Orbit IC Light versus AI Prime

[Gakarl100]

Just got a c-vue aio 18g tank today, need to order a light this week.  LFS was recommending the AI Prime, however I really dig the Orbit Pro IC...  I like the long look of the orbit versus the prime pendant.  Also all the blue tooth features in the orbit loop system are cool.  Any downsides to the orbit versus the AI Prime?  I would like the ability to do any type of coral I wanted; hard, soft, LPS ect....  Also was thinking about ordering the glass top for my tank, anyone know how much that will cut down on light getting through to the corals or should I skip the tank cover?  And if I put this tank in my bedroom anyone with experience with either of these lights and thier night settings, how bright is the night feature?  Would I be better moving the tank to the living room instead of the bedroom?  Haven't made a decision where I am going to setup the tank yet...  I usually like it pretty dark in my room at night and worried it will be too my night tank glow with the night feature on either of these lights.  Or is the night feature just enough to illuminate the inside of the tank?  Not sure if anyone's tank in in their bedroom and uses either of these lights...

[DISQUALIFIED-QQ]

There is this publication from Current USA.

 

Your spread may not be as good from the Orbit Pro which can limit your coral placement. What is nice about the AI PrimeHD is that the spot lights do grant a nice area of lighting. AI says that your PAR at 24" from the light will still be 100 umol. Where as the Orbit Pro may be even close. But let's process that info a bit more.

 

Orbit Pro is almost at the waters surface not overhanging like the AI Prime, so the beam distance will be shorter. Your tank is probably 18" depth not including adding sand or rock, but to say if you had a blank tank your PAR will be 50-70 micromol whereas the AI Prime will certain be much more than that given that you keep to a default setting. Because you want to do mixed reef you should go out and spend the money on a quality light.

 

I have a tank cover for my system because I know I'll be running soft corals and lower light LPS corals. If you do you'll need to consider that light refracts some when penetrating the glass or acrylic. In a sense you'll be limiting your PAR which in turn requires you to clean the cover more but I guess you'll save up on top offs from evaporation.

 

You can customize your night feature to how you want it. Night mode is generally a low percentage of the blue LED channel. For me, I am replicating an actual Japanese reef. I would assume at night there's little to no light. I have my night feature completely off; it's sleepy time.

 

Depends on where you want it. I'd keep a tank anywhere as long as you're not near a window or door because you'll be susceptible to additional light and heat (or lack of) you can't control. I prefer keeping my tanks not in my bedroom because I'm not in there all the time and I don't like humidity making my room feel colder or hotter than it needs to (room humidity isn't much of a concern if you get a cover).

[Gakarl100]

@Diamonds x Pearls thanks for the detailed respond!  All great info!!!  I wanted to put the orbit IC Pro's on a arm mount, just love the look and kinda raises it out way so that would raise it 5-6" above the tank so I am sure you have to factor that space in as well?  Considering the link to that orbit chart.  The tank is 13" deep so 1" or so of sand so I am thinking 11-12".  So on the chart I high lighted the line I think I should be looking at.  Also I think I will do a mesh screen instead, the glass top seems more trouble than its worth, cleaning and light loss.  Hopefully I am looking at this chart correctly. 

 

Do I factor in the 5-6 inches height above the water the light would hang from the mount when looking at these measurements?  So should I really be looking at the 18-21" line and measurements if I factor in the mount height?

  

[mitten_reef]

1 hour ago, Gakarl100 said:

So should I really be looking at the 18-21" line and measurements if I factor in the mount height?

would be more appropriate, unless you could confirm that their tests were done with arm mounts.  The lights are sold as "rest-on-frame", so I'd guess the PAR are based more on that setup.

 

11 hours ago, Diamonds x Pearls said:

 

Your spread may not be as good from the Orbit Pro which can limit your coral placement. What is nice about the AI PrimeHD is that the spot lights do grant a nice area of lighting.

