Maxspect MJ-L165 Blue

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I don’t understand how to set this thing. It has no white—how do I know how much light my corals need for how long each day. I didn’t order the Blue, but that’s what came from China and the guy gave me a substantial discount to keep it.
 
I don’t understand how to set this thing. It has no white—how do I know how much light my corals need for how long each day. I didn’t order the Blue, but that’s what came from China and the guy gave me a substantial discount to keep it.
According to this it has white..
maxspectblueandwhite.JPG



maxspecblue2.JPG

Some channels have mixed diode colors. Don't know what goes where atm.
You have warm whites (assume "yellow" channel) but no cool whites.
Looks like in the reg model royal blie and cool white are on the same channel.
 
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Yes, the info on the right is for the Blue model—so I can’t just turn off red, yellow and green (to prevent diatom growth) and keep white. Yellow and white are on the same channel.

These are my colors now and they stay that way until 4:00 when they ramp down:

I just changed them myself. OMG!‍ I have a written chart of what they were. I’ll make that into an internet readable form and follow up shortly with that info. (Should have just done a screen shot—live & learn). I had a friend set them up on 8/12/23 and I just changed them on 9/1/2923.
 

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There are no yellow diodes .
Warm white could be considered " yellow" by some though and apparently is here

Still channels are confusing and I can only guess ATM
1) sky blue/(deep blue?)
2) red
3) violet/UV
4) royal blue/(deep blue?)
5) green
6) warm white ( yellow)
Not sure where the deep blue fits.

You can always " keep white" visually even without white LEDs

R+G+B = white

The setting you posted has more red than is normally preferred.
The warm white plus the red.

One choice is use the warm white w/ red and green off or just use red/green with warm white off.

Or not..
 
There are no yellow diodes .
Warm white could be considered " yellow" by some though and apparently is here

Still channels are confusing and I can only guess ATM
1) sky blue/(deep blue?)
2) red
3) violet/UV
4) royal blue/(deep blue?)
5) green
6) warm white ( yellow)
Not sure where the deep blue fits.

You can always " keep white" visually even without white LEDs

R+G+B = white

The setting you posted has more red than is normally preferred.
The warm white plus the red.

One choice is use the warm white w/ red and green off or just use red/green with warm white off.

Or not..
Please excuse my extreme ignorance when it comes to electronics and lights. That’s why I’m asking for help. (I’m a retired criminal defense attorney and went to law school to avoid engineering classes—though I know a little about colors from my photoshop and photo printing hobby days). What do diodes have to do with it? Looks like the light sources (6 bunches of them each with 4 “bulbs”, each have a white bulb made up of a red, blue, green and yellow “diode”(?) according to the Blue specs posted. The adjustment board shows the RGBY “diodes”(?) can be separately adjusted? Other “bulbs besides the “white” one show shades of blue and violet. I’ll have to examine them and compare them with the specs that were posted. Thanks for this thinking exercise…my brain is going to new places!
 
According to this it has white..
maxspectblueandwhite.JPG



maxspecblue2.JPG

Some channels have mixed diode colors. Don't know what goes where atm.
You have warm whites (assume "yellow" channel) but no cool whites.
Looks like in the reg model royal blie cool white are on the same channel.
It’s beginning to make sense!!! Hurray!!! The knot between my shoulder blades is relaxing!!! Thank you so much! I’ve been sick with frustration over my ignorance and need to rely blindly on others! I wake up in the morning and get hung up with the tank and can’t do anything else! It’s for my grandson who is only 6.5 and is autistic, but that’s not the point! “Why” has nothing to do with “How”, except it’s a reason not to throw up my hands and quit! And actually, I’m kinda getting into it myself.
 
Not to confuse you but there are " bulbs" that actually have bulblets...

According to the diagram they have red,green,blue,warm white all in one bulb.
Each can be separately controlled with this particular " bulb"
Your bulb is the center square.
Ignore the star circuit board.
Screenshot_20230908-111209.png


Sooo your 4 are actual 7 colors ..
 
