Setting up my Ai Prime today-not sure about settings

[Clown79]

So today is the day I'm setting up my light- very excited but confused at the same time.

 

There are so many variances in ppls settings and not sure where I should start.

 

Current light par38 - 50/50 10,000k

 

Corals: stylophora, Lps, leather, zoas, shrooms

 

I like a bluer looking tank than white.

 

If anyone has any suggestions on the settings to start with I'd really appreciate it.

 

Thinking:

 

30% db

30% b

20% uv

20% v

5% g

5% dr

20% cw

 

Is this too much to start with?

[jeffmr4]

If it turns out to be too much, just turn on acclimation mode. I've turned mine on but I can't tell a difference between what I set and the acclimated settings. I'm not sure if its working. I had some of mine pretty high at first but I think my gsp bleached a little and my anemone has some brown tips. Its hard to tell because the light in your visual range is a lot lower making it difficult to discern brightness. There was a post that OCNcheffy made giving advice to someone with a prime. It was 17k at 50% with 5 hours of lighting time and two hours of blues and violets at 15% before and after the light period. He recommended starting at a lower overall percentage and building your way up. If acclimation works you could set those settings and then set acclimation at 15% or whatever you like. If you need the .aip file for it let me know and I can give you a download link.

[Elizabeth94]

So today is the day I'm setting up my light- very excited but confused at the same time.

 

 

 

How high is the light going to be from the waters surface and how long is your tank?

 

If the light is about 8inchs from the surface, and on a tank that is 12in long, I think that those levels are fine for the first time. That is about what my levels were when I got the light, mine were a tad higher. However, the corals I purchase come from an lfs that runs Radions, so they are used to LEDs.

 

You can start with that and see what happens in a week. If all is good then you can bump it up maybe 1-3% a week.

[Sancho]

20% cw might give you more white than you want if you like the blue. I run my r g cw all at 5% everything else at 30%

[Sharbuckle]

What I did was find the color and brightness I really liked and than ran acclimation mode for three weeks. Ramping the lights up a bit more each day.

[Clown79]

Thank you so much.

 

I do have some beefs regarding this light that I think ppl should be aware of.

 

1. Connecting - 2hrs to connect. My hubby is very techy and it took that long. Someone who builds computers and sets up networks, should have no issues with a light.

 

2. Instructions are by far the worst i have ever seen. Its worse than Ikea's.

 

The app is quite confusing. Tons of complaints from ppl.

 

I figured out how to set the percentages and the colour temp but then the graph with the times/percentages is confusing me....and I think others.

 

 

There should be instructions on how to set up the light. Step by step.

[Clown79]

 

 

Apparently I'm not the only one confused.

 

I have my percentages above set on manual mode.

 

I also set it 30% 16,500k which is 8watts.

 

I hope I did it right?

 

Now to figure out the lunar light setting.

[squamptonbc]

# 2 I agree on. Major lack of directions included, I don't think mine even had any included.

 

The set up though, I found easy, took less then 10 minutes to have it connected and running, and I am so not tech saavy, I was surprised how easy it was to set up, I was worried when I ordered it as I am not tech saavy and don't even have a smart phone...lol

 

I use the website to control it and seems okay, could be more user friendly.

 

Other then the on/off for lunar, I haven't a clue how to set it, or what to set it on so it doesn't bother me or the fish, so I just turned it off, not a fan of these lunar settings personally.

 

 

 

Thank you so much.

I do have some beefs regarding this light that I think ppl should be aware of.

1. Connecting - 2hrs to connect. My hubby is very techy and it took that long. Someone who builds computers and sets up networks, should have no issues with a light.

2. Instructions are by far the worst i have ever seen. Its worse than Ikea's.

The app is quite confusing. Tons of complaints from ppl.

I figured out how to set the percentages and the colour temp but then the graph with the times/percentages is confusing me....and I think others.


There should be instructions on how to set up the light. Step by step.

[Elizabeth94]

Two hours to connect? Wow! Took mine about ten- fifteen mins. Could be poor wifi connection?

[Clown79]

Nope not poor wifi, its a big complaint online. Some can't even turn the light on.

 

Actually, the sheer amount of complaints online on connecting and setting up is quite shocking.

 

I like the light but they need to fix the lack of instructions.

 

Yup lunar light was set to come on- nothing.

 

I still have no clue if it's set up right.

 

The app has so many areas!

[Sancho]

2 hours seems a bit long. There is no or very little moon right now. Lunar mode works off the actual lunar phase. AI recommends at least 5% for it to work properly. Full moon you will get 5% no moon 0% half moon 2.5% ect. It won't work right if you set lunar to 1%. My lunar mode is set to 5% tonight the light was at 1% as there is not much moon out

[Clown79]

Yup- hrs of frustration. I got a migraine setting the light. Been the most frustrating thing so far. Lol

 

I feel bad for the many ppl I've read who couldn't get the light to even turn on.

 

How did you set it to 5%? I tried and couldn't figure it out.

 

My hubby read about the lunar lights and was really disappointed- he likes lunar lights on for 3 hrs after lights out.

 

I'm gonna do some research today, I want to be 100% sure I have set this light up correctly

[BluCrab]

From what I can tell you , I've had mine over 6 months and it's been great.

After I got a new modem I had to change the settings online then once when I replaced my phone. It still hooks up.

 

As far as the lunar lights I'd just run the deep blues at 1% maybe the Uv at 1% for some pop. You have to do it on manuel mode and save the time points.

[Clown79]

Great thank you for the help.

