Aqua Illumination Vega!!

[zerreissen]

Howdy folks! Well, it's like Christmas in September at the Farmer household today; I just received my Aqua Illumination Vegas! Unfortunately I quickly realized that I accidentally ordered the old hanging kit. No worries, I'm not going to wait to order the correct one, so I improvised.

http://8178eb98aa3b1c5acb0f-6baba615fdd22958b50116503c3b7535.r45.cf1.rackcdn.c om/Christmas_September.JPG

http://8178eb98aa3b1c5acb0f-6baba615fdd22958b50116503c3b7535.r45.cf1.rackcdn.c om/vega.JPG

http://8178eb98aa3b1c5acb0f-6baba615fdd22958b50116503c3b7535.r45.cf1.rackcdn.c om/dark_lit.JPG

My setup:
~55 Gallon
36" wide x 18" deep x 19" tall
2 Vega Colors
1 controller

The units are currently sitting 13" above the water line mounted parallel to the tank. I will be dropping them a bit as I'm getting quite a bit of light spill.

My first impressions: Excellent quality units, the Vegas. They look very sleek and modern. It's nice not having a behemoth of a fixture above the tank! I am quite floored by the color rendition in the tank. The corals really pop and the the tank looks really crisp. The shimmer is quite nice. There is a noticeable disco affect on the sand, however, not sure if that is due to the height, I'm sure I'll get used to it. So far, I like the Vegas much more than my Halide/VHO setup.

The controller is terrible. It feels cheap, the buttons are way too sensitive and it sucks that it must be plugged in (I know this has been mentioned several times). I had envisioned using the controller while I sit at the couch and tune in the colors, timers, etc. but that won't be the case since I am limited by the length of the cable. And a mini usb? Why not micro? That's what all new devices use these days... IMHO, definitely not worth $80. I will be switching to Apex's new module as soon as it comes out (apparently in the works).


I'm also not a fan of the hanging kit. I wish it were height adjustable like a couple of the other cable hanging kits (using a pulley system). It'd be nice to be able to adjust the height on the fly and not have a permanent height set once you cut the cables.

Full shot:

Before (Halide and VHO):
http://8178eb98aa3b1c5acb0f-6baba615fdd22958b50116503c3b7535.r45.cf1.rackcdn.c om/halide_full.JPG

After:
http://8178eb98aa3b1c5acb0f-6baba615fdd22958b50116503c3b7535.r45.cf1.rackcdn.c om/Vega_full.JPG

Closeup FTS shot, these were taking with the EXACT same settings:

Before (Halide only):
http://8178eb98aa3b1c5acb0f-6baba615fdd22958b50116503c3b7535.r45.cf1.rackcdn.c om/closeup_before.JPG

After:
http://8178eb98aa3b1c5acb0f-6baba615fdd22958b50116503c3b7535.r45.cf1.rackcdn.c om/closeup_after.JPG

http://8178eb98aa3b1c5acb0f-6baba615fdd22958b50116503c3b7535.r45.cf1.rackcdn.c om/v_eagle_eyes.JPG

http://8178eb98aa3b1c5acb0f-6baba615fdd22958b50116503c3b7535.r45.cf1.rackcdn.c om/v_frogspawn.JPG

http://8178eb98aa3b1c5acb0f-6baba615fdd22958b50116503c3b7535.r45.cf1.rackcdn.c om/v_gsp.JPG

http://8178eb98aa3b1c5acb0f-6baba615fdd22958b50116503c3b7535.r45.cf1.rackcdn.c om/v_orange_zoas.JPG

http://8178eb98aa3b1c5acb0f-6baba615fdd22958b50116503c3b7535.r45.cf1.rackcdn.c om/v_ricordia.JPG

http://8178eb98aa3b1c5acb0f-6baba615fdd22958b50116503c3b7535.r45.cf1.rackcdn.c om/v_tubbs_blues.JPG

[KING]

How much. .an were did u order from..man they look nice..

[zerreissen]

Modules:
http://premiumaquatics.com/aquatic-supplies/AI-10-1001B.html

Controller:
http://premiumaquatics.com/aquatic-supplies/AI-CN-VEGA.html

[350gt]

:hypnotyized:

wow those look great....

Didnt even know they were available for purchase yet....... GREAT!

[350gt]

Oh... looks great BTW, curious to see if you experience any kind of shock....

looks like im going to find some cash and soon..... hoping there is just a upgrade for my sols, if not... OH well...


keep us informed...

[zerreissen]

AI is promising upgrade kits for the Sols, just don't have a date confirmed. I'm starting the LED's all at 60% max to hopefully limit any shock.

Some more thoughts:

The good: I absolutely love the lights themselves, they look phenomenal. It'll be nice to not have to worry about heat from the Halida/VHO setup. The color looks amazing, the shimmer is fantastic.


The bad:

Noticeable disco light effect (from what I've heard most, if not all, LED fixtures produce this).

There are NO instructions/product documentation included with the lights or controllers, just a warranty card and another card with minimal info on how to increase brightness, enable demo mode, and reset to manufacturer defaults from the units themselves.

