I think they are so popular because they are a fully customisable light with decent par ratings and a fair price but most of all they are modular meaning that if like me you start out with a nano and purchase just the one light for softies and lps then upgrade the tank size to something like a reefer 250 and purchase a second light for softies and lps,then when ready to grow a few sticks of SPS buy one or two more as your skills and knowledge grows over the course of a year or more.I also think they are ideal for a mixed reef which I'm sure is probably what most reefers want, I think they are perfect for this purpose but if then wanting to progress into sps dominant reef then I'd probably sell the primes and go for hydras and at which time the sale 3 or 4 primes would be a good chunk of cash towards the upgrade.
GAME CHANGER! this is how u make a video,👏👏👏 bravo bravo WOW im Sold, i was hesitating about getting the prime not anymore, Plz do more vids like this highlighting the best selling products👍 EPiC Vid 👏👏👏encore!
Raised my Prime 16 on my Nuvo 20 significantly after seeing this video! Was at about 6 inches above water. Moved to roughly 9 inches. Thanks BRS, tank looks brighter overall.
@@SteveVanHorn You can download some presets on AI website. I use the David Saxby schedule, He has a ramp on it up and down for intensity so it replicates ocean sun lighting. Theres also tons of other peoples lighting schedules on there. Depends what you have in your tank
Have to disagree on the app. I find it cumbersome and not user friendly. It appears to be a carryover for their other products. No real information on their site as to use for the PRIME version of their lights.
I just bought these lights for my 65 gal tank, nice to see you guys do a full video on the exact lights I just bought. Especially considering this is my very first saltwater tank so it gave me some great info for a starting point.
A year later these lights still working out for you? Im thinking of these for my 65 gallon just wondering what the additional 9 inches of depth do for par
@@dylvitte3226 I actually just recently sold them and got 5 reefbrite led light strips. The shimmer honestly was better on the primes but they just weren't enough for how deep my tank was. Don't get me wrong they are great lights. I just wanted to start adding more coral and was kinda limited with the amount of par at 24" deep these were putting out. All in all they were on my tank for about a year and six months with absolutely no issues, awesome lights for the money.
I love this light, I love the versatility and the ease of use and the thousand upon thousand of programs for you out there. I started with a kessil but it was such a hassle to set up with the controller and set up so I found the AI so much simpler.
Thanks for the video I have a new RSR250 with 2 primes and plan to upgrade to add a third prime when the tank matures for SPS. This was the perfect information I was looking for. Thanks BRS you rock
I also have a RSR250 with 2 16HD’s what settings and light height are you running? Spacing would also be helpful. I’ve been playing around with it for months and can’t seem to get my anacropora happy. Tidal gardens claims it should be thriving at 100-150 par
You guys are seriously awesome. I just bought a 16hd for my evo 13.5 gal and waiting for it to come in the mail. This video is exactly what I was looking for to have some questions answered.
Thank you so much for making this video. Great to see why these lights can do when placed correctly. I went with AI Primes for the ease of the app and price point.
Never would have guessed that 2 of these 10" over my 40 breeder @ 100% AB+ spectrum would be putting out 400-500 PAR. Wondering how much glass lids cut the PAR though? I'm going to have to rethink what intensity I really need to set these at now. Thanks for taking the time to collect and provide us with this valuable information. Without a PAR meter, its just a guessing game for us.
Great video as always chief. Very instructional and on point. I just purchased a 16hd to replace my reg prime hd. Can’t es it to see the difference and keep the older ones fit back up if necessary.
IIt would be great if you tested retangular tanks that are so common like 12 x 24. I had decide on photon since I only have 4 1/2 inches of clearance the par was much more even since its a big strip light and I can throw out the par at the front and back of tank. I figured if I tuned it way down and sps on top that would work but watching this again and you saying that 12 x 12 cube can be mounted 6 inches I am thinking that with two instead of one that you are using and both mounted towards the end that the spread may make it usable. I really want this versus the photon do you think it will work as well? I can only go with 2 reefbrights so dont think it will work plus to much xtra to buy! . Color pop and growth are most important to me and of course durability and longevity of lights!
Thank you for three foot Par numbers! Please do circle back to hybrid fixtures. I just got one for my 40B and would love some real numbers in the t-5 plus some ideas of what LED will add. Kessil too. Right now I guesstimate from your 2 and 4 foot tanks..
Best budget lighting option I’ve found for a 440g which is 2 240g tanks slapped together making it 8x4x2, is 4 ai primes across the center, and 2 fluval marine 3.0. 1 in the front and 1 back of the ai primes.
I have the 2 16HD’s on a 40 breeder just as you guys show. How deep in the tank was the PAR readings? Was that on the bottom? If it was bottom readings one would be able to assume the PAR readings would be higher up the rock scape?
Awesome - this is so great on useful - I think the best BRS Investigates on lighting so far - the recommendations for tank type are GOLD I am confused though on the LPS tank light spacing. On the outer edges by moving the lights out PAR went from 91 - 94 on the outer edges - like it only gained 3 PAR. But the PAR in the centre dropped from 160 to 124. It seems this is just making the light more uniform by spilling light out of the tank - it would be more sensible to recommend moving out to say 10" where you would have negligible light spill and leaving the reefer with the option of reducing the center output if the reefer wanted. I know this is the format and it usually works but this time, to me, it makes no sense why anyone would do that... ...then you did it for 8 pucks on 4ft SPS tank ;) The 40 breeder setup really demonstrates this perfectly - as they are 10" from the end and that would suggest that is the optimum.
