuzzy Wuzzies
Now that the tank is starting to mature, I'm finally ready for some fuzzy sticks. Most of these SPS come from tanks with different lighting (either metal halides or the sun, mari-cultured), so have lightened in color or have browned-out somewhat: as expected. Hopefully, they'll acclimate to my awesome AI Hydras soon and start coloring up: )
Thursday, June 20, 2013
AI Hydra versus Vega
The long-awaited AI Hydra LED lights have finally arrived. Was able to borrow an AI Vega for comparison. The Hydra's LED mix has a wider spectrum with violet and UV LED's added while losing the couple of higher-spectrum blue LED's and a couple of royal blues. Additionally, the center white LED is a 3W on the Hydra versus 5W on the Vega. The lens on the Hydra is also textured for better color blending. There are numerous other differences as well... including a $100 cheaper price tag; which I definitely like.
From my understanding, the Vega better simulates a shallow reef being that it's brighter and has higher-spectrum LED's: which makes the it better for SPS tanks. The Hydra with it's violet and UV LED's better simulates a deeper reef and should work great for mix-reefs.
On to the review... I really like these new lights. Being one that LOVES blue-color lighting and fluorescing corals, I am really enjoying the addition of the deeper-spectrum LED's. They sure do a great job making the corals GLOW! The Vega's lens does give the light a sharper look, but I must say that I have a strong preference for the Hydra's LED mix. Both lights do cause a noticeable 'disco effect' on the sand bed
: even with the lights being about 11" above the water level. I think my strong surface agitation contributes quite a bit towards that issue. Personally, I don't really care for the red and green LED's: they will never be used at more than 25% and I think it further worsens the 'disco effect'. Instead of having white/red/green LED's, I would have preferred a simple mix of warm and cool white LED's (like what are on the MaxSpect Razors). It has only been a few days but so far the corals are responding very well and I am very happy with the new lights. Time will tell how they fair with the more sensitive acroporas.
The AI Rail Kit is a great idea, but poorly executed. The short legs included were fairly useless. With 3 fixtures over a 5-foot tank, I was getting A TON of shadowing and very poor coverage. I guess they don't really expect anyone to use the legs. Since I didn't want to hang the lights, I decided to fabricate a set of mounts to elevate the fixture by about 8". I am pretty happy with the way they turned out: aesthically and functionally.
From my understanding, the Vega better simulates a shallow reef being that it's brighter and has higher-spectrum LED's: which makes the it better for SPS tanks. The Hydra with it's violet and UV LED's better simulates a deeper reef and should work great for mix-reefs.
On to the review... I really like these new lights. Being one that LOVES blue-color lighting and fluorescing corals, I am really enjoying the addition of the deeper-spectrum LED's. They sure do a great job making the corals GLOW! The Vega's lens does give the light a sharper look, but I must say that I have a strong preference for the Hydra's LED mix. Both lights do cause a noticeable 'disco effect' on the sand bed
: even with the lights being about 11" above the water level. I think my strong surface agitation contributes quite a bit towards that issue. Personally, I don't really care for the red and green LED's: they will never be used at more than 25% and I think it further worsens the 'disco effect'. Instead of having white/red/green LED's, I would have preferred a simple mix of warm and cool white LED's (like what are on the MaxSpect Razors). It has only been a few days but so far the corals are responding very well and I am very happy with the new lights. Time will tell how they fair with the more sensitive acroporas.
The AI Rail Kit is a great idea, but poorly executed. The short legs included were fairly useless. With 3 fixtures over a 5-foot tank, I was getting A TON of shadowing and very poor coverage. I guess they don't really expect anyone to use the legs. Since I didn't want to hang the lights, I decided to fabricate a set of mounts to elevate the fixture by about 8". I am pretty happy with the way they turned out: aesthically and functionally.
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
Oldie but a goodie
Finally had time to set up my auto top off. Can't believe my 10+ year-old Ultralife float switch still works like a charm. No more adding water to the tank EVERYDAY... yeah! The 10 gallon reservoir is hidden inside a Lane Chest along with all the stuff I can't inside the stand. An AquaLifter handles the duty of pumping the water from the reservoir to the sump.
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