Currently have 2 Mars Aqua 165W over my 75G. They are the older style with dials so % are estimates, but they are currently at about 10% white and 30% blues. I had them slightly higher, probably 30% white and 50-60% on blues when I added my last batch of coral. I acclimated them on my frag rack low in the tank and slowly over a month moved them up to about half way on the front of the tank. They are all LPS frags and one SPS. After about 2 months time total I moved them onto my rock work, keeping the majority of them low in the tank. Long story short, a couple of them started to bleach around the edges slightly which is when I turned lights down to current level. I know one is a chalice and the other a Lepto. I'm taking the BB's off and putting a single AP700 on tonight. Probably going to start off with the light around 16" off water. I know the AP700 has acclimation mode, but am worried even in acclimation mode it may be too much light since I had the BB's turned down so low. Anyone have opinions on where to start the lights?
Black box to AP700
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Crabs McJones
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For a 75 gallon tank, 16" off the waters surface, you'll want to start out at approximately 30-40% intensity and slowly ramp your way up. At that mounting height you should be able to ramp the light up to 100% intensity to get low to mid 200's for par at a 6" depth and mid to high 100's for par at a 12" depth into the tank.
This is probably not a "too much" thing, but a "right kind" thing. Some black boxes have white diodes that can harm coral with bad waves - this is why they have to be kept low so that the corals can resist. The quality here might like comparing apples to a pine tree.
I would not focus as much on comparing old-to-new but more on what other people do with their AP700s. Then, cut that in half and go slow... LPS do not need a lot of light, but they sure can handle a lot if you acclimate them to it. AP700 is not a lot of light over a 75g, but it should be OK for LPS until they form huge colonies making a lot of shadows, so I do not think that you can mess this up if you start with the 30-40% as mentioned in the post above.
I would not focus as much on comparing old-to-new but more on what other people do with their AP700s. Then, cut that in half and go slow... LPS do not need a lot of light, but they sure can handle a lot if you acclimate them to it. AP700 is not a lot of light over a 75g, but it should be OK for LPS until they form huge colonies making a lot of shadows, so I do not think that you can mess this up if you start with the 30-40% as mentioned in the post above.
Thanks Crabs, hate to mount it that high, but just about have too to get the coverage I need for a 4' tank. Plan is to add another AP700 later and lower them both down.
Thanks, had never heard about the different light qualities but it make sense. I had read a lot of reviews and watched the BRS videos on the AP700 and knew where most were starting with them. It just worried me that the BB's were already set so low the AP700's would bleach my coral. What you said makes sense though. I'll probably start on the low end @ 30% and work up slowly.
