# ADA Solar I experiences?



## mishe (Apr 27, 2015)

Birthday is coming up, so figured I'd treat myself to soemthing nice.

Can anyone share their experiences with the ADA solar I? 

Thanks~


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## DaveK (Jul 10, 2010)

I can't specifically address the ADA Solar I, since I have never owned one. However I have used MH lighting on my FW planted tank before. It was a 90gal tank and I used two 150w 6500K MH bulbs. 

The good - 

Since they are point sources, you get those nice light ripples throughout the tank.
The warm color of the MHs made the tank look something like a sun drenched pond in the late afternoon. 

The bad - 
The point source also gave harsh shadows, so the deeper parts of the tank could easily be shaded out.
The plants looked slightly yellow green verses a darker green under T5. The ADA solar I will draw even more since it requires a front end transformer See this link (offsite) - http://www.adana-usa.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=76_9_38&products_id=23
MHs draw a lot of power. The electric company will love you. 

In my opinion, unless you have a 100% ADA system and want to keep it that way, you can get much better lighting for a lot less money. Personally, I'd opt for one or two Eco Tech Freshwater LED lighting fixtures. See then here (offsite) - http://www.marinedepot.com/EcoTech_...res-EcoTech_Marine-EM30321-FILTFILDTN-vi.html Two of them would only be a little more money, and you'd gain all the nice things high end LED systems can so, like adjustable color spectrum, dawn dusk effects, moonlight effects and so on.


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## mishe (Apr 27, 2015)

DaveK said:


> I can't specifically address the ADA Solar I, since I have never owned one. However I have used MH lighting on my FW planted tank before. It was a 90gal tank and I used two 150w 6500K MH bulbs.
> 
> The good -
> 
> ...


Hey! Thanks for the detailed response!

My thing is I found a used ADA solar I locally for around 50% of the original price, less than a year old. 

I have a 60P tank, with a finnex planted right now. So, while the radion would be more cost effective if I were purchasing a new solar outright, I'm not sure which one would be better now. X3

Lights are so complicated.

I'll definitely do some research on the radion. I would probably only need 1 for a 60P correct?


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## DazedandConfused (Sep 13, 2015)

Extremely well built lights thick steel/aluminum housing and you can feel he quality and heft..... poor reflector when compared to other MH's. I regret selling mine, but it was impractical to move it to college. 

I have an aquasky 451 and much prefer the Solar I's. 

Like the previous poster said, there are much better lights from a performance perspective. If you do not care about having to have an ADA light and aesthetics are not an issue for you, I would not recommend it. 

I could never, ever get plants that are supposed to be red to turn bright red, no matter what I did.


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## mishe (Apr 27, 2015)

DazedandConfused said:


> Extremely well built lights thick steel/aluminum housing and you can feel he quality and heft..... poor reflector when compared to other MH's. I regret selling mine, but it was impractical to move it to college.
> 
> I have an aquasky 451 and much prefer the Solar I's.
> 
> ...


Do you have any other recommendations then for lights?


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## DazedandConfused (Sep 13, 2015)

Honestly? I would expect almost any metal halide with a decent reflector to be better, if you are set on metal halide. 

That being said the Solar I will work just fine, you don't need a supernova above your tank.


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## DaveK (Jul 10, 2010)

mishe said:


> Hey! Thanks for the detailed response!
> 
> My thing is I found a used ADA solar I locally for around 50% of the original price, less than a year old.
> 
> ...


Getting one used for the right price is a very good reason to obtain it. 

LED Pendants and MH tend to want to direct most of the light straight down, but you should be ok using a single fixture on a 60P. The specs say they are 20" long.

Lighting is just about the most talked about subject on aquarium forums. I'd also call it the most subjective. My personal experience is that you can get good light out many different types of lighting. 

Do figure out the TCO, total cost of ownership, for the lighting you plan to use. Don't forget bulb replacement for MHs. Since the ADA Solar 1 uses a front end transformer, you can roughly figure that it's going to be about 70% efficient. In other words, it's going to take about 215w per hour to drive the fixture. The Eco Tech Planted since it's all electronic will be about 90% efficient, so to run the 60w fixture at full power you'd need about 70w

All other things being equal, you'll be saving about 145w per hour. If you multiply that out ...

145w per hour * 10 hours a day = 1450 w per day * 365 days a year / 1000 w per KW = 529 KW per year. At .15 per KWH you would save about 79.35 a year on your electrical bill. A MH bulb replacement would cost you about $55 each and you replace them about once a year. So the total annual savings works out to be about $134.35 per year.

The ADA solar I costs $580 new, so a 50% of the new price would be about $290. With the EcoTech Radion XR15 FW, At $300 + about $45 for a hanging kit, you'd be spending about $345 + sales taxes and shipping. You'd get the price difference back in one year and save even more each additional year.

There is one other factor. If your willing to hack the fixture a little, you can usually repair a MH fixture with off the shelf parts. LED lighting usually requires parts supplied by the original manufacturer. Most of the well know companies have been good so far with suppling parts, but if you get some budget knock off and if fails, you might have to buy a whole new fixture.


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