# Aqua Illumination Prime for planted tank



## KalicoAE (Dec 28, 2015)

Hello guys, i saw the AI Prime for sale and was immediately interested in the hanging unit, but how would it hold up in a high tech planted tank. are their any benefits or problems with using this light. BTW I'm going to be using this light on my 12 gallon long and growing a few emerged plants behind the tank. Im also interested in other lighting units like this that are rather small and produce highlight and can also be hung without major modification. thanks in advance. here is a picture of my tank and a link to the light. also to another light i was looking at. i need to put my t5 light back on my 40 breeder thats why I'm looking for another light, and i can't currently hang a light over my 40B, ceiling is to high.

AI PRIME
AquaIllumination AI Hydra Prime: Aquarium LED Light Fixtures

ECOTECH Radion xr15 FW
Radion ? XR15 Freshwater | EcoTech Marine


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## KalicoAE (Dec 28, 2015)

*what about kessil lights?*

since i havent gotten any feed back on these two lights, what about a kessil light?


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## sharkbunnie (Oct 22, 2015)

I looked at the Prime when I decided to get back into tanks. I asked them if they thought it would be suitable for a planted tank and they said crank up the whites and turn down the blues. I know that the Kessil's are supposed to be good lights as well. I don't remember the light spread on the Prime but you would likely need at least 2 Kessil's to cover a 12g/long. I ultimately got a Nano Box Reef Flare. Nano Box Reef makes a model called the Duo (can be fitted with the planted tank led's) that would cover that tank very well. They also make a smaller model called the Beam that comes in various lengths (Beam not on website, contact Dave through the site and he'll give you pics & info). If you are looking for a less expensive option, lots of folks on the forum seem to like Finnex lights and then there is always making your own. There are lots of threads on how to diy a nice fixture. Hope this helps.


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## jeffkrol (Jun 5, 2013)

KalicoAE said:


> since i havent gotten any feed back on these two lights, what about a kessil light?


https://www.reefbreeders.com/shop/photon-32/

That or a buildmyled..

you will have to detrmine how high the light is going to be hung.
That will determine what lenses you get.
That tank is very narrow so most lights really don't fit well..


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## KalicoAE (Dec 28, 2015)

Thanks for the reply. I kinda like the puck lights for their minimal approach and high light intensity. I also really like the customizability of the primes and the radions. The light will definetily be hung and I was say no more than 8 to 10 inchs from the tank. I like the bar lights for their even spread but havent found a nice sleek way to hang suspend them. I have a finnex planted plus I would eventually like to hang. But right now I want to start with my nano. What are some lights that people are using for their 12g longs.


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## nonliteral (Aug 20, 2012)

KalicoAE said:


> Thanks for the reply. I kinda like the puck lights for their minimal approach and high light intensity. I also really like the customizability of the primes and the radions.


I like small "point source" lights too -- I'm a sucker for the shimmer and reflections, particularly on open top tanks. I've got Kessils on two tanks (2x A160WE on a 4' tank, and 1x A360WE on a 2' tank), and I'm just setting up a 3' tank with two more A160WEs. I've also got 3x RadionXR15FW over a 5' tank. I like the controllability of all of them -- I control the Kessils from Apex controllers, and so far I'm just using Reeflink on the Radions. 

I've had good luck with plants on the Kessils so far (not that I grow anything terribly demanding). The Radions are still new to me, so I don't know how they'll compare, but I have no reason to suspect they won't be fine also. The Radions are a little "smarter" using Reeflink, but all of them work fine for tweaking intensity, duration, etc. from a web browser. 

The down side of "point source" lights of course is coverage -- you need to plan the placement (and number) of lights and your aquascape to account for shadow areas and higher intensity directly under the lights with falloff as you get further away. That's why I ended up with three lights over a 5' tank and 2 over a 3' tank, whereas just in terms of "total wattage" one less would be enough for either tank.


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## KalicoAE (Dec 28, 2015)

Yea. I was planning on to ai primes since,they fit in my budget, and they produce,high light and are very sleek and pleasant to the eye. Doesnt say much for my scaping but atleast my mechanical stuff out the tank will look nice.


