AI 26 lighting settings

oldbenkenobi · Oct 14, 2019

I have a new to me Red Sea reafer 260 with AI 26 LEDs. I have yet to put water in, although I think I am very close. This will be a LPS barebottom tank. I am looking for the settings for my lighting. I have my AB “mixture” correct thanks to BRS. What I am looking for is the from / to times. I go to bet promptly at 9pm

Crabs McJones · Oct 16, 2019

All going to depend on you. Generally you want an 8 to 12 hour photoperiod. Most reefers shoot for 10 hours. So if you go to bed at 9 and want the lights off by then i'd do 11AM to 8PM with a 1 hour sunrise and sunset

This will kick the lights on at 11am, and then at 8PM start ramping down to off at 9PM
Thats the schedule I run

oldbenkenobi · Oct 18, 2019

Crabs McJones said:
All going to depend on you. Generally you want an 8 to 12 hour photoperiod. Most reefers shoot for 10 hours. So if you go to bed at 9 and want the lights off by then i'd do 11AM to 8PM with a 1 hour sunrise and sunset This will kick the lights on at 11am, and then at 8PM start ramping down to off at 9PM
Thats the schedule I run

I want 10 hours total 3 to ramp up, 4 at max settings, and 3 ramp down. Good?

Crabs McJones · Oct 18, 2019

oldbenkenobi said:
I want 10 hours total 3 to ramp up, 4 at max settings, and 3 ramp down. Good?

Sounds like a plan to me

oldbenkenobi · Oct 19, 2019

Crabs McJones said:
Sounds like a plan to me

Hey thanks for the help. Much appreciated

NanoDJS · Oct 19, 2019

I wouldnt run AB+ for lps mixed, I would do this modified saxby https://www.aquaillumination.com/signature_series/stuart_bertram this even has it from 11 am to 11 pm basically

oldbenkenobi · Oct 19, 2019

NanoDJS said:
I wouldnt run AB+ for lps mixed, I would do this modified saxby https://www.aquaillumination.com/signature_series/stuart_bertram this even has it from 11 am to 11 pm basically

Do have a link supporting no AB+ for lps?

jordan9095 · Oct 20, 2019

check out the facebook group. so many presets to try on there

Sarah24! · Oct 20, 2019

Hello,

I know people have the same lights and then they see their corals and go oh wow what’s your light setting? (Wow that sentence has serious grammar issues, oh well for now). The point I’m attempting to make is, that just because you run the same lights and settings, your corals will not always look like theirs.

Corals are living animals which will adapt to the entire environment, not just lights and their settings. They are like us, we all are have the same sun, air, etc but pretty much almost all of us react differently.

One thing that is not mentioned is that corals literally can and will adapt to almost any light setting, if it has the right photosynthesis range.
A good example is take a coral that’s been under led then switch it to mh, or t5, or mixed or different leds. What and see how they change and react from their normal environment.

A good rule of thumb is, this hobby goes turtle slow, it’s unique and it’s life. Painfully and sadly things die, as much as we try not to it happens. With that said set the lights to what you like. These settings may not do well for you and since your tank is dry, your getting a false pretense that if I use these great lights and great settings my tank will be great. Well maybe, if your lucky. Yes people range from 8-12 hours some more some less, also depends on corals. Is this a hobby or soon to be business selling coral?. You have to worry about temp, flow, parameters, salt mix, skimmer, manual dosage or auto, all of these will play a role.

I want you to succeed and love this hobby, but it’s wrong for people to lead you with a false pretense this will make you have a great tank. If everything is perfect if you have no issues even then it’s maybe on a whim these settings with your tank will work as good as say person B. It’s possible you may actually be more successful than others, with these lights and settings, but because something else is different; and it can be something very small, even unknown. Yet this could also kill everything in your tank and make you it hard on you.

When you order corals, find out what they are in etc water parameters, lights etc. there is no doubt you have received good info in prior posts. But just in case bobs not your uncle, well then I want to help you more with that.