Hey Randy, awesome video. Just a few questions though. I have an 18x18 inch with a single puck 16 prime hd. For SPS would you recommend getting another puck? How would you then mount the two pucks on a tank of that size? Would you reduce the output power for both? or a completely different light.
Great video! I have a bio cube 32 so I took your recommendation on running my tank at 70%. My question is... was the par values for the 18x18 size tank the values at 6 inches under the water? Like mentioned in the beginning of the video. I’m curious to know as I want to add some euphyllia to the higher parts of my scape.
Did they fix this light? I returned mine a couple of months ago. It was much louder than my other older PRIME HD's when on 100%, and was not compatible with them in a cluster since it used Bluetooth LE instead of WIFI.
I have a 21x21x21 cube mostly LPS. Everyone keeps telling me to use Saxby's or AB+ or Pirates but none of those make full use of the LEDs that this video is suggesting you have to in order to meet PAR goals. They're telling me I'm going to cook my corals having my intensity so high and shorten the life of the LEDs (that part is probably correct). How long of a photoperiod should I keep my settings maxed out liked suggested at @20:43
Anytime you see values over 100% it naturally sets off warnings in our brains, but in this case I wouldn't relate it to something negative. If you look at the spectrum output we achieved in this video versus others like the Maxspect Razor or even a Radion Pro, the spectrum we created for the Prime actually has less representation in that near UV and violet range. It's just the notion that you are "hyperdriving" these channels to levels beyond 100% that makes it feel like it is producing more UV/Violet spectrum ranges, when in reality it's not producing anything more in these ranges than any other light we've tested.
I want to run a single AI 16 HD over my 20G long. Mostly soft coals (no SPS at all yet). What height and Power % do you recommend? Thanks for all your great videos!
I would suggest placing each Prime about 8" from center of the fixture to their respective end of the tank. For mounting height, 10" off the water surface would be my pick for this aquarium based on the data that Randy collected for this video.
do these lights come with mounting hardware....ie that flexible mount specifically? but is there any mount included? thanks! love the channel and the store!! just got purple helix/pink fusion!
Another OUTSTANDING video! I'm trying to figure out how to extrapolate this to other tank dimensions. For example, I have a Nuvo20 (24x12x12) with LPS and softies. Can I treat that like a 24" cube, raise to 13" and run 100%? Or, do I have to treat it like two 12" cubes and have two lights running at 8" off the water at 25% power each?
Using a tank at different dimensions than we tested will be a little bit of a guessing game, but if it were me, I'd use the 24" cube settings if you're going with a softie/LPS tank and use a single fixture. If SPS are more your cup of tea, use the two lights and basically just imagine two 12" cubes sitting side by side.
I’ve got two prime 16s on a 30 gallon cube due to my coral growth growing over top of everything I’m trying to get more light spread, if my schedule peaks at 80% power during the day does that mean that each light is running 40% power or each light is running 80% power if they are connected together?
Ok I currently have the fluval Evo 13.5 gallon tank....with included stock light everything looks great I want to add the AI prime 16 HD to my tank but I heard I need to gradually increase the amount of light. So it doesn't hurt/kill my coral how should I do that???? Need some help...also upgrading the light means new lid what should I do glass, acrylic, or screen???? Was thinking screen
Loved the video. I currently have a Fluval Evo 13.5 nano, dimensions 23.4 x 13.5 x 15.6. Looking at purchasing the AI Prime 16 in a couple weeks. What would you recommend for me to set the light at for height and spectrum?
We didn't test that specific tank size, but given that your tank is approaching 24" long, I would suggest starting out with the 24" x 24" lighting recommendations.
Luciano peaks at UV - 90% V - 90% RB - 105% B - 105% G - 40% R - 40% W -100%, that’s the middle of the day, the morning and evening it’s the same but no white red or green, goes from 11am - 7pm with ramp up from 10:10-11am and ramp down from 7:00-7:50pm
Is it better to follow this lighting schedule or the lighting schedule from 5 min guide I see this one is more recent and a lot different from the one you guys showed on 5 min guide? Thinking about switching to this one and sticking with it will it bother my corals if I switch?
While both will certainly work, I would suggest the spectrum discussed in this investigates video as we went in depth and tested the spectrum with a spectrometer. If you change spectrum, just try to maintain the same intensity (PAR) so that you don't shock the corals with a major change.
Is it 6 inches that the results are from? if it is then the par will be crazy low at the bottom, so how could you grow lps lower then 12 inches down at the recommended height? Also how high is intensity? Do you have one of these testing videos for a red sea 50 or a lower watt kessil? Also how do you think I would do with two 20 watts on a 24w x 12 deep? I think these may be overpowered for my needs!
I’m completing a build of a 76 gallon shallow reef. Dim of tank are 48 x 24 x 16. I plan on using 2 primes centered in each 24 x 24 inch section. Question is it being only 16 inches high, what height would you recommend them being at above water line?
13" off the water surface is our recommendation for a 24" x 24" area with the AI Prime. The intensity is what you'll want to consider more with the shorter tank. That said, with a smaller light like the AI Prime, it's going to be hard to over light the tank significantly. I would suggest looking at the data for 6", 12", and 18" below the water surface. The difference between 16" and 18" is going to be small.
Another great video .. i recently bought 2 usa current orbit marine led for my 60 gallon rectangular tank, i have green polyps and softies. i am planning to replace my orbit marine with AI prime 16 hd. how many do i need for 60G.. please suggest.. thanks in advance.
