Strength of lights???

[Michael Jacobson]

Hey all

Just got a new light for my 40breeder. One of the Chinese 165 watt leds. Galaxy hydro version.

Set them up on wall brackets. The light is about 9 inches from top of tank.

I know these lights are strong and I should start low on the %s. But how low?? We talking 20 white 30 blue for a week to 2 weeks and go up 1-2% a week from there?

I feel like since they are pretty high I could start a little higher but do not want to bleach any corals.

Was thinking of starting like 25 white and 35 blue

Also. What is optimal end goal percentages

Any help would be great. See pictures attached

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

set your color to eye, make it look good to you and mark the percentages.
I am one of the lux meter guys. $15 on amazon.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/lighting-upgrade-with-a-lux-meter-saltyfilmfolks.248417/
set the intensity at about 25000 lux and go up about 2500 to every week for a month.(both channels with same ratio evenly ) around 35000 to 40,000 lux on that tank should be fine.

keep an eye on the corals. changes can take up to a month to notice.

 

[Animagus]

Just out of curiosity, where did you get your lights exactly? I'm new to this whole LED game, but I'm thinking about going with the same thing at first just to see how I like them. Thanks.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Looks like a Mars Aqua maybe A Chinese black box. Depending on budget it's a pretty good choice. Look at SBreeflights to. A few more bells and whistles.
If you can afford to get enough to span the whole tank for better coverage and really the ramping feature makes it with while. Am and Pm blues will make you glad you spent the money.

Another convo
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/reef-lighting.257679/#post-3046856

 

[mcarroll]

Just got a new light for my 40breeder. One of the Chinese 165 watt leds. Galaxy hydro version.

Set them up on wall brackets. The light is about 9 inches from top of tank.

If you look at the wall behind the tank, you can see the silhouette your light throws. The ends of your tank are virtually dark while the middle is fried.

At only 9" from the tank (assuming that fixture uses 90º lenses...correct me if I'm wrong) you only get about a 15"-18" diameter of useful light.

Effectively, you're only lighting about half of the tank.

I would pick a different fixture more like the Orbit Marine Pro, or consider adding a second one of these.

Failing that, I'd raise this fixture until you get better coverage on the sides....unfortunately, that means a lot of light will be spilling over the front and back. Not ideal, but probably better than dark ends in the tank.

As @saltyfilmfolks suggested, get a lux meter to help with your light setup. While you're waiting for your $15 model to ship, download a free [HASHTAG]#lux[/HASHTAG] [HASHTAG]#meter[/HASHTAG] app to your smartphone. Not as good, but good enough to get you started.

Do you have corals from before you switched lights BTW? If so, they'll be a lot happier if you can match this new light to your old light's intensity.

 

[Abott]

Maybe the lighting is too blue.

 

[Michael Jacobson]

Thanks for all of the responses -

a few things -

1. its not centered to the tank right now just based on where the studs in the wall are. in the next few weeks i will be hanging a piece of wood on the studs and then centering the brackets/light to the tank.
2. Same time ill be moving the light up another 1-2 inches to allow for less corner darkness. There are some corals that do like less intensity of lights and I can put some of those there. For example, acans which I love would do well in the corner areas.

That aside - any idea on the %s I should start at?

 

[happyhourhero]

I had that light before I switched to SB reef lights. I would start at 45% Blues and 25% whites and move up 5% a week. I found my sweet spot at 80% Blues and 50% whites. SB Reef lights makes a board that you can swap out of that light in about 10 minutes. Has a much better spectrum for coral growth but what you have is not a bad starter light at all.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Thanks for all of the responses -

a few things -

1. its not centered to the tank right now just based on where the studs in the wall are. in the next few weeks i will be hanging a piece of wood on the studs and then centering the brackets/light to the tank.
2. Same time ill be moving the light up another 1-2 inches to allow for less corner darkness. There are some corals that do like less intensity of lights and I can put some of those there. For example, acans which I love would do well in the corner areas.

That aside - any idea on the %s I should start at?

not really. percentage is just a guess. happy hour has the closest. If the opportunity arises youll be much happier with a wider light at the same distance. I actually pulled almost all the lenses on my sb's in my cube and the ai sols in my 55 standard to get better spread. It looks better to.
But in both cases I am still running at 40,000 lux pretty evenly at the top on both tanks(600-700 par) and have plenty of power left as im still going up

fwiw in the 55 i pulled the t5's. I did not know that xenia would like 800-1000 par as much as the sps.

 

[PaReeferJ]

I have 2 of the black boxes on my 40B.

 

[Michael Jacobson]

Ah 2 boxes would be great! but i think based on $ and wife's comments only one is going to happen for now.

I am not planning on keeping SPS, so i do think moving the lights up an inch or 2 to minimize blackout areas and then ramping up the intensity I should be just fine. Yes probably losing a bit of light outside the tank but overall should be good.

I also need to re-do my rockscape. which will be fun!

Right now i have the following
- 2 PJ Cardinals
- 1 hippo
- 1 emerald crab
- 1 red leg hermy
- 1 blue leg hermy
- 3 turbos
- 1 nassairius

Corals
- christmas tree leather
- 5 different zoa pods
- 4 acans
- 1 duncan
- 1 galaxea fighting! thought i lost it but coming back
- 1 kenya tree
- 1 pagoda
- 1 gonopora
- 1 red/green candy cane trumpet
- 1 hammer
- 1 leptastrea
- 1 echinata (i think)
- 2 (1 red/green and 1 green/green) chalice/scroll -- not sure
- 1 favia/brain coral

Going to be fun!

 

[mcarroll]

Ah 2 boxes would be great! but i think based on $ and wife's comments only one is going to happen for now.

Understandable from both angles!

I am not planning on keeping SPS, so i do think moving the lights up an inch or 2 to minimize blackout areas and then ramping up the intensity I should be just fine. Yes probably losing a bit of light outside the tank but overall should be good.

SPS are not particularly high-light loving animals. In fact, it might be fair to say the same about corals in general. In contrast, clams definitely appear to favor high-light environments.

Raising the light and dialing in the intensity with a meter (free [HASHTAG]#lux[/HASHTAG] [HASHTAG]#meter[/HASHTAG] app will do; $15 handhelds are generally available; PM me) is definitely the right way to go – at least in the short term.

If possible, try to do the new mount so you have some flexibility to raise the light higher than needed occasionally.

As you noted, there is a downside to raising the light....most people gloss over it. I say it's worth taking a closer look at.

Geometry of lost light....

• Tank – 36" Rectangle = 36•12 = 432 square inches
• Light – 36" Circle = π•18² = 1018 square inches
• Wasted light = 1018 - 432 = 586 square inches.
• 586 sq in of wasted light ÷ 1018 of light = .5589 or....
• 56% wasted light

So if you use a circle light to illuminate the entire tank length, you're literally lighting more wasted space than tank space.

The light is not evenly spread over that 36" circle, so it's not quite that simple, but you get the idea: It's not an efficient solution and you would save money (power) every month by implementing a better solution once at equal performance but lower power.

As is usually the case, corals aren't going to care about this - that's why the thumbs up to raising the light, etc in the short term.

But there are some practical concerns too. You or your wife might light the room where the aquarium is to be normally lit without having to shut off the aquarium lights.

56% waste of 165 watts of light means that the room is going to be lit by upwards of 80 watts of reef-colored LED lighting.​

Mostly food for thought!