15G Nano - came with AI Blade Grow 12" and looking for either replacement or accent lights

[sd_tom]

Hey, so the 15G AIO i got came with a AI Blade Grow 12" and in a lot of ways, it's a very nice light. It can push out way more than enough PAR for a take like this.

I have it on RB:40%,Blue:40%, and CW:67% (11000K on the app) on a parabola, 12 hours. This is probably as close as i can get i think for par and what i aesthetically like.. it gets blue morning, evening bright in the afternoons etc. Stocking is a tail spot blenny, clown, randall's goby, candy cane pistol, peppermint shrimp and snails. Coral stocking is Duncan, Clove Polyps, ricordia yuma, an Acan/Micromussa and Blasomussa - so softie/LPS.

However, drawbacks (for me):
- there is no warmth, it just gets less blue; if i go any more blue the clown coloration starts to suffer
- some color pop from the RB, but blade has no indigo,violet,uv (cause the Blade Glow exists). i bought a 395nm flashlight to experiment with and can see there is at least some improvements down there in the coloration.

So I guess, in summary, i have no doubt that this thing has good blue bland growing power. I'm worried about below blue and warmth. Blade Glow would cover the below blue but $186 and the space a whole other blade will take up, and not giving me any warm white or cyan/green/red to add tiny amount of warmth. So that is not really what I want either.

I currently don't see any 12" type / 15 gallon suitable supplemental LED bars that might could be used to boost everything except what the blade does well. Below Blue + Above blue. Poking around on Steve's LEDs and maybe i could do something custom with him.. but then we have one light on an app and another that would have to be on mechanical timer (and maybe that is fine cause it will be very low and maybe could only turn it ). >> Any other options come to mind?

The alternative is totally replacing the Blade Grow with something else. After looking around all weekend at things < $300 , the NooPsyche K7 Pro III .. on paper seems like exactly what i want. Hopefully not giving up too much spread (the blade's do a good job at this at least). But that is a full replacement light for less than adding the Glow. Smatfam G5 looked good too but no app. I guess what put me over the edge was @BeanAnimal 's profile generator as that was definately a pain point with the blade was forced to use a phone instead of computer/keyboard/mouse to input stuff haha.

any other opinions?

 

[yanetterer]

Would a Kessil A160WE suit your needs? I personally like the colors they put out. Rather than setting each individual color, it has a knob to adjust the spectrum which offers a lot of variability, just not specific percentages for each color. The price point of a new one may be a bit high based on your post and a mounting arm and controller (if you want to ramp up and down) are sold separately, but they can easily be found used.

The Kessil A80 would be cheaper, but may not have quite enough PAR for corals near the bottom. The A360X can provide more fine-tuning of colors, but would likely be overkill in terms of power, you would probably end up running it at 10-15% intensity.

I believe the AI Prime 16HD would also offer a full(er) spectrum of colors. It is another light that you can almost always find a few used ones in good condition for a good price.

The downside of the Kessil and AI Prime is that they are both single points of light which can create more shadowing. However, if you are going for an LPS dominated tank, this isn't really an issue.

 

[lil sumpin]

I was in a similar predicament as you, was running a single grow for a bit and was underwhelmed. If you cough up for the glow, I think you’ll find your issues resolved. With both blades you’ll have bigger spread and eliminate more shadowing. It would’ve been cool if AI made the blades like the primes, with the whole range of LEDs instead of separate them into a glow and a grow. You can’t go wrong with noops but I’d grab a glow if I were you.

 

[VintageReefer]

The k7 pro would do significantly better

Pretty sure smatfarm has an app also

 

[sd_tom]

When i made my spreadsheet with spectrums available (which is hard cause marketing colors and nanometers definitely have margin of error)
- Kessil's - I do like the "dumbed down" thing for sure. However, I could not find any evidence of what their LEDs spectrums are, and none of the LFS stores have the lights on display where i could play with one. Kessil will be at Reefapalooza Sept 6th in LA so , if i haven't pulled the trigger by then will definitely look at it.

Primes - cool white, red, green, blue, royal blue, violet (?415-430nm), violet(405nm?) - bold is what is unique to prime over a even a combination Glow+Grow. Also the single set, so more shadowing

K7 Pro - cool white, warm white, red, green, blue, royal blue, violet(430), violet(415), violet(405) - not sure which one is the extra violet channel vs glow/prime but there is one there.

so from a knobs to turn, this looked better cause it's also two different spot lights so figure less shadows. That is my rationale.. if I could get my hands or see a Kessil in action that would be different i guess.

As far as buying a Glow to add.. that is now over $300 worth of light (granted ~half of that is already sunkcost), which, is still less than a Reefi , Radion etc but dang. one of my LFS coral stores has a 12in glow on the shelf.. i guess i could ask them the return policy as well

 

[Tamberav]

I have a kessil and two primes. I very much like the Kessil better. Just seems like the spectrum is visually more appealing and control is easy with a timer. The prime sometimes loses sync and time gets all messed up on AI app and I guess downloading and adjusting popular profiles just feels like extra work vs Kessil.

Oh and the lenses melt sometimes with the AI You can replace them and they are inexpensive except shipping is overpriced… sooo..

I tried a smatfarm but returned it, didn’t like the spectrum, felt a little blah

 

[sd_tom]

Just to follow up, waiting till reefapalooza los Angeles where kessil is going to have a booth and can see for myself. It they don't blow me a way, noopsyche will be ordered.