Thanks for great video. i have 4x 16 prime HD on my 75 gallon(4 feet) tank and change my lighting schedule to your schedule. im using L shape bracket and max i can get is 10.5 inches hight. just wondring whats the best percentage i can go with? i was thinking using 70% but just change CW from 46 to 26. can you please help me get right percentage?
I use this prime on my 80 liter dupla marine aio tank. I tried these settings for the 18inch soft/lps, as I have primarely softies, but I notice it is again a bit purple to my taste so I did raise the royal blues/light blues/white to 100/100/50.. will raise the PAR a bit, but I guess still ok soft softies.
I have a Oceanic HQI 29g Biocube. The dimensions are 20" long x 16" deep x 14" high. My light is currently about 12" off the water. I'm wondering where I would fall. Obviously it would be somewhere between the 18" and the 24" cube. I've love some ideas on fine tuning. I don't know if it scales in a linear fashion or not.
Given the 20" length, I would suggest starting with the settings for the 18" cube. You'll likely get a little more light spill since your tank isn't a perfect cube, but that'll give you the best results in terms of par and spread.
So today I put 4 16 hd's on my 75 gallon tank. 4 instead of 3 because of a center brace. I am following you recommendation for the 8 light setup since its the same for both rows of 4. My question is rampup and down throughout the day. For a mixed coral tank do i ramp up and down 1 hour and keep it flat at the 100% on outer 40% on inner all day. Thanks
What we usually recommend is 1 hour or ramp up, steady intensity for 8-9 hours, then 1 hour of ramp down. The steady intensity part of the schedule is just the max intensity for that particular light. If you decide to keep two of the lights at a different intensity, you'll just have to program them separately.
I have a 40g breeder 2 AI prime HD 2 hour ramp and 4 hour peak with way lower settings for reference my whites are at 3% compared to your recommended 65%. If i go anything about 5% in whites I notice my corals to not open properly at the bottom of my tank. If I do those recommended settings I think ill burn all my LPS, a preset would definitely be beneficial
Any reason not to just use your recommended spectrum at 100% with any tank size if you have a mostly LPS dominant tank with just a few SPS. My tank is 12X18 (13.5 gal) Would your max settings burn corals in a smaller tank?
You can certainly provide too much light to a coral, so you'll want to be careful about running your light at 100% without checking par first. We didn't test a tank with your specific dimensions, but looking at the data and making an educated guess, you'll probably find that somewhere in the 70-85% range will work best for your tank.
@@BRStv I have the same tank dimensions as this person (probably same tank) and I have been running my prime on less than 25%. My coral have slowly been dying and my sps have lost all of their color and polyp extension the past few months. How would you recommend increasing the light on my prime to closer 25%? I don't want to shock my coral but for example if my UV is currently at 16%, how much should I increase it each day along with the other spectrums in order to acclimate my coral to the higher par intensity? Would 2% per day for 2 weeks be a good starting point? Thanks in advance.
Would you be able to use these on something larger than 120? I’ve been using them on my other tanks but I’m upgrading and would like to just add more lights
Well I’m looking at this light for a Reefer 170 that is 24 x 20 x 20 is one light still good for this? Will be mainly softies and lps maybe light sps down the road. Thanks for this vids!
I have this light mounted 9 inches above a 90 litre tank which is 14 inches deep and the brs settings have bleached my sps montipora digitata had to turn channels down put sps on sand bed and they starting to come back current settings uv violet blue royal blue 70% red and green at 5% and whites at 25% any recommendations tank is 50cm x38cm x 38 thanks guys
At what depth are the PAR readings taken at? I have a 48" x 18" x 14" (L x W x H) peninsula that I'm thinking of putting 3 AI primes on. SPS just in the middle and softies on the sides so I'm wanting uneven spread with high PAR in middle and low PAR on sides. What height would you recommend mounting? 9" above water?
Would running the Prime 16 on the 100% suggest settings lower the lifespan of the light? Seems like you’d be over driving some of the channels pretty significantly...
I would think so. Over driving means more heat which equates to less life. The guy that red lines his car everyday wont have that car nearly as long as someone who drives it modestly.
I would think the LED chips is capable of withstanding that amount of power. The reason why its over "100%" is due to the available power the control units to light all of the chips, since if one channel goes beyond 100%, other channels will have lower max %
Do you guys have a suggested setting for the 18 inch cube mixed tank?? I saw the setting for non sps but if I wanted to mix it up and have sps on the top suggested settings??
I have two of these over my Mr. Aqua 12g long. I like the color rendition, but the disco ball effect from the red and to a lesser extent the green channel is very pronounced, but I keep those channels anyways
I'd suggest using the settings discussed for the 24" x 24" 60 gallon cube tank. That said, if you want to grow an SPS dominant system, you're probably best off going with two primes to cover the 24" length, then use the 12" cube settings (basically divide your tank in half)
Would 1 AI Prime 16HD be good on a 30gal Bowfront aquarium with a support brace across the top of the tank? I'm worried the brace may block the lighting spread.
With a center brace, you're likely going to be best off with two lights. The brace is going to cast a shadow in your tank with a single light placed directly above it, unfortunately.
I'm looking to get a Reefer 525 which is 59" long x 22.6" wide x 22" deep and is 108 gallons. would you recommend the primes for that and if so, what should the spacing and height be?
