Not enough light intensity?

[Jl330]

I've got cheap Chinese black boxes. I've been running the blues at 50% for about 11 hours a day iirc and white around 10-20% for 8-10 hours.

I read that most are running blue at 100%

I'm not seeing great colors but I've been blaming it on other factors.

I'd like to increase the intensity, but have no way of ramping the lights. Would it be safe to increase by about 10% a week?

 

[Crabs McJones]

I've got cheap Chinese black boxes. I've been running the blues at 50% for about 11 hours a day iirc and white around 10-20% for 8-10 hours.

I read that most are running blue at 100%

I'm not seeing great colors but I've been blaming it on other factors.

I'd like to increase the intensity, but have no way of ramping the lights. Would it be safe to increase by about 10% a week?

Keep in mind that those lights are a powerhouse of focused light. How high off the waters surface do you have them mounted?

 

[jda]

Most Chinese black boxes do not have issues with low output. The lenses can be too focused and some will argue that the spectrum is not all that great.

A lot of this depends on which black box, which makes it even harder.

Are you getting good growth? If so, then there is enough light. However, only a light meter will tell you. If so, then add some T5s - nearly everybody sees benefits from doing so (growth and color).

 

[vetteguy53081]

You have to consider number of whites and blues on fixture and height off the surface on tank. The lower the light is to tank, the lower intensity of white you want.
I would tweak it to 75% blue and 25% white and then adjust whites/blues until you get a soft blue effect and then increase/decrease the blue according to coral response.

 

[Jl330]

I pulled the lenses off the lights so they're not as focused. They're about 14" off the water with glass lids between them.

 

[Jl330]

Most Chinese black boxes do not have issues with low output. The lenses can be too focused and some will argue that the spectrum is not all that great.

A lot of this depends on which black box, which makes it even harder.

Are you getting good growth? If so, then there is enough light. However, only a light meter will tell you. If so, then add some T5s - nearly everybody sees benefits from doing so (growth and color).

I'm getting growth, but color could be better.

What spectrum t5 would I need to add? I'd like to add a strip in front of and behind the boxes.

 

[jda]

You will get all kinds of answers from Blue Plus, to Coral Plus to whatever. I personally would use Blue Plus for both in a two-bulb setup. If you went to a four-bulb, then my choices change with a 6500k and Actinic on both the front and back.

The cool thing is that you can change the color of your panels to make up for anything that you might not like in the T5s.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Just turn them up. Youll be fine
10% is fine.

You don’t need to buy new lights. You can if you want to.

Most B.B. at 12 with lenses will give you about 650 par at 12 in. With BOTH channels.
Pulling the lenses reduces it by close to half or 40%. So it’s mosy likely you’re only giving the top of the 200 par or less.

So yes , not enough light.

 

[Jl330]

I just checked and they were lower than I thought. Going to increase intensity till I hit 100%