AI Vega Owner's Thread

newenglandreef

newenglandreef

Non-member
Figured I would start a thread since these are such great lights in my view. Here are some rough readings, I was pretty surprised by the PAR this thing is putting out, especially since I believe the PAR meters don't pick up 100% of the LED's:

The readings are through a piece of thin acrylic I use as a cover and a 24" deep standard 90G on one side of the tank. Light is about 4" above water and distances are from the light itself.

1.25 feet (center): 550+
1.5 feet (center) 330
1.75 feet (midway towards the side of the glass) 200
2.4 feet (bottom of tank, almost against glass) 100-150.

This is with all colors at 100%

Curious how others are positioning their Vegas (from the water and intensity).
 
Sunrise and sunset are pretty cool as is the weather. I hear there is a program coming out "soon" (called Dynamic?) that will allow you much greater control over the specific spectrum. The lighting is very sharp in general.

Curious whether others are using at full intensity-- I just don't think the PAR meter accurately measures LED lighting.
 
i am now a proud owner of 2 ai vegas and controller!!!!! just curious, what are others doing with their lighting schedule, and intensities?
 
All good questions for Marc Levenson at the next meeting.

There is definately a difference when using the light meter under MH/T5/CF.

LED's are measured in different ways.

Keep in mind that some in the hobby go an mount their new LED's and forget to do the fllowing: Turn down the intensity and acclimate the inhabitants to the new lights/spectrum. If the units are not dimable you may need to raise or lower your lighting units.

Ask questions and do your research. It is very easy to get hung up on the newness of the new lights and forget the obvious things. Like dipping your corals or QT your new fish.

Good Luck and keep us all posted.
 
Last edited:
Good advice Chris.

I read that, with the Vega optics, the ideal mounting is 4 inches from the water. This apparently maximizes spread and maximizes light bounce-back from the tank sides.

Intensity, I've dropped down to 80% despite my PAR readings. I may go further. I definitely agree with Chris that measuring with a typical meter doesn't catch the accurate PAR---or at least doesn't measure the LED correctly. I'm still seeing zoas at the bottom of my tank fading out at 80%.

Have you figured out the timers yet? They're somewhat complicated with the ramp-up time. I ended up emailing customer support.
 
I have my lights at 30% for now and am planning on raising the intensity very slowly. So far everything is opening up beautifully
 
I have my vega lights positioned 6" above a 75 gallon tank and set @ 50% intensity. Will increase intensity @ 5% every 3-4 days. Even @ this intensity the shimmering effect on the sand is great.
 
I just made a quick frame above my 36 corner and hung the Vega approx 11" inches from the water. I am doing the coral acclimation seting at 40 %. I removed the glass top from my tank and that night one of my Fire Goby's jumped out. I Found the dog playing with him. Needless to say he didn't make it ( the fish not the dog).
 
RockD2 said:
I just made a quick frame above my 36 corner and hung the Vega approx 11" inches from the water. I am doing the coral acclimation seting at 40 %. I removed the glass top from my tank and that night one of my Fire Goby's jumped out. I Found the dog playing with him. Needless to say he didn't make it ( the fish not the dog).
Click to expand...

That's a bummer, sorry.


I realized you can use two 10/32 screws in the unit for hanging-- I did an easy loop hook with the screw, then just used some black chain to mount--works great.
 
Yeah I purchased the Hanging Kit from AI for 34 bucks and then after I built everything up and bought a 6" EXT rail that I cut in half to use it for both sides I realized I could have just used some screws to make a hanging kit. On the other hand the kit from AI looks pretty slick.
 
lex_lutha111384 said:
mine are about 11" too i would say. What would be the need to lower them if you could just adjust the intensity?
Click to expand...


I think I read something somewhere from the manufacturer saying that these specific optics are best suited for 4 inches above water, then dim according to your needs. I do think that was based on an 18 inch wide take though.
 
RockD2 said:
Yeah I purchased the Hanging Kit from AI for 34 bucks and then after I built everything up and bought a 6" EXT rail that I cut in half to use it for both sides I realized I could have just used some screws to make a hanging kit. On the other hand the kit from AI looks pretty slick.
Click to expand...

Everything from AI seems pretty sweet.
 
that may be the lunar function? Lunar function is pretty cool, it varies in intensity by the actual moon phase (so it knows the moon phase somehow).
 
lex_lutha111384 said:
Has anybody discovered that after your lights dim down to total darkness at night, a little while later 1 will fire back up
Click to expand...

Thats a bug with the controller driver. There is an update to the firmware on the website that they released a few days ago to fix this problem.
 
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