It's been a while since I've posted to the forum, mainly because I've been dialing in on my lighting for several months. I'll give you the experience I have so far... I hope it helps, and I hope some others post their experience as well. I think these are working really well, but I'm not sure if I can get even better.
I have a 160 gallon DT, 60"Lx27"Wx24"Tall
Water params are 77.5 degrees Fahrenheit, Ca 450 ppm, Alk 8.5 dKH, pH 8.2, PO4 0, NO3 5 ppm
Stocked with several acros, montis, hammers, acans, zoas, Alveopora, Duncan, photosynthetic gorgonian (corky finger)
Lighting are 4 x Hydra 26's 12" AWL
Photo period and percentages:
5:30 AM to 6:00AM DB @ 1%
6:00AM to 6:30AM DB @ 1% & RB @ 1%
6:30AM to 7:00AM DB @ 1%, RB @ 1% & V @ 1%
7:00AM to 11:00AM Ramp all channels to the following peak intensities: G 5%, UV 25%, V, DB, & CW 45%, RB 55%, Red 65% (Peak 11:00AM to 5:00PM)
5:00PM to 8:00PM Ramp down
8:00PM to 8:30PM DB @ 1%, RB @ 1% & V @ 1%
8:30PM to 9:00PM DB @ 1% & RB @ 1%
9:00PM to Midnight DB @ 1%
When I first setup the lights a year ago I was running a very different profile. It was heavy on the blues and violet and medium on the white, and barely any red or green. I followed a lot of posts that suggested that kind of a profile and that was a 20K to 14K color temp. The corals I was stocking would live, but I wouldn't exactly say they were thriving. It looked good, but I wasn't really getting a lot of growth, really almost none. I did a lot more research on chlorophyll and photosynthesis and found that there were 2 important peaks in the color spectrum for zooxanthellae, one at around 430nm-470nm (Deep/Royal Blue) and another at 630nm to 670nm (Red/Deep Red) and seemed like green/yellow was pretty much useless.
That is where I decided on the peak intensity settings G 5%, UV 25%, V, DB, & CW 45%, RB 55%, Red 65%. In my best estimation, those levels give about a 12K color temp. Aesthetically, it is pleasant, and coral/fish colors are nice. They aren't as fluorescent as the higher color temps, but still brighter and more colorful than the super high growth color temps of 10K and below. But I got a pretty dramatic growth acceleration for the corals as compared to my previous settings. The water params and all my husbandry activities, like feeding etc... were all the same as before.
I have a Seneye Reef monitor/PAR meeter and took readings all over my tank under these settings. 6" Below the water line (BWL) I get a reading of around 300PAR in the center 10" (front to back) of the tank and around 225PAR at the front/back 8", 12" BWL 200PAR center, 150 front/back, 18" BWL 125 PAR center, 100 front/back, and on the sand 24" BWL 100 PAR center and 80 front/back. The other aspect of the settings is I think the PUR (Photosynthetic Usable Radiation) is probably pretty close to the PAR since I don't use the green hardly at all and the UV is pretty low. The PAR readings definitely go up when I increase the green and/or UV channels, but if the research is correct, it's not really helping much on PUR.
I've been running those settings for 3 months now, and so far growth is really good and everything is very happy.
@revhtree @twilliard @Diesel @Randy Holmes-Farley @Russ265 @Sabellafella @Pete polyp are just a few of the most knowledgeable members on the forum. Maybe they have some input or know of other members who really know a lot about lighting.