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## jeffkrol (Jun 5, 2013)

KalicoAE said:


> Yea. I was planning on to ai primes since,they fit in my budget, and they produce,high light and are very sleek and pleasant to the eye. Doesnt say much for my scaping but atleast my mechanical stuff out the tank will look nice.


your missing a subtle point.. Narrow tanks w/ puck style light (esp if hung too high wastes a ton of light..
good thing is you have a ton to waste. most puck style are built around a 24" square area..
a 12 long is probably the most inefficient shape for lights like this esp if these are the dimensions:
*



12 Gallon Frameless Glass Aquarium Tank 35.4 x 8.3 x 9.4

Click to expand...

*


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## KalicoAE (Dec 28, 2015)

So what i was thinking was ( and correct me if Im wrong.) i kinda want a puck light so i can keep the outer edges of the tank low light while the middle is high light high intensity. Is this theory correct or will the light just drop off at the edges of the puck lights. also i wont have all that much waste because i will be growing my grow out plants behind the tank. im currently trying to grow several plants emmersed behind it now and would appreciate alittle light spillage anyway.


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## charlie 1 (Oct 22, 2006)

@ KalicoAE did you use the AI prime & what are your hands on experience?
If anyone has hands on knowledge using this light for plants, it would nice to hear from you.
Regards


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## RyRob (May 30, 2015)

For the price I'd get a kessil for a planted tank not a fixture designed for reef tanks.

The prime is a killer little light but it isn't designed to support plants. Will it? More than likely, the par is there, but the color temperature and spectrum is not optimized for plants at all.

For the money there is a lot more viable and cheaper options for planted tanks.

A quality par38 bulb designed for plants suspended would probably give you better results than the prime at almost a 3rd of the price and you could get 2 for spread, if needed, and still be cheaper than the prime.

For what it's worth, I'm in the works to purchase a Prime HD for my 45cm cube fowlr (soon to be a zoa island) because its the best and cheapest led option for nano reefs, IMO. 

Also, for the ~$250 a Prime would cost, I'm sure someone on here would be willing to custom build you an led fixture.


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## jeffkrol (Jun 5, 2013)

RyRob said:


> For the price I'd get a kessil for a planted tank not a fixture designed for reef tanks.
> 
> The prime is a killer little light but it isn't designed to support plants. Will it? More than likely, the par is there, but the color temperature and spectrum is not optimized for plants at all.


That is a bit of a fallacy. The biggest difference is between what looks good to you. Some (most and considering they are usually much stronger are better) reef lighting is just fine for plants..
Esp. things like high K metal halides w/ 90CRI but color temps in the 10,000's..
Ther are differences though but not so much in growth rates..
By now the "k" for plants fallacy should be dead.. 
Only big difference is the fact that planted tank lights should have more red than the "normal" reef lightiing, but plants can adjust to the heavy blue just fine..
Bottom line is reef lighting is not optimized for your enjoyment..
One of the better explanations:
http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/lighting/38014-lighting-spectrum-photosythesis.html



> Lighting for a planted tank should not be chosen on color temp alone. It is true that 'full spectrum' bulbs are referred to as bulbs between 5000 Kelvin (K) and 6500 K and are considered to be best for planted tanks. Yet this does not indicate what wavelength in nanometers the bulb is actually emitting. If you want to optimize plant leaf development (blue light) and stem elongation and color (red light) you need light in both the blue and red spectra for photosynthesis. You need a mix of blue and red for your plants, and green for you (brightness as perceived by humans). If your lighting looks extremely bright and your plants seem ultra-green, it means that you have lighting that outputs strongly in the green spectrum. Do not equate this with good lighting for your plants, because plants don't use light in the green spectrum for photosynthesis. Sunlight peaks in the blue spectrum at 475 nanometers (nm). This is a shorter wavelength than red light and is used by both plants and algae. As light passes through water the intensity decreases. The shorter wavelength blue light penetrates water better and more quickly than red, which is slower and absorbed more quickly. Chlorophyll, the photosynthetic pigment used by plants traps blue and red light but is more efficient with red light at 650 – 675nm. Blue is used at the same rate as red because it is more available for reasons mentioned above.
> 
> For green plants the lighting peaks that are most important:
> Chlorophyll-a: 430nm/662nm
> ...


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