Depending on the types of corals that you're going to be keeping, you may need to use quite a few of the Primes to get the necessary coverage. We've not tested spacing on a tank of this size, but the good news is that you can pretty easily replicate our tests by using a par meter. We offer them for rental if you don't want to spend the money to purchase.
There was a recent firmware update which limits how high you can overdrive some of the channels. Here's what I would expect to find from the changes. 1) Negligible to nearly zero change to spectrum output compared to our BRS recommended settings. (All of the same spectrum ranges are still there. Perhaps the numbers in the app have changed, but fundamentally nothing has changed in terms of available spectrum.) 2) Slight difference in PAR output . I can see some slight degradation to overall PAR output, but I wouldn't expect it to be linear to the max % you can drive each channel. (As an example, if I once was able to drive the blue channel to 150%, but now I can only drive it to 135% ... I would not expect that my overall PAR output would be a full 15% less, especially if you try to extrapolate that across 4 other channels for a 75% total loss in PAR output.) If that were the case the light would be nearly unusable and I just don't see that happening.
I currently own the generation before the 16HD. The version that does not have the moonlight. I think it’s the AI Prime HD+? In regards to spectrum for 12x12 SPS... Should I just maximize the UV, V, RY, & B? Then mimic the green, red and white settings? (119, 116, 122, 111, 9, 9, 59)
What about a 75 gallon 4 ft wide x 18? What is recommended? I am guessing 4. Would 4 hydra 23 facing front to back be overkill? It would be mostly softies, lps and a few sps at the top
For the height tests, 100%. For the individual tank tests, Randy discusses the settings for each individual setup in the video. Each tank from the 12" cube to the 120 gallon tank are going to use slightly different settings.
We have not, but the condensation and thickness of material will play a big role. I think we can all agree that lids of any type (glass or acrylic) will cut down on the light's intensity.
Why is this AI Prime is so popular? Is it the low price point? Is it the versatility on tanks from nano to 120gal plus?
you should do this with the kessil a80 and a160
I think they are so popular because they are a fully customisable light with decent par ratings and a fair price but most of all they are modular meaning that if like me you start out with a nano and purchase just the one light for softies and lps then upgrade the tank size to something like a reefer 250 and purchase a second light for softies and lps,then when ready to grow a few sticks of SPS buy one or two more as your skills and knowledge grows over the course of a year or more.I also think they are ideal for a mixed reef which I'm sure is probably what most reefers want, I think they are perfect for this purpose but if then wanting to progress into sps dominant reef then I'd probably sell the primes and go for hydras and at which time the sale 3 or 4 primes would be a good chunk of cash towards the upgrade.
What about the intensity?
Wish you released some presets for people to download. Would've been awesome
GAME CHANGER! this is how u make a video,👏👏👏 bravo bravo WOW im Sold, i was hesitating about getting the prime not anymore, Plz do more vids like this highlighting the best selling products👍 EPiC Vid 👏👏👏encore!
Raised my Prime 16 on my Nuvo 20 significantly after seeing this video! Was at about 6 inches above water. Moved to roughly 9 inches. Thanks BRS, tank looks brighter overall.
What intensity and duration are you using over your Nuvo 20? I just got a 16HD for mine an I’m still debating power and schedule.
@@SteveVanHorn You can download some presets on AI website. I use the David Saxby schedule, He has a ramp on it up and down for intensity so it replicates ocean sun lighting. Theres also tons of other peoples lighting schedules on there. Depends what you have in your tank
This is GOLD - Literally ALL THE INFORMATION - Legends
The small form factor is a HUGE plus. Comes cheap with lots of power. And the app is so easy to use! The spectrum blending is also very clean.
Agree
I mean cheap not really lol 200$
Have to disagree on the app. I find it cumbersome and not user friendly. It appears to be a carryover for their other products. No real information on their site as to use for the PRIME version of their lights.
BryanByTheSea not sure what you mean. Has been super easy for me, plenty of info out there
I just bought these lights for my 65 gal tank, nice to see you guys do a full video on the exact lights I just bought. Especially considering this is my very first saltwater tank so it gave me some great info for a starting point.
A year later these lights still working out for you? Im thinking of these for my 65 gallon just wondering what the additional 9 inches of depth do for par
@@dylvitte3226 I actually just recently sold them and got 5 reefbrite led light strips. The shimmer honestly was better on the primes but they just weren't enough for how deep my tank was. Don't get me wrong they are great lights. I just wanted to start adding more coral and was kinda limited with the amount of par at 24" deep these were putting out. All in all they were on my tank for about a year and six months with absolutely no issues, awesome lights for the money.
Incredibly useful and informative video. Thank you.
They finally did my light! Just purchased a second for my next build. Great video!
I love these people and Love their contributions to the hobby. This is priceless information and they are amazing over at BRS
I cant wait until you finally do the Reef Breeders photon v2 light. Its probably gonna be the most anticipated light review you have done to date!
I'm wrapping up the script as we speak! :)
@@BRStv yes! The reefing community is anxiously waiting for that video!
Bulk Reef Supply I am super excited to hear this!!!!! Awesome!!! Can’t wait😃
I love this light, I love the versatility and the ease of use and the thousand upon thousand of programs for you out there. I started with a kessil but it was such a hassle to set up with the controller and set up so I found the AI so much simpler.
Thanks for the video I have a new RSR250 with 2 primes and plan to upgrade to add a third prime when the tank matures for SPS. This was the perfect information I was looking for. Thanks BRS you rock
I also have a RSR250 with 2 16HD’s what settings and light height are you running? Spacing would also be helpful. I’ve been playing around with it for months and can’t seem to get my anacropora happy. Tidal gardens claims it should be thriving at 100-150 par
I use these settings to my own mixed 18 inch tank. Awesome guys! Thank you!!!