More on the controller: Weather effects do not work, lunar cycle does not work, coral acclimation mode does not work... or could it be that I'm just not doing it right, yet we don't have any instructions? If I set each of these to enabled, then save, then go back to main menu, nothing happens, go back to each feature and they're all disabled...


Considering the large delay in getting these released, I would have assumed that AI would have ironed out all of these kinks.

[KING]

Wow..in a way i hope ur not setting it right other then they being off..cus that sucks. An did u get the blue or color unit? Keep up post if u fix..

[KING]

My bad..just re read..there color..

[350gt]

AI is promising upgrade kits for the Sols, just don't have a date confirmed. I'm starting the LED's all at 60% max to hopefully limit any shock.

Some more thoughts:

The good: I absolutely love the lights themselves, they look phenomenal. It'll be nice to not have to worry about heat from the Halida/VHO setup. The color looks amazing, the shimmer is fantastic.


The bad:

Noticeable disco light effect (from what I've heard most, if not all, LED fixtures produce this).

There are NO instructions/product documentation included with the lights or controllers, just a warranty card and another card with minimal info on how to increase brightness, enable demo mode, and reset to manufacturer defaults from the units themselves.

More on the controller: Weather effects do not work, lunar cycle does not work, coral acclimation mode does not work... or could it be that I'm just not doing it right, yet we don't have any instructions? If I set each of these to enabled, then save, then go back to main menu, nothing happens, go back to each feature and they're all disabled...


Considering the large delay in getting these released, I would have assumed that AI would have ironed out all of these kinks.


Ya I plan on either upgrading all my units or if not just getting all new units depending on what available...... Sort of dont want to replace whats working for me right now i but can't help temptation on new gadgets....

Asfar as the disco lights, I hope its cause of the height....

And I think thats what AI should have had, some sort of guide to acclimating to swap over with the sols. But seeing all tanks are different, guess they didnt want to be liable.....

I had a little shock in the beginning but nothing really serious and everything looks great today.

[zerreissen]

Weather effects do not work, lunar cycle does not work, coral acclimation mode does not work... or could it be that I'm just not doing it right, yet we don't have any instructions? If I set each of these to enabled, then save, then go back to main menu, nothing happens, go back to each feature and they're all disabled...

Unplugged, plugged in, reset to defaults, all looks to be working now... the controller is finicky.

[TwistedMind]

I would recommend turning them down even more.

id start around 25% and work your way up 5% per 24 hours. It might look the same to our eyes but I promise the light is much more intent to the livestock.

My mazarras bleached all the algea and killed the coraline on all my snails in 48 hours. lol, now I have some white margarite snails crusing my rocks which the algea is eaither bleached or dead on the rocks.

after a week I am running mine at 65 % and I think it's still to much, gunne try 60 % tomorrow and see what happens.

[350gt]

At that height he should be alright in the 40's imo..... I started in the 30's at that height and should have started a little higher...


I would keep the whites 20 below the blues.. and other colors, dont under estimate the white, its powerful. And the whites are 5 watt now right? I would be even more careful with them being more powerful...


this is just from my experience with the Ai's

[zerreissen]

I lowered the lights to 9" off the water. I also dropped the whites to 20% and kept the rest at 40%. Everything is looking happy so far. I'll start increasing them next week.

We keep our house at 78 degrees during the day. With the halide/vho setup, I was seeing the tank max out at 83 some days. Yesterday, the tank didn't get above 80 (although it was also cooler outside). I'm also seeing at least 5 kWh in energy savings on our electricity yesterday (not factoring our AC), compared with previous days this week.

All around I'm very happy with the lights.

[Big_Pun]

what pumps are you using for return and skimmer and circulation? may be time to upgrade those to reduce heat.

[350gt]

What happened to the disco effect?......




Chris which pump would you recommend to replace a mag 9.5..

[Big_Pun]

I love all my sicce pumps, they are low wattage and quiet. a lot of people complain about noise but I don't think they have them mounted right and sometimes hard plumping will transfer vibration. if you don't really need that much flow a #3 would be good if not a 4.... sorry didn't mean to hijack thread but I figured it could help you with heat issues

[zerreissen]

I'm using a Mag 12. I've thought about moving to a Sicce, just not high on my priority list yet. I've been itching to switch over to LEDs and when the Vegas came out, I jumped on them.

[zerreissen]

What happened to the disco effect?......

Still there, not as bad though. It's the reds and greens that are causing it though...

[350gt]

Would love to see the specs on them.....

Any chance you might be borrowing the par meter soon?

[Ms_Big_Pun]

hey chris at the last meeting alton did a great presentation and one thing we discussed is as pump get old they start to wear out and draw more energy which can mean more heat so an old pump even if its working may be running at less capacity and run hot

( sorry emilys comp isnt signing her out still big_pun)

[zerreissen]

hey chris at the last meeting alton did a great presentation and one thing we discussed is as pump get old they start to wear out and draw more energy which can mean more heat so an old pump even if its working may be running at less capacity and run hot

Yes, it's definitely at less capacity, and it's noisier than it used to be. My plan is to upgrade the tank next year (DSA 105 Neo). I will definitely include a new pump in the build.