Mars Aqua lighting schedule

[Xandalf]

Hey folks. I just picked up a Mars Aqua light off eBay for my 26 gallon bow front. It has two different plugs so I can put the blue lights on a different timer than the white lights. Currently, the white lights are set at about 50% intensity and the blue lights are set at 80%. Anyways, I have each set into their own timer, so I was wondering if anyone has any ideas for what's a good schedule for them to turn on and off?

 

[Crabs McJones]

I would turn the intensities down, those lights are a power house of highly focused light. Were talking over 700 to 800 par at 100% intensity. I'd look more around 20 to 30 percent to start and you can turn it up slowly over several weeks from there. what I would do (and what I did when I used one) was had the blues come on first for an hour, then the whites came in, stayed on for 8 hours and then the whites kicked off and the blues stayed on for another hour and then off for the night.

 

[Jason mack]

I would turn the intensities down, those lights are a power house of highly focused light. Were talking over 700 to 800 par at 100% intensity. I'd look more around 20 to 30 percent to start and you can turn it up slowly over several weeks from there. what I would do (and what I did when I used one) was had the blues come on first for an hour, then the whites came in, stayed on for 8 hours and then the whites kicked off and the blues stayed on for another hour and then off for the night.

I agree with Crabs .. I have my whites at 30% and blues at 75% ..
blues come on first then over a period of couple of hrs my whites come on I run my whites for 5.5 hrs and my blues at 10 hrs

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Agreed. How high above the tank are they?

A bit lower intensity will allow you to run them longer. Decide when you want them to come on , pick the W/B ratio you like to look at. Then set an intensity a bit low , and work your way up. Slowly. Watch the corals.

If you have or can get a chronic lux meter , set the intensity to around 18,000 -20,000 lux with both channels. I’d start with 12-16,000.

 

[Xandalf]

Agreed. How high above the tank are they?

A bit lower intensity will allow you to run them longer. Decide when you want them to come on , pick the W/B ratio you like to look at. Then set an intensity a bit low , and work your way up. Slowly. Watch the corals.

If you have or can get a chronic lux meter , set the intensity to around 18,000 -20,000 lux with both channels. I’d start with 12-16,000.

I'm about 10 inches high, due to the shelving in my house, I simply couldn't go any higher.

 

[Xandalf]

I turned the intensity down for whites at about 30, and blues at 75.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

I'm about 10 inches high, due to the shelving in my house, I simply couldn't go any higher.

It’s fine. Like crabs said , at 12in from the light at 100% in both channels , it’s about 680 par.
Just go slow bringing it up.

 

[Xandalf]

So I have scheduled the blue lights to turn on at 8am off at 10 pm, and the whites on at 10am and off at 8pm, then the refugium lights turn on at 10pm and off at 6am.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

A bit hard to say, but my gut says it’s still a bit high in the %.

 

[Crabs McJones]

So I have scheduled the blue lights to turn on at 8am off at 10 pm, and the whites on at 10am and off at 8pm, then the refugium lights turn on at 10pm and off at 6am.

14 hours may be a bit much, 8 to 10 is usually the standard with some running as much as 12.

 

[Jason mack]

Agreed ! 14 hrs is too long!!

 

[Jason mack]

 

[Xandalf]

14 hours may be a bit much, 8 to 10 is usually the standard with some running as much as 12.

Okay, I kicked it back another hour on either end.

 

[jaxteller007]

Piggybacking on this thread. I'm looking at adding a couple mars aquas to our tank. It's a 75G like 48" long. Right now no corals but we eventually want to add them. Starting with the hardier, easier to keep kind (whichever those are lol). How many of these would I need for the tank? Would 2 cover it? And what kind of range should I look at as far as mounting height? We have screen tops instead of glass tops.

 

[Flippers4pups]

Piggybacking on this thread. I'm looking at adding a couple mars aquas to our tank. It's a 75G like 48" long. Right now no corals but we eventually want to add them. Starting with the hardier, easier to keep kind (whichever those are lol). How many of these would I need for the tank? Would 2 cover it? And what kind of range should I look at as far as mounting height? We have screen tops instead of glass tops.

I have 3 units over my 6' 125. You should be good with 2 units over a 75.

10"-12" on height is standard.

 

[jaxteller007]

I have 3 units over my 6' 125. You should be good with 2 units over a 75.

10"-12" on height is standard.

Thanks! Gonna borrow that idea of using the TV mounts so we dont have to try and hang them.

 

[jaxteller007]

I would turn the intensities down, those lights are a power house of highly focused light. Were talking over 700 to 800 par at 100% intensity. I'd look more around 20 to 30 percent to start and you can turn it up slowly over several weeks from there. what I would do (and what I did when I used one) was had the blues come on first for an hour, then the whites came in, stayed on for 8 hours and then the whites kicked off and the blues stayed on for another hour and then off for the night.

I agree with Crabs .. I have my whites at 30% and blues at 75% ..
blues come on first then over a period of couple of hrs my whites come on I run my whites for 5.5 hrs and my blues at 10 hrs

I just got two of these in along with mounts for them. As far as timing do you have the blues and whites on separte timers? What kind of timers do you use?

 

[Jason mack]

I just got two of these in along with mounts for them. As far as timing do you have the blues and whites on separte timers? What kind of timers do you use?

Mine had wifi and an app too run it from !!

 

[jaxteller007]

Mine had wifi and an app too run it from !!

I don't think mine does. I think they are just the basic black box set ups with two plug ins, one for blues, one for whites. I'll check my order again and see.

 

[Crabs McJones]

I just got two of these in along with mounts for them. As far as timing do you have the blues and whites on separte timers? What kind of timers do you use?

Yes, if it does not have a built in timer, I used a power strip with a built in timer to turn them on and off. But any basic timer will work