Aquaillumination Prime HD

[Reef Queso]

Have had my prime for about a week now and my corals are LOVING it.

 

My T5 fixture completely deteriorated, so I ordered some Current USA Truelumen LED retrofit strips and about $80 later, I had 12k strips as well as 452nm actinic. "Full spectrum" with an intensity dial.

 

I went through about a month and a half acclimation of the leds to my tank and corals. My bubble tip anemone who has been in the same spot for 4 months moved under a rock on the bottom of the tank and now lives in a cave. My candy torch stalks started to turn brown and lost two heads.

 

I found a great deal on an AI Prime HD and despite mostly horrible reviews, went for it!

 

I couldn't be happier. I have most intensities of the prime set to 30% or less, they are ridiculously bright! The ramping features are also amazing. People complain about cloud feature but you can create your own programs of spectrum and intensity on this light. I have a program set for a slow intensity sun rise to a 2pm blast of most spectrum to a 6pm of high intensity much less of red and green and towards 8pm the UV is off and then I dim down the whites to a full actinic for moon viewing and then lights out at midnight.

 

I've had this light on my tank for a week and my candys are expanded more than they ever were under the T5 and 1 head is forming back from bare brown skeleton and the other is starting to now develop the soft green tissues.

 

My Anemone still hasn't come out of his cave but so far everyone in the tanks seems really happy.

 

My only con to this Product. I live in a community surrounded by other wifi SSIDs and I have both of mine hidden. You cannot connect this to a hidden wifi network by "manually" adding the settings. It will only connect to fully visible broadcasting SSIDs. Also the network that the Prime itself broadcasts is insecure. So anyone can connect to it. The moment I turned this on and loaded the firmware controller page, I selected the add password link and created a password. Unfortunately it does not add a password to the network itself, just the firmware page. I also saved the password and when I clicked apply, it reloaded to a page to input password. Many attempts of the password I just created to no avail. Would absolutely not let me in. So then I follow the "Network" reset instructions that came with the light, still password protected. People that say the settings resets when the power goes out must have the original Prime. I tried multiple attempts and finally after a hard reset was able to get back in. That is my only complaint.

 

For anyone looking to add this say to a bio cube or nano, the side is vented and draws air from a fan which would let in moisture And possibly fry the main board. Kind of disappointing such a small fixture is not more "water resistant" because I was going to by a second one and replace the light in the hood of a nano with a prime. You could always just buy the mount and have it hanging.

 

 

Great product in my opinion for less than $200 the Prime HD is a great little light for those who would rather not spend $300-$400 on a smaller aquarium.

[anizato]

Excellent!

 

I am setting up a nano, this fixture is still in the box because the tank is cycling but this makes me more comfortable with my purchase (:

[Astinus]

TY ReefQueso..Nice write up.

I have the AI Prime and I am happy with it. But, like u, I also had issues with the Wifi.

[Reef Queso]

Thanks!

 

FThey say you get what you pay for and for $225, I'm definitely pleased with this purchase.

 

For anyone having an issue where they are losing their settings: I connected directly to the prime with both iOS and Windows. I had good results setting the light up with both. The Windows configuration page allows you to save the settings. Each time I made an adjustment I saved the settings which downloads to your computer. I then just created a new folder for each download because they are all named the same. I named my folder Prime Settings, the sub folders for each program I saved "better" "best" "much better" and "final" each time I tweaked I just save the file and make a new folder for it.

 

This is a set it and forget it type of system and you can "play" the entire day/night cycle and watch the dawn and dusk settings you've made in one run. After I set it where I wanted it, I left it alone. So far so good. I see no need to want to control this away from home. Never am I at work thinking "man I need to raise intensity or add more blue."

 

Even if I am viewing through a drop cam there's never an instant where I'm like "oh man, time to crank up the UV." I initially played around with the settings periodically over a 5 hour period and once I found my sweet spot, I leave it alone. For some reason if my settings get lost all I have to do is log into the Prime HD interface and upload the file.

[Mojeska]

This is off topic, but why are you hiding your SSID? This really doesn't provide your network with any protection (it typically provides a false sense of protection), as your hidden SSID can be quickly determined. Anyway, appreciate the review as I'm about to pull the trigger on this LED.

[Reef Queso]

This is off topic, but why are you hiding your SSID? This really doesn't provide your network with any protection (it typically provides a false sense of protection), as your hidden SSID can be quickly determined. Anyway, appreciate the review as I'm about to pull the trigger on this LED.

There is 30+ wifi networks in my community. I've had my SSID hidden ever since I figured out that I could hide it. Going on 7 years or so. What are you using to determine hidden SSIDs?

[StrainedSky]

There is 30+ wifi networks in my community. I've had my SSID hidden ever since I figured out that I could hide it. Going on 7 years or so. What are you using to determine hidden SSIDs?

There's many applications to do so that only take one click to find "hidden" networks, just google it and you'll find dozens.

 

Anyways question on the light, does it buzz if you turn the white channel up ? My non-hd does this along with many others and it drives me crazy.

[Reef Queso]

Doesn't buzz.. I have a strong ear for strange sound frequencies, vibrations, sounds out of the ordinary. I have checked for buzzing or other noises a few times. The aquarium is right next to my couch also. Can't ever hear the fan on the HD.

[hooligan_78]

I just started using one about a week ago as well. I was running to Primes, when one crapped out and I replaced it with an HD. I'm pretty much loving it too. Once I get the cash, I'll upgrade the other to HD as well.