Ap700 settings help

Christian_Parent · Sep 16, 2017

I have a 120G, 48X24X24.

I have 2 X AP700 on it, since I have a canopy, I could not get the lights high enough to have a good coverage so, I added a second one.

My actual program is: ( name is not the exact one but, there are no color names on the android app)

9am 1% deep ocean blue 9 ( the darkest)
10am 9% deep ocean blue 8
11am 17% deep ocean blue 7
12pm 25% deep ocean blue 6
3pm 30% deep ocean blue 5
6pm 25% deep ocean blue 6
7pm 17% deep ocean blue 7
8pm 9% deep ocean blue 8
9pm 0% deep ocean blue 9

Anyone could help me optimize it for visual appearance, coral growth etc ?

The deep ocean blue 5 is kind of too white to my taste at 30% but hey, I am not a coral or an anemone.

Any help ?

leahfiish · Sep 17, 2017

I have a 90g mixed reef (48x18x24) with LPS and softies. I have 1 kessil ap700 with mounting arms, and the light is as high as the arms will go.
Here are my settings:
10:30 1% darkest blue
11:00 15% darkest blue
12:00 40% middle color
8:00pm 40% middle color
8:45pm 20% 3rd from bottom
9:15pm 20% darkest blue, red 10, green 5
10:00 1% darkest blue
10:01 0%

Hope this helps.

Mal11224 · Sep 17, 2017

I have the AP700 on my 70g tank, which is 36" and I have it about 10" off the surface. I use the slight diffusers with mine and use 4 settings for my tank 9am ramp up to 57% at 12pm and use a slight blue and it levels out to a darker blue at 57% at 4pm, then ramp down to near moonlight ending at 9pm. I have a mixed tank and I usually look at my birds nest to see if my intensity is too high. It will let me know. This light is very strong and will cook corals if you are not careful. You are doing the right thing by starting out low but I think you need have 3 to 4 hours of good photosynthetic dosing for your corals. Meaning, you should ramp up and level out at 30% for a couple of hours and then ramp down. Will help keep your PH up and your corals will like it.

LV3 · Sep 17, 2017

I have two ap 700s on a 120 as well. As far as appearance, set the color to whatever you like. The spectrum is optimized for coral growth. Depending on what corals you're trying to keep, adjust your intensity accordingly. Keep in mind the placement of corals on your aquascape. The spread and PAR on these lights are fantastic and you'll find by using a PAR meter that you won't find any hot spots other than where the lights intersect. How high off the water are the lights?

Christian_Parent · Sep 17, 2017

LV3 said:
I have two ap 700s on a 120 as well. As far as appearance, set the color to whatever you like. The spectrum is optimized for coral growth. Depending on what corals you're trying to keep, adjust your intensity accordingly. Keep in mind the placement of corals on your aquascape. The spread and PAR on these lights are fantastic and you'll find by using a PAR meter that you won't find any hot spots other than where the lights intersect. How high off the water are the lights?

They are at about 7 inches from water

drtrash · Sep 18, 2017

Try adding red and green to whiten blue

Water Dog · Sep 18, 2017

Although my tank is not yet set up, in playing with the lights thus far, I really like the blues set on the darkest blue of the dial with the reds at 20% and greens at 60%. I got this setting from @gus6464 on the AP700 thread over on RC, and he's right... this color setting very closely resembles the look of a 20k Radium MH bulb.

Christian_Parent · Sep 18, 2017

Water Dog said:
Although my tank is not yet set up, in playing with the lights thus far, I really like the blues set on the darkest blue of the dial with the reds at 20% and greens at 60%. I got this setting from @gus6464 on the AP700 thread over on RC, and he's right... this color setting very closely resembles the look of a 20k Radium MH bulb.

I do like the color indeed. But; would you run it thru out the day at different intensity or change red and green ?

Do you have a link to that thread on RC ?

leahfiish · Sep 18, 2017

Just to clarify you mean 60% intensity and +20 red +20 green?

Water Dog · Sep 18, 2017

My tank isn't up and running yet. However, I plan on the base line set max blue setting with 20% red and 60% green. I'll go with a 6 hour max photoperiod and a 2 hour ramp before and after. Total intensity throughout the day is yet to be determined.

The RC thread is here...

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2585409