I think, you meant to say that Orbit has less depth penetrating power vs PrimeHD.  When one talks about "spread" in lighting sense, at least for me, it's about side-to-side, or front-to-back coverage.  In which case, Orbit having light sources across the entire water surface, will provide better spread than one concentrated source of a PrimeHD.  BTW, I used to live in Rockville/Bethesda area, I went to Congressional aquarium often, if it's still there.  I went to the Frederick guy too, but he was in north rockville area back then.  There's a guy operating a full LFS in the basement in Silver Spring area, I think Georgia ave exit off the beltway.    

 

 

[Gakarl100]

@mitten_reef is that why you are selling yours?  Not enough depth?  And thanks for the comments good stuff!

[Gakarl100]

Are there any other narrow non-spot light type LED's (Like the Orbits) that offer a good depth beyond 14" to say 18"?  Or is that the sweet spot/reason for spotlight type LED's like AI Prime HD?  I just like the long narrow look of a light above the tank versus a pendant.

[Gakarl100]

meant to include this in the last post.

[mitten_reef]

2 hours ago, Gakarl100 said:

@mitten_reef is that why you are selling yours?  Not enough depth?  And thanks for the comments good stuff!

they were up for sale as a used setup, so I bought them for an experiment.  I have the nanobox quad right down the center of the tank, then supplement with two Orbit bars along sides to cover the front-to-back of the display.  i was trying to eliminate shadowing on acros and it worked.  I've since sorta moved on from having them as supplement lights.  

 

I did have to use them as "stand-alone" for about 4 months, because my nanobox quad fell into the tank.  and the orbit did fine, keeping my acros alive, but growth were not robust as with the quad.  montipora showed good growth under them.  my tank is 13 inch tall IM Fusion 30 Long, so depth wasn't really an issue I had them about ~4" above waterline.  

1 hour ago, Gakarl100 said:

Are there any other narrow non-spot light type LED's (Like the Orbits) that offer a good depth beyond 14" to say 18"?  Or is that the sweet spot/reason for spotlight type LED's like AI Prime HD?  I just like the long narrow look of a light above the tank versus a pendant.

while not as slim as the orbit pro, the OR2 LED strips by Orphek are quite nice looking.  I've seen those in-person at LFS.  you can mix and match the color combo, or even request special LED layouts.  https://orphek.com/or2-150-120-90-60-reef-led-lighting/  They don't have the controllability that Orbit has, just a switch that you'll probably have to put on a timer.  

 

 

 

       

[DISQUALIFIED-QQ]

@mitten_reef yep all those businesses are still around. I found Fintastic to be a lot more kept together which made a huge impression on me, so even though Congressional is a 5 minute drive I'd rather leg it out to get a more quality product. Tropical Lagoon, the basement in Silver Spring, has some pretty good stuff, but not exactly what I had in mind.

[mcarroll]

Eek...that isn't posted on Curren't public site because it's WAY out of date.  Please disregard everything so far!

 

Orbit Pro's with the 60 degree lenses are a couple generations ago.  The non-Pro's back then were also less powerful.

 

This is from their website now, based on the current generation of Bluetooth Orbit IC Pro's.

 

On 2/10/2020 at 11:00 AM, Gakarl100 said:

The tank is 13" deep so 1" or so of sand so I am thinking 11-12".  So on the chart I high lighted the line I think I should be looking at.  Also I think I will do a mesh screen instead, the glass top seems more trouble than its worth, cleaning and light loss.  Hopefully I am looking at this chart correctly. 

 

Do I factor in the 5-6 inches height above the water the light would hang from the mount when looking at these measurements?  So should I really be looking at the 18-21" line and measurements if I factor in the mount height?

You'll be fine with these all the way to the ground, even at 21" according to the chart.

Go for it!

https://current-usa.com/orbit-marine-ic-dual-led-pro-bt/

 

They also still have their sale going on so you can get their 18"-24" IC Pro Kit for $150.

https://current-usa.com/orbit-marine-ic-led-aquarium-light-with-wireless-loop-lighting-and-acc-light/