You guys are seriously awesome. I just bought a 16hd for my evo 13.5 gal and waiting for it to come in the mail. This video is exactly what I was looking for to have some questions answered.
What settings did you decide to go with and how is it working?
@@ryanganley6115 I went with the SPS settings for the small tank. It's working great all corals are looking healthy and bright
Thank you so much for making this video. Great to see why these lights can do when placed correctly. I went with AI Primes for the ease of the app and price point.
Never would have guessed that 2 of these 10" over my 40 breeder @ 100% AB+ spectrum would be putting out 400-500 PAR. Wondering how much glass lids cut the PAR though? I'm going to have to rethink what intensity I really need to set these at now. Thanks for taking the time to collect and provide us with this valuable information. Without a PAR meter, its just a guessing game for us.
Yes! Finally! Thanks Randy, awesome review!
Would really like to see a hybrid system using T5HO/AI Primes!!!!
Great video as always chief. Very instructional and on point. I just purchased a 16hd to replace my reg prime hd. Can’t es it to see the difference and keep the older ones fit back up if necessary.
IIt would be great if you tested retangular tanks that are so common like 12 x 24. I had decide on photon since I only have 4 1/2 inches of clearance the par was much more even since its a big strip light and I can throw out the par at the front and back of tank. I figured if I tuned it way down and sps on top that would work but watching this again and you saying that 12 x 12 cube can be mounted 6 inches I am thinking that with two instead of one that you are using and both mounted towards the end that the spread may make it usable. I really want this versus the photon do you think it will work as well? I can only go with 2 reefbrights so dont think it will work plus to much xtra to buy!
. Color pop and growth are most important to me and of course durability and longevity of lights!
Awesome video, thanks!
You guys are awesome! Thank you for all of the helpful info!
Thank you for three foot Par numbers! Please do circle back to hybrid fixtures. I just got one for my 40B and would love some real numbers in the t-5 plus some ideas of what LED will add. Kessil too. Right now I guesstimate from your 2 and 4 foot tanks..
Best budget lighting option I’ve found for a 440g which is 2 240g tanks slapped together making it 8x4x2, is 4 ai primes across the center, and 2 fluval marine 3.0. 1 in the front and 1 back of the ai primes.
how’d that turn out?…
Will watch this tomorrow morning. When i have energy to convert ??? To real measurements. 😛
had mine for two years both of the light lenses melted not happy ,switched to kessils
Would love more info on the customized mounting rack, that looks sweet! Looking for a sleek and adjustable light rack for 6 lights.
This is just a mounting rack that is designed for cameras, but with a little of DIY work, has been adapted to mount a reefing light to it.
Can you give an explanation of the moonlight channel. I don't see any noticeable change with it or without.
The moonlight channel is mainly for visual affect and doesn't affect par enough to be taken into consideration for our test.
Thank you so much for this video.
I have the 2 16HD’s on a 40 breeder just as you guys show. How deep in the tank was the PAR readings? Was that on the bottom? If it was bottom readings one would be able to assume the PAR readings would be higher up the rock scape?
Awesome - this is so great on useful - I think the best BRS Investigates on lighting so far - the recommendations for tank type are GOLD
I am confused though on the LPS tank light spacing. On the outer edges by moving the lights out PAR went from 91 - 94 on the outer edges - like it only gained 3 PAR. But the PAR in the centre dropped from 160 to 124. It seems this is just making the light more uniform by spilling light out of the tank - it would be more sensible to recommend moving out to say 10" where you would have negligible light spill and leaving the reefer with the option of reducing the center output if the reefer wanted. I know this is the format and it usually works but this time, to me, it makes no sense why anyone would do that...
...then you did it for 8 pucks on 4ft SPS tank ;)
The 40 breeder setup really demonstrates this perfectly - as they are 10" from the end and that would suggest that is the optimum.
Just got one for my nano looks great
Hey Randy, awesome video. Just a few questions though. I have an 18x18 inch with a single puck 16 prime hd. For SPS would you recommend getting another puck? How would you then mount the two pucks on a tank of that size? Would you reduce the output power for both? or a completely different light.
I'm also finding the single puck causes shadowing on the outsides of any SPS as it is mounted in the centre
Great video! I have a bio cube 32 so I took your recommendation on running my tank at 70%. My question is... was the par values for the 18x18 size tank the values at 6 inches under the water? Like mentioned in the beginning of the video. I’m curious to know as I want to add some euphyllia to the higher parts of my scape.
If you go to the 19:01 minute mark, you'll see par data for 6", 12", and 18" below the water line for the 18" cube tank set to 70% intensity.
Ahh thank you!! I appreciate you getting back. Love your videos all of them are sure helpful.
Did they fix this light? I returned mine a couple of months ago. It was much louder than my other older PRIME HD's when on 100%, and was not compatible with them in a cluster since it used Bluetooth LE instead of WIFI.
I have a 21x21x21 cube mostly LPS. Everyone keeps telling me to use Saxby's or AB+ or Pirates but none of those make full use of the LEDs that this video is suggesting you have to in order to meet PAR goals. They're telling me I'm going to cook my corals having my intensity so high and shorten the life of the LEDs (that part is probably correct). How long of a photoperiod should I keep my settings maxed out liked suggested at @20:43
Great work guys ;)
But isn’t the light pretty „ aggressive“ when u have the UV and Violet channels so high?
