Coral glow

[wesleyclement85]

How do I get my corals to stay open under the blue lights? Everything looks amazing during the day with more whites but when the white dims most everything closes up. I don't get to see it all glowing this way. Running 1 AI prime on a 35 gallon with frogspawn hammers rbta zoas and xenia

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

How do I get my corals to stay open under the blue lights? Everything looks amazing during the day with more whites but when the white dims most everything closes up. I don't get to see it all glowing this way. Running 1 AI prime on a 35 gallon with frogspawn hammers rbta zoas and xenia

How fast is your ramp down?

 

[ahiggins]

What is your ratios under the "blues"?
I set my "blues" at 18.5k which gives almost the same colors as 20k (but the whites/reds are still at 5-10%). I dont have an issue with my stuff closing up.
I noticed when I only run a blue light (not ai prime) in another tank, they wont stay open long.

 

[ahiggins]

How fast is your ramp down?

I recommend at least 45 minutes for ramps--I use an hour (if thats helpful)

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

I recommend at least 45 minutes for ramps--I use an hour (if thats helpful)

mine is four hours from peak to dark.

 

[wesleyclement85]

I ramp down pretty slowly more over an hour to hour and half

 

[wesleyclement85]

What is your ratios under the "blues"?
I set my "blues" at 18.5k which gives almost the same colors as 20k (but the whites/reds are still at 5-10%). I dont have an issue with my stuff closing up.
I noticed when I only run a blue light (not ai prime) in another tank, they wont stay open long.

I will try some of these adjustments this evening and watch over a few days and see how they act

 

[ahiggins]

mine is four hours from peak to dark.

do you have LEDs? lol that seems like quite a bit of overkill
I run 14.5 for 6 hours then 18.5 for 5 hours
an hour up, between and down

 

[ahiggins]

I will try some of these adjustments this evening and watch over a few days and see how they act

do you use the wheel or do you manually enter percentages?

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

do you have LEDs? lol that seems like quite a bit of overkill
I run 14.5 for 6 hours then 18.5 for 5 hours
an hour up, between and down

yea led.
total day is 6 am to 10 pm
peak is 8 hrs from 10 am to 6
am blue 6 to 730 ish
peak is 40,000 lux(measured at the surface)
Pm blue only is 8 to 10 pm

at 7am and 9 pm blue is only around 5000 lux.(100 par) So only enough to see really.

it's actually about the same time as a summer day.

 

[ahiggins]

Ive never heard of lux-is it like par?

 

[ChiCity]

Ive never heard of lux-is it like par?

Cheaper alternative to par readers

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Ive never heard of lux-is it like par?

its intensity alone. Par is color and intensity.
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2008/2/review
http://www.apogeeinstruments.com/conversion-ppf-to-lux/

 

[wesleyclement85]

do you use the wheel or do you manually enter percentages?

Manual enter but I'm going to set it with the wheel this evening. Any chance I can get screen shots of your settings so I have something to start with? I am still a newbie and have been very successful so far. This is a little kink I'd like to get straight.

 

[ahiggins]

ahhhh gotcha.
Unfortunately I cant get into it right now-because Im not around it, but when I get home (like 6ish) I can post.

 

[ahiggins]

its intensity alone. Par is color and intensity.
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2008/2/review
http://www.apogeeinstruments.com/conversion-ppf-to-lux/

whoa. So its different than the "intensity" that I run on my AI? I run 40% intensity (of 100%)...or are they totally different?

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

whoa. So its different than the "intensity" that I run on my AI? I run 40% intensity (of 100%)...or are they totally different?

no, more science, like a thermometer.

lets say at 6in with the dial at 40% you get 10,000 lux. so now at 100% you should get........?

(youd actually be surprised at the real answer but you get the point.)

a fixture like a Metal halide has very good spectrum(45). at 10,000 lux INTENSITY you get (lets say) 200 par. 10,000 / 45 = 200. if you increase the intensity to 50,000 (@45)you get 1,100.

if you added a coral plus t5(38) but keep the lux intensity the same(50k) you gain par, but not intensity.

a par meter is also a calculator. It judges the amount of available or type of spectrum in the fixture AND measures intensity to arrive at the amount of Par.

so a lux meter measures only the amount or intensity of light. Like a thermometer measures temperature. Both are meters.

and yes a camera footcandle meter works too as lux is metric and Fc is not but are both mathematically interchangeable. Both measure the amount of light

 

[wesleyclement85]

ahhhh gotcha.
Unfortunately I cant get into it right now-because Im not around it, but when I get home (like 6ish) I can post.

That would be much appreciated. Coral growth is doing great. Just once blues are on they go night night.

 

[wesleyclement85]

no, more science, like a thermometer.

lets say at 6in with the dial at 40% you get 10,000 lux. so now at 100% you should get........?

(youd actually be surprised at the real answer but you get the point.)

a fixture like a Metal halide has very good spectrum(45). at 10,000 lux INTENSITY you get (lets say) 200 par. 10,000 / 45 = 200. if you increase the intensity to 50,000 (@45)you get 1,100.

if you added a coral plus t5(38) but keep the lux intensity the same(50k) you gain par, but not intensity.

a par meter is also a calculator. It judges the amount of available or type of spectrum in the fixture AND measures intensity to arrive at the amount of Par.

so a lux meter measures only the amount or intensity of light. Like a thermometer measures temperature. Both are meters.

and yes a camera footcandle meter works too as lux is metric and Fc is not but are both mathematically interchangeable. Both measure the amount of light

Wow ok this is alot I'll read this about 10 more times and still try and learn this some way. Definitely valuable information

 

[mkutsch]

It wouldn't kill them to do this during the day; set it from white to blue for a couple minutes of awesomeness then set it back! Totally harmless. Also, the more you change your light, the more chance that your coral could morph (intensity wise, I believe).