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It’s beginning to make sense!!! Hurray!!! The knot between my shoulder blades is relaxing!!! Thank you so much! I’ve been sick with frustration over my ignorance and need to rely blindly on others! I wake up in the morning and get hung up with the tank and can’t do anything else! It’s for my grandson who is only 6.5 and is autistic, but that’s not the point! “Why” has nothing to do with “How”, except it’s a reason not to throw up my hands and quit! And actually, I’m kinda getting into it myself.
Please excuse my extreme ignorance when it comes to electronics and lights. That’s why I’m asking for help. (I’m a retired criminal defense attorney and went to law school to avoid engineering classes—though I know a little about colors from my photoshop and photo printing hobby days). What do diodes have to do with it? Looks like the light sources (6 bunches of them each with 4 “bulbs”, each have a white bulb made up of a red, blue, green and yellow “diode”(?) according to the Blue specs posted. The adjustment board shows the RGBY “diodes”(?) can be separately adjusted? Other “bulbs besides the “white” one show shades of blue and violet. I’ll have to examine them and compare them with the specs that were posted. Thanks for this thinking exercise…my brain is going to new places!
So it looks like the six light sources each have 4 bulbs made of 4 diodes. Some bulbs are made up of 4 same-color diodes and each light source has a white bulb made up of a red, green, blue and yellow diode.
Please excuse my extreme ignorance when it comes to electronics and lights. That’s why I’m asking for help. (I’m a retired criminal defense attorney and went to law school to avoid engineering classes—though I know a little about colors from my photoshop and photo printing hobby days). What do diodes have to do with it? Looks like the light sources (6 bunches of them each with 4 “bulbs”, each have a white bulb made up of a red, blue, green and yellow “diode”(?) according to the Blue specs posted. The adjustment board shows the RGBY “diodes”(?) can be separately adjusted? Other “bulbs besides the “white” one show shades of blue and violet. I’ll have to examine them and compare them with the specs that were posted. Thanks for this thinking exercise…my brain is going to new places!
So I’ve examined them and can’t figure out how the other bulb colors are created. E.g., ultraviolet is the name of a bulb color, but the only adjustment is for violet, it’s the same with blue. Can’t tell what diodes the different colored blue bulbs are made of and anyway, there is only one “blue” adjustment lever. So that’s still a mystery and I don’t know what my corals need anyway. I’ll think about that red setting. Though my tank is clearer than ever, I’ve still got diatoms on my walls like crazy.
 
Not to confuse you but there are " bulbs" that actually have bulblets...

According to the diagram they have red,green,blue,warm white all in one bulb.
Each can be separately controlled with this particular " bulb"
Your bulb is the center square.
Ignore the star circuit board.
Screenshot_20230908-111209.png


Sooo your 4 are actual 7 colors ..
Not confusing at all—enlightening, in fact. Whew. So that’s how it works and each us adjustable with its own adjudmebt lever. Hmmm. Wonder why that is? It won’t be “white” anymore if the relative levels are changed with the adjustment levers, correct!
 
Diatoms are normal in new tanks. Should go away on their own.
 
There won't be any "white" with red, green, and yellow (warm white) off.

Anything that is not blue will look blue/violet or black.
Except for any fluorescence.
 
There are six rgbww diodes. One for each cluster.
All the other diodes are single "color".
Screenshot_20230908-112718.png
 
Diatoms are normal in new tanks. Should go away on their own.
That’s what I hear. My tank is only going on 4 months old. The brown hairy stage is over and green algae is popping up. Just those miserable diatoms…. But I need to know about light diatoms or no. Life depends on the sun and I have a need to understand so I can do the best job possible to keep my little menagerie healthy. My palythoa already lost huge amounts of its zooxanthellae—so also with some zoanthids I have. I think the diatoms have stained/permeated some of the corals and I’m hoping that will go away too when the diatom stage is over, if it ever will be.
 