Anytime you see values over 100% it naturally sets off warnings in our brains, but in this case I wouldn't relate it to something negative. If you look at the spectrum output we achieved in this video versus others like the Maxspect Razor or even a Radion Pro, the spectrum we created for the Prime actually has less representation in that near UV and violet range. It's just the notion that you are "hyperdriving" these channels to levels beyond 100% that makes it feel like it is producing more UV/Violet spectrum ranges, when in reality it's not producing anything more in these ranges than any other light we've tested.
I want to run a single AI 16 HD over my 20G long. Mostly soft coals (no SPS at all yet). What height and Power % do you recommend? Thanks for all your great videos!
would love to se some testing on the shallow reef style tanks
hello, do you guys' measure from the led puck or the unit? as the led is slightly recessed thanks for your time know this video is old
BRS! Tell me, at what height from the water and at what distance from each other to put 2 lamps 16 HD, on an aquarium 30x16x14?
I would suggest placing each Prime about 8" from center of the fixture to their respective end of the tank. For mounting height, 10" off the water surface would be my pick for this aquarium based on the data that Randy collected for this video.
Thanks! What percentage of AB+ should I use in a soft coral tank?
???
That percentage of uv will definitely be melting a hole in the lens
Hi! Big fan of BRSTV from Thailand! Quick question, do prime 16 have disco effect?
They do have a slight disco effect compared to other LED lights like the similarly sized Kessil A160
do these lights come with mounting hardware....ie that flexible mount specifically? but is there any mount included? thanks! love the channel and the store!! just got purple helix/pink fusion!
The Prime does not come with any mounting hardware, but the flex arm is available
www.bulkreefsupply.com/prime-flex-arm-18-inch-aqua-illumination.html
@@BRStv thanks! Totes getting both
Another OUTSTANDING video! I'm trying to figure out how to extrapolate this to other tank dimensions. For example, I have a Nuvo20 (24x12x12) with LPS and softies. Can I treat that like a 24" cube, raise to 13" and run 100%? Or, do I have to treat it like two 12" cubes and have two lights running at 8" off the water at 25% power each?
Using a tank at different dimensions than we tested will be a little bit of a guessing game, but if it were me, I'd use the 24" cube settings if you're going with a softie/LPS tank and use a single fixture. If SPS are more your cup of tea, use the two lights and basically just imagine two 12" cubes sitting side by side.
I’ve got two prime 16s on a 30 gallon cube due to my coral growth growing over top of everything I’m trying to get more light spread, if my schedule peaks at 80% power during the day does that mean that each light is running 40% power or each light is running 80% power if they are connected together?
Ok I currently have the fluval Evo 13.5 gallon tank....with included stock light everything looks great I want to add the AI prime 16 HD to my tank but I heard I need to gradually increase the amount of light. So it doesn't hurt/kill my coral how should I do that???? Need some help...also upgrading the light means new lid what should I do glass, acrylic, or screen???? Was thinking screen
Loved the video. I currently have a Fluval Evo 13.5 nano, dimensions 23.4 x 13.5 x 15.6. Looking at purchasing the AI Prime 16 in a couple weeks. What would you recommend for me to set the light at for height and spectrum?
We didn't test that specific tank size, but given that your tank is approaching 24" long, I would suggest starting out with the 24" x 24" lighting recommendations.
@@BRStv thank you for the reply. Will give it a try soon as my light arrives :)
I have 2 16hd’s on my 40 breeder mixed reef
@LCAquatics What settings are working for you? I just got my lights today?
I would like to know your settings
Luciano peaks at UV - 90% V - 90% RB - 105% B - 105% G - 40% R - 40% W -100%, that’s the middle of the day, the morning and evening it’s the same but no white red or green, goes from 11am - 7pm with ramp up from 10:10-11am and ramp down from 7:00-7:50pm
Very good video, now my problem is i have the prime HD and the older version on the same tank :D the spectrums look way off..
Is it better to follow this lighting schedule or the lighting schedule from 5 min guide I see this one is more recent and a lot different from the one you guys showed on 5 min guide? Thinking about switching to this one and sticking with it will it bother my corals if I switch?
While both will certainly work, I would suggest the spectrum discussed in this investigates video as we went in depth and tested the spectrum with a spectrometer. If you change spectrum, just try to maintain the same intensity (PAR) so that you don't shock the corals with a major change.
Crazy and hilarious how much a few leds and a control board cost 🤣
Lets see the ReefBreeders Photon V@+ next!!!!
Your wish will be granted next week! ;)
Is it 6 inches that the results are from? if it is then the par will be crazy low at the bottom, so how could you grow lps lower then 12 inches down at the recommended height? Also how high is intensity? Do you have one of these testing videos for a red sea 50 or a lower watt kessil? Also how do you think I would do with two 20 watts on a 24w x 12 deep? I think these may be overpowered for my needs!
What are those brackets y’all use ? I may have 12-16 primes on my tank and would love something like that for it those look super professional
They're actually designed for cameras, but with a little DIY work, were able to get them to work for aquarium light testing :)
That’s awesome any chance y’all can send the name or a link to get them ?
How did you guys mount the AI Primes to the channel?
I’m completing a build of a 76 gallon shallow reef. Dim of tank are 48 x 24 x 16. I plan on using 2 primes centered in each 24 x 24 inch section. Question is it being only 16 inches high, what height would you recommend them being at above water line?