 

I love the light and the ability to control things to my liking, its figuring it all out that I'm not great at.lol.

 

I have a brand new modem and router. Thanks to the hubby its working cause I'm not techy at all.

[Hans Dorn]

[John L]

Hi Clown79,

 

Ive been running my AI Prime for just over a month now, in my 20g cube, with sps, lps, mushrooms, ricordea, gsp.

 

My start settings were similar to yours. My current settings are as follows, UV 70, violet,deep blue/ blue 78, green 20, deep red 20, cool white 30. Its giving off a nice blue look. All looking good so far, my new monti cap i put in a month ago, has now started taking off nicely, mushroom/ ricordea are loving it, and gsp growing like the clappers! I thought i had an all red mushroom, but under the lights, its showing gorgeous blue speckles.

 

If you haven't set up moon phase yet, it is a bit fiddly but on your graph settings display which shows from left to right , 12 am to 12 am and light intensities, ( iPhone app), you tap + sign, then drag the cursor across to the time you want to start moon phase, e.g 7.30pm, when you release the cursor, it opens up a menu to set your light intensity settings, i set 5% blue to get colours to pop, I've heard its good for your corals too to have some moon light. Once set, you then move the cursor which is now highlighted yellow across to your next point on the graph / end time, i have 11.30pm.

 

Once done, then switch on lunar cycle in the Effects menu. you then set your start time and end time in lunar cycle menu to match the graph you set previously. it sounds complicated but after a couple of go's i managed to set mine, and it looks great at night.

 

 

i hope this helps.

[Clown79]

Thank you so much for all the helpful info.

 

Honestly it really helped

 

Right now the tank is set at 14,500k, 32%. Seems dark to me but my other light was very white and bright.

 

I can't wait till I can get the settings higher but I have to be patient ... i hate waiting. Lol.

[erinmegan85]

I have a hydra 52 HD over my new tank, and while I love the light I was really disappointed withe the app. I guess that's probably because I've been comparing it to the Bluefish app for my retrofit Nanobox on my Biocube. I also didn't realize that this light didn't follow weather patterns (cloud cover), which was one of the main things I wanted. Word of caution with the lunar phases. I had mine starting at 8:30, and since it actually follows the lunar phases it completely turned off the light when there was no lunar light during the phase at the time. My lights are sent to ramp down until 9:30, so I was so confused as to why it totally turned off when it was supposed to be ramping down. It was because the lunar phases were turned on, and it took me a while to figure it out.

[Clown79]

I agree. The app needs work and there should be premade settings to choose from as well as manual setting.

 

There should be instructions as well- which I finally found online but it's not from the company.

 

I turned off the lunar setting after learning how it works. I just run 5% blue from 10-12am because you are right, the light will turn off.

[Nehsmit]

So I have been running the new AI prime HD for a week and love it. Had a MH before that. I have softies and LPS.

 

Setup was a breeze. Less than 10 minutes with full control. Use the web interface rather than the app. So much easier control. The app is just horrible.

 

I used OCNcheffy's settings and modified them. In fact I downloaded his right into mine and just made some changes. Here is the link to a great AI prime setting discussion. http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/359838-ai-prime-settings-informational-only-please-no-discussion/

 

I Am also using the acclimate setting. Think it's great. Just tell it how fast and it figured it out automatically.

 

Here are my current settings. Only issue im having is a bit of increased growth on my glass requiring me to scrape it more often.

[John L]

Thank you so much for all the helpful info.

 

Honestly it really helped

 

Right now the tank is set at 14,500k, 32%. Seems dark to me but my other light was very white and bright.

 

I can't wait till I can get the settings higher but I have to be patient ... i hate waiting. Lol.

 

No problem,

 

I just ramped up a few percent each week, it won't take long.

[squamptonbc]

For what they charge for these things, you would think they could make better apps.

 

I like the light overall, I don't fuss with the lunar option at all, too much of a pain, I only have 1 small group of some sort of mushrooms, and I dislike the blue look, so I keep mine fairly low, and more white as I like that look better.

 

 

For the price I got it for, not a bad value, not sure I would pay full list price though for it, but the biggest downside is having to use apps for controlling it, I personally don't see that need, a remote works fine in my opinion, and adding apps just adds complications to something that doesn't need to be complicated.

[Clown79]

100% agree.

 

Both me and the hubby said the same thing.

 

For the price you pay:

 

1. It should come with full step by step instructions- not everyone is tech saavy.

The lack of them says a lot to me.

 

2. The app control. Not everyone uses apps, not everyone lives by the phone. This is limiting.

There should be app, computer, and remote control- a small remote control would cost nothing to add to the system.

 

3. The hanging harness should come with the light. The light is usesless without it!

That is called forced upselling.

 

4. There should be premade settings because no one really knows where they should start with this light.

 

 

The lighting and control of lighting is great but the company needs to fix a few things before I would say "I love the light."

The thing that really discourages me regarding the company.

 

I found a step by step instruction manual on the prime and hydra- written by a product user. Its a book, thats how detailed it had to be and on EVERY aspect of the lights.

 

The company who profits doesn't offer this to its actual customers?

[Nehsmit]

Can you post the link to the step by step instructions? I think that would be helpful to everyone.

 

Thank you.

[Sharbuckle]

It would seem that some people have trouble and some don't. Took me less than 10 mins to set-up, love the app, love the web interface. I had a faulty unit that wouldnt connect to my other prime so AI sent me a new one. It's as easy as taking a bit of time to tweak to your preference. To each their own. Maybe just buy a t5 unit with a simple on/off button?