That’s what I hear. My tank is only going on 4 months old. The brown hairy stage is over and green algae is popping up. Just those miserable diatoms…. But I need to know about light diatoms or no. Life depends on the sun and I have a need to understand so I can do the best job possible to keep my little menagerie healthy. My palythoa already lost huge amounts of its zooxanthellae—so also with some zoanthids I have. I think the diatoms have stained/permeated some of the corals and I’m hoping that will go away too when the diatom stage is over, if it ever will be.
There are six rgbww diodes. One for each cluster.
All the other diodes are single "color".
Screenshot_20230908-112718.png
So how do I know what the “intensity” is? People say “increase the intensity” or
“decrease” it. Yes, there are percentage increments for the adjustment levers and each of the colors has a percentage—are all the percentages added up to know total intensity? I suppose each color has a 100% percentage. That means full blast? But do the other colors come into play to make up 100%, a full blast combination of colors? Potentially SBS
According to this it has white..
maxspectblueandwhite.JPG



maxspecblue2.JPG

Some channels have mixed diode colors. Don't know what goes where atm.
You have warm whites (assume "yellow" channel) but no cool whites.
Looks like in the reg model royal blie and cool white are on the same channel.
Ok. I think I’m getting the hang of it. So, assuming intensity is measured by the sum of percentages for each color in the spectrum, I modified my setting to equal the same sum as the original settings, but now I have less red, blue and green (the colors I understand algae thrive in) and way more soft white. With so much white the brown diatoms floating around in the water show up a bit brown, but if that continues, I’ll up the sky blue and lessen the soft white. I want to see what tomorrow brings after a night of filtration. I’ll feed lightly if at all. Here is the new setting. Now I know this may not be what the corals would prefer—I understand they like blue, but I have no idea what colors my ideal light would include and at what proportions and intensity.
 

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There are no yellow diodes .
Warm white could be considered " yellow" by some though and apparently is here

Still channels are confusing and I can only guess ATM
1) sky blue/(deep blue?)
2) red
3) violet/UV
4) royal blue/(deep blue?)
5) green
6) warm white ( yellow)
Not sure where the deep blue fits.

You can always " keep white" visually even without white LEDs

R+G+B = white

The setting you posted has more red than is normally preferred.
The warm white plus the red.

One choice is use the warm white w/ red and green off or just use red/green with warm white off.

Or not..
apparently I don’t know how to post either. So sorry. I’ll do better.
 
In the app you may have an "intensity" slider.
Should make life easier.
Say you set every channel at 50% and the global intensity slider is at 100%.
and you want to decrease the overall intensity to 25%.
Instead of adjusting ever y channel down just set the "intensity" to 50% (50% of 50% is 25%)
At least that is how it should work.
Even if the channels are different.. still works.

KEEP in mind not all channels produce the same power.
IF you have say hyper red at 100% (6 diodes) but lower it to 50% and you COMPENSATE on the sky blue channel by raising it 50% (10 diodes ) you will have actually raised it more than you decreased it.
50% down on 6 diodes is not the same as 50% up on 10 diodes.

Gets messy.
 
In the app you may have an "intensity" slider.
Should make life easier.
Say you set every channel at 50% and the global intensity slider is at 100%.
and you want to decrease the overall intensity to 25%.
Instead of adjusting ever y channel down just set the "intensity" to 50% (50% of 50% is 25%)
At least that is how it should work.
Even if the channels are different.. still works.

KEEP in mind not all channels produce the same power.
IF you have say hyper red at 100% (6 diodes) but lower it to 50% and you COMPENSATE on the sky blue channel by raising it 50% (10 diodes ) you will have actually raised it more than you decreased it.
50% down on 6 diodes is not the same as 50% up on 10 diodes.

Gets messy.
Yes, that’s what I feared. All colors are not the same intensity—my own eyes tell me that. However, I was hoping the percentages were adjusted to keep intensity in mind. I haven’t seen such a lever in my app: doesn’t mean there isn’t one. I’ll check it out. Thanks.
 
Yes, that’s what I feared. All colors are not the same intensity—my own eyes tell me that. However, I was hoping the percentages were adjusted to keep intensity in mind. I haven’t seen such a lever in my app: doesn’t mean there isn’t one. I’ll check it out. Thanks.
Yea, can't guarantee there is one.
Example, one on the far right:
Screenshot_20230908-194924.png


 

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