NanoDJS · Oct 20, 2019

oldbenkenobi said:
Do have a link supporting no AB+ for lps?

A link ? No that's my suggestion from running those lights ,for almost 3 years . People underestimate the power of the UV and violet bulbs in the fixtures that add them in , like the AI and Ecotech . Also how many posts of ....all my coral is bleaching , help my montis are dying , and thats SPS ,the one guy here posted last week he cannot keep any coral alive in a 3 yr old tank with perfect parameters and 20 yrs experience, running AB+, but they always blame it on salt , or something stupid never their lighting program ......because somebody said you can jack every channel Except the one with the mixed spectrum and 450nm spike ( the white bulbs) so since I have read the specs on all the bulbs in these fixtures and actually understand , thats why i bought those lights , I still use AI on my growout tank , and I am one of those guy who buys almost dead coral and brings em back to super colonies with 95% success , its an opinion take it or leave it . But go see if I ever posted about loosing coral ..... I was just sharing my experience

oldbenkenobi · Oct 20, 2019

NanoDJS said:
A link ? No that's my suggestion from running those lights ,for almost 3 years . People underestimate the power of the UV and violet bulbs in the fixtures that add them in , like the AI and Ecotech . Also how many posts of ....all my coral is bleaching , help my montis are dying , and thats SPS ,the one guy here posted last week he cannot keep any coral alive in a 3 yr old tank with perfect parameters and 20 yrs experience, running AB+, but they always blame it on salt , or something stupid never their lighting program ......because somebody said you can jack every channel Except the one with the mixed spectrum and 450nm spike ( the white bulbs) so since I have read the specs on all the bulbs in these fixtures and actually understand , thats why i bought those lights , I still use AI on my growout tank , and I am one of those guy who buys almost dead coral and brings em back to super colonies with 95% success , its an opinion take it or leave it . But go see if I ever posted about loosing coral ..... I was just sharing my experience

Wasn’t trying to insult in anyway. Just looking for data. Thanks for taking the time. It is really appreciated.

oldbenkenobi · Oct 20, 2019

Sarah24! said:
Hello,

I know people have the same lights and then they see their corals and go oh wow what’s your light setting? (Wow that sentence has serious grammar issues, oh well for now). The point I’m attempting to make is, that just because you run the same lights and settings, your corals will not always look like theirs.

Corals are living animals which will adapt to the entire environment, not just lights and their settings. They are like us, we all are have the same sun, air, etc but pretty much almost all of us react differently.

One thing that is not mentioned is that corals literally can and will adapt to almost any light setting, if it has the right photosynthesis range.
A good example is take a coral that’s been under led then switch it to mh, or t5, or mixed or different leds. What and see how they change and react from their normal environment.

A good rule of thumb is, this hobby goes turtle slow, it’s unique and it’s life. Painfully and sadly things die, as much as we try not to it happens. With that said set the lights to what you like. These settings may not do well for you and since your tank is dry, your getting a false pretense that if I use these great lights and great settings my tank will be great. Well maybe, if your lucky. Yes people range from 8-12 hours some more some less, also depends on corals. Is this a hobby or soon to be business selling coral?. You have to worry about temp, flow, parameters, salt mix, skimmer, manual dosage or auto, all of these will play a role.

I want you to succeed and love this hobby, but it’s wrong for people to lead you with a false pretense this will make you have a great tank. If everything is perfect if you have no issues even then it’s maybe on a whim these settings with your tank will work as good as say person B. It’s possible you may actually be more successful than others, with these lights and settings, but because something else is different; and it can be something very small, even unknown. Yet this could also kill everything in your tank and make you it hard on you.

When you order corals, find out what they are in etc water parameters, lights etc. there is no doubt you have received good info in prior posts. But just in case bobs not your uncle, well then I want to help you more with that.

I like this post first off. Second I am still doing research on all of this. I am going to put 2-3 corals in in the next 2 months. See if I can get them to survive/thrive. Then in a year or so add the rest. I understand there are “recipes”, I am just looking for the basic recipient that I can tweak to my tastes. Thanks for replying.