13" off the water surface is our recommendation for a 24" x 24" area with the AI Prime. The intensity is what you'll want to consider more with the shorter tank. That said, with a smaller light like the AI Prime, it's going to be hard to over light the tank significantly. I would suggest looking at the data for 6", 12", and 18" below the water surface. The difference between 16" and 18" is going to be small.
Another great video .. i recently bought 2 usa current orbit marine led for my 60 gallon rectangular tank, i have green polyps and softies. i am planning to replace my orbit marine with AI prime 16 hd. how many do i need for 60G.. please suggest.. thanks in advance.
That'll depend on the dimensions of your 60 gallon tank. One AI Prime per 24" x 24" area should suffice for softies 🙂
What’s the recommended time settings?
how long should the lights be on for ?
Thanks for great video. i have 4x 16 prime HD on my 75 gallon(4 feet) tank and change my lighting schedule to your schedule. im using L shape bracket and max i can get is 10.5 inches hight. just wondring whats the best percentage i can go with? i was thinking using 70% but just change CW from 46 to 26. can you please help me get right percentage?
For the 60 Dollar price hike from this video you'd think they could at least include the Mount, Greed sucks
I use this prime on my 80 liter dupla marine aio tank. I tried these settings for the 18inch soft/lps, as I have primarely softies, but I notice it is again a bit purple to my taste so I did raise the royal blues/light blues/white to 100/100/50.. will raise the PAR a bit, but I guess still ok soft softies.
@Bulk Reef Supply
I have a 18x18 cube and have two AI primes, what do you rec in height and settings?
How you didn't get tongue tied I don't know. Lol
I have a Oceanic HQI 29g Biocube. The dimensions are 20" long x 16" deep x 14" high. My light is currently about 12" off the water. I'm wondering where I would fall. Obviously it would be somewhere between the 18" and the 24" cube. I've love some ideas on fine tuning. I don't know if it scales in a linear fashion or not.
Given the 20" length, I would suggest starting with the settings for the 18" cube. You'll likely get a little more light spill since your tank isn't a perfect cube, but that'll give you the best results in terms of par and spread.
@@BRStv And by that, do you mean the 70% settings of 116, 116, 88, 87, 7, 7, 46?
Waiting on the Hydra 32 for 75gal set up.
Just 1?
Any plan on reviewing the new Philips coral care v2 now that a few have started to trickle out into the wild?
It's on our potential ideas board :)
So today I put 4 16 hd's on my 75 gallon tank. 4 instead of 3 because of a center brace. I am following you recommendation for the 8 light setup since its the same for both rows of 4. My question is rampup and down throughout the day. For a mixed coral tank do i ramp up and down 1 hour and keep it flat at the 100% on outer 40% on inner all day. Thanks
What we usually recommend is 1 hour or ramp up, steady intensity for 8-9 hours, then 1 hour of ramp down. The steady intensity part of the schedule is just the max intensity for that particular light. If you decide to keep two of the lights at a different intensity, you'll just have to program them separately.
I have a 40g breeder 2 AI prime HD 2 hour ramp and 4 hour peak with way lower settings for reference my whites are at 3% compared to your recommended 65%. If i go anything about 5% in whites I notice my corals to not open properly at the bottom of my tank. If I do those recommended settings I think ill burn all my LPS, a preset would definitely be beneficial
Definitely something to be said about the old saying "if it's not broken, don't fix it!" 🙂
Thank you!!!
Any reason not to just use your recommended spectrum at 100% with any tank size if you have a mostly LPS dominant tank with just a few SPS. My tank is 12X18 (13.5 gal)
Would your max settings burn corals in a smaller tank?
You can certainly provide too much light to a coral, so you'll want to be careful about running your light at 100% without checking par first. We didn't test a tank with your specific dimensions, but looking at the data and making an educated guess, you'll probably find that somewhere in the 70-85% range will work best for your tank.
@@BRStv I have the same tank dimensions as this person (probably same tank) and I have been running my prime on less than 25%. My coral have slowly been dying and my sps have lost all of their color and polyp extension the past few months. How would you recommend increasing the light on my prime to closer 25%? I don't want to shock my coral but for example if my UV is currently at 16%, how much should I increase it each day along with the other spectrums in order to acclimate my coral to the higher par intensity? Would 2% per day for 2 weeks be a good starting point? Thanks in advance.
Would you be able to use these on something larger than 120? I’ve been using them on my other tanks but I’m upgrading and would like to just add more lights
Absolutely! You'll just need more lights to cover a bigger footprint.
Definitely thats what makes these so awesome
Well I’m looking at this light for a Reefer 170 that is 24 x 20 x 20 is one light still good for this? Will be mainly softies and lps maybe light sps down the road. Thanks for this vids!
Definitely a solid light for LPS and Softies. Lower light SPS towards the very top of the rockwork shouldn't be a major issue.
@@BRStv Awesome thanks!
I have this light mounted 9 inches above a 90 litre tank which is 14 inches deep and the brs settings have bleached my sps montipora digitata had to turn channels down put sps on sand bed and they starting to come back current settings uv violet blue royal blue 70% red and green at 5% and whites at 25% any recommendations tank is 50cm x38cm x 38 thanks guys
At what depth are the PAR readings taken at? I have a 48" x 18" x 14" (L x W x H) peninsula that I'm thinking of putting 3 AI primes on. SPS just in the middle and softies on the sides so I'm wanting uneven spread with high PAR in middle and low PAR on sides. What height would you recommend mounting? 9" above water?
