# Aqua Illumination Prime HD Freshwater Advice



## Carnivoran (Dec 29, 2018)

Hello,

I just purchased an Aqua Illumination Prime HD Freshwater for a 600mm x 600mm x 450mm (24inL x 24inW x 17inH). I think I am pushing it in terms of coverage with just one light though. Not going for hard plants to grow. Wondering if anyone who has this light has any advice or tips, especially with regard to settings and how high to place the light above the tank.

EDIT: Anyone have experience with the arm mount? I keep seeing mixed reviews. Any other mounts work with the light? I don't want to hang it from the ceiling.


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## jaz419 (Jan 21, 2018)

I used a single prime on my 60U which is almost 24"wide. 

The last 3-4" on either end of my tank were fairly low light areas, and I grew low light plants on the ends really well. The prime seems to have a great 16" diameter cone though, that provides enough par for most anything I tried. So if you have a 24" cube, you'll just have that 3-4" boarder of low light all the way around your tank, not just on either end. No big deal if you ask me. 

I had the light about 22" above the lowest part of my substrate, and the AI arm was pretty awesome in my opinion. Looked nice and hid the cord relatively well. Never had any issues with it at all. 

Settings wise, I used about a 2 hour ramp up. The first hour was really heavy with reds and warm white to give it a sunrise look. Then brought in all the other colors for the second hour of the ramp. Then it plateaued around 50% for all colors except cool white and blue, they were at like 56% just to give it a cooler color temp. I kept everything at that peak for about 3.5 hours. Then I set everything to ramp down evenly for 1.5 hours. Then I had about an hour with green and blue on at like 1-2%. 



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## Botia dude (Feb 6, 2005)

Carnivoran said:


> Hello,
> 
> I just purchased an Aqua Illumination Prime HD Freshwater for a 600mm x 600mm x 450mm (24inL x 24inW x 17inH). I think I am pushing it in terms of coverage with just one light though. Not going for hard plants to grow. Wondering if anyone who has this light has any advice or tips, especially with regard to settings and how high to place the light above the tank.
> 
> EDIT: Anyone have experience with the arm mount? I keep seeing mixed reviews. Any other mounts work with the light? I don't want to hang it from the ceiling.


I have 2 over a UNS 90U and 2 over a Mr Aqua 22g long. Both 36" long thanks. I use about 10% extra red at the beginning and end of the main photo period and a 1.5 hr ramp up/down. Seems to be working very well for me so far. I tweak a little here and there. For a long time i just set them at about 6k kelvin. I like the current setup a bit better. Total light period is 1pm to 11pm. The 68g gets 85% power (hung 8" above water line) and the 22g long gets 40% with the lights on the 18" goose neck arm mounts.


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## OVT (Nov 29, 2011)

Sweet tanks, @Botia dude

I've been eying AI for a wile now but the website confuses me - they describe Freshwater at 88 PAR and no mention of the HD technology.
Thanks for sharing the info, I feel like giving in.
Live Aquaria twice had a 1-day 25% sale on almost everything (including these lights). Tempting.


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## jaz419 (Jan 21, 2018)

OVT said:


> Sweet tanks, @Botia dude
> 
> 
> 
> ...




I think the HD part just means that you can put lights above 100% power, as long as some of them are not at 100%. It kinda redistributes the unused power. At least that's what I understand. And I can confirm that works, although I never used it, I messed with it enough to see that I could do it. 


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## Carnivoran (Dec 29, 2018)

@jaz. Thanks for the reply. Do you have your light maxed out? I figured my edges would be a little dark but with the hyper drive ability, I figured I can lower some LED in favor of others for growth. 

Also I had heard of people mounting the horizontal bracket upside down to help prevent it from cutting into the wire. Did you do this?


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## jaz419 (Jan 21, 2018)

Carnivoran said:


> @jaz. Thanks for the reply. Do you have your light maxed out? I figured my edges would be a little dark but with the hyper drive ability, I figured I can lower some LED in favor of others for growth.
> 
> Also I had heard of people mounting the horizontal bracket upside down to help prevent it from cutting into the wire. Did you do this?




When I was using it (now using a different light) I never had it any channel maxed out. Even if you have it maxed out... It's just gonna make for a much brighter main cone and you'll still have low light around the edges of the tank. At which point you're likely to have a tougher time controlling your algae growth. At it's peak, I used my prime just over 50% power, and found it was able to grow anything I tried and my aquarium was pretty much algae free. 

I used the AI Prime mounting arm like it's designed to be used and can't imagine there ever being a problem with cutting the wire. Make sure to route the wire in the right way and it's out of the way and hidden. 


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