Par measurements were taken at 6", 12", and 18" below the water line. You can see an example of this at the 21:28 minute mark
Would running the Prime 16 on the 100% suggest settings lower the lifespan of the light? Seems like you’d be over driving some of the channels pretty significantly...
I would think so. Over driving means more heat which equates to less life. The guy that red lines his car everyday wont have that car nearly as long as someone who drives it modestly.
I would think the LED chips is capable of withstanding that amount of power. The reason why its over "100%" is due to the available power the control units to light all of the chips, since if one channel goes beyond 100%, other channels will have lower max %
So to be sure I understand the numbers, on a 40 gal for LPS you are saying set at the 70% scale?
Check out the 19:55 minute mark for our recommended LPS setting for two AI Primes over a 40 breeder.
For a 15 inch cube lps tank, should I run the configuration for the 18 inch tank or should I run it @ lower power???
Do you guys have a suggested setting for the 18 inch cube mixed tank?? I saw the setting for non sps but if I wanted to mix it up and have sps on the top suggested settings??
If you set the BRS recommended settings to about 90%, you'd probably be really close to ideal mixed reef numbers.
I have two of these over my Mr. Aqua 12g long. I like the color rendition, but the disco ball effect from the red and to a lesser extent the green channel is very pronounced, but I keep those channels anyways
Use the diffuser that’s available for them. That will sort the disco. 😌
Should I keep just one or have two AI prime 16hd for my 20 gallons long?
Two Primes would be a better choice for a 30" long aquarium like a 20 long. Perfect lighting solution for a mixed reef 🙂
What is the best high for 120l nano tank
I have a 20gl. 24x12... 16inch deep. I only have one AI prime. What should be the optimum set. I’m torn on just keeping that one or getting another.
I'd suggest using the settings discussed for the 24" x 24" 60 gallon cube tank. That said, if you want to grow an SPS dominant system, you're probably best off going with two primes to cover the 24" length, then use the 12" cube settings (basically divide your tank in half)
Would 1 AI Prime 16HD be good on a 30gal Bowfront aquarium with a support brace across the top of the tank? I'm worried the brace may block the lighting spread.
With a center brace, you're likely going to be best off with two lights. The brace is going to cast a shadow in your tank with a single light placed directly above it, unfortunately.
Will 1 *AI PRIME 16 HD* work on the *JBJ 45* which is 27” long
I'm looking to get a Reefer 525 which is 59" long x 22.6" wide x 22" deep and is 108 gallons. would you recommend the primes for that and if so, what should the spacing and height be?
Depending on the types of corals that you're going to be keeping, you may need to use quite a few of the Primes to get the necessary coverage. We've not tested spacing on a tank of this size, but the good news is that you can pretty easily replicate our tests by using a par meter. We offer them for rental if you don't want to spend the money to purchase.
How would my light settings be if I have a Red Sea Reefer 200XL? It’s 22x23
So I can’t grow sps corals in a 25 cube that’s 18” deep?
Nice informative video but how did u get such high numbers my uv and violet go up to 133 and royal blue and blue 105 only?
There was a recent firmware update which limits how high you can overdrive some of the channels. Here's what I would expect to find from the changes.
1) Negligible to nearly zero change to spectrum output compared to our BRS recommended settings. (All of the same spectrum ranges are still there. Perhaps the numbers in the app have changed, but fundamentally nothing has changed in terms of available spectrum.)
2) Slight difference in PAR output . I can see some slight degradation to overall PAR output, but I wouldn't expect it to be linear to the max % you can drive each channel. (As an example, if I once was able to drive the blue channel to 150%, but now I can only drive it to 135% ... I would not expect that my overall PAR output would be a full 15% less, especially if you try to extrapolate that across 4 other channels for a 75% total loss in PAR output.) If that were the case the light would be nearly unusable and I just don't see that happening.
For the initial readings for the 18inch cube at 9:18 is that on all max settings? Im confused what settings u used for that
That's correct
I currently own the generation before the 16HD. The version that does not have the moonlight. I think it’s the AI Prime HD+? In regards to spectrum for 12x12 SPS... Should I just maximize the UV, V, RY, & B? Then mimic the green, red and white settings? (119, 116, 122, 111, 9, 9, 59)
You got it :)
@@BRStv thank you for the quick reply!
Where were the par measures taken on the 60g cube? The bottom, middle or what, I'm worried the depth of the tank is killing my par?
6in deep in tank....
Par was taken at 6", 12", and 18" below the water surface. Check out 20:43 for example.
What about a 75 gallon 4 ft wide x 18? What is recommended? I am guessing 4. Would 4 hydra 23 facing front to back be overkill? It would be mostly softies, lps and a few sps at the top
Four would work out great over a 48" x 18" mixed reef. Four of the Hydra 32's would be overkill for a mixed reef of that size.
Hey @Bulk Reef Supply, Are two Prime 16HD with power of 55W each giving more PAR than Hydra 32HD 95W?
Hi BRS what are the percentage of the intensity were using to get these par ??
For the height tests, 100%. For the individual tank tests, Randy discusses the settings for each individual setup in the video. Each tank from the 12" cube to the 120 gallon tank are going to use slightly different settings.
Have you tested how an acrylic lid would affect lighting?
We have not, but the condensation and thickness of material will play a big role. I think we can all agree that lids of any type (glass or acrylic) will cut down on the light's intensity.
I love how I don’t need to rent a par meter.
What if I only have one light for my 40 gallon breeder?