What Lighting Settings for 40W JBJ 28 WIFI?

[harVentures]

I recently set up a JBJ 28 gallon WIFI. It is supposed to have a 40W LED hood. I'm able to change the intensity of the white, red, and blue channel. I have no idea what percentages I should actually be running for my tank. It's going to be a reef tank so I just want to make sure I get the lighting squared away before I get too deep. Any suggestions anyone?

 

[Ron Reefman]

I wish I could put my PAR meter in your tank and tell you exactly where you should be... but I'm in SW Florida and you're...?

Anyway, the 40w led fixture you have sounds like it should be fairly good PAR for your tank. So just how many of each color led does the fixture have? Are there any timers built into this fixture?

I'd start with the blue leds at about 50 to 80%, the white leds at much less, say about 20 to 40%. Power to the reds would be based on how many red leds there are, but I'd use them VERY sparingly is at all! Any coral in your system will use the blue spectrum as the zooxanthellae (algae inside the coral polyps) to do photosynthesis. The white are useful for some other chemistry inside the coral, but it's far less important. The red is used by macro algae and you really don't need any help growing that in a new tank. Maybe in 6 to 12 months the reds will be more useful. Just add as much white as you need to to make the overall color inside the tank to your liking.

I'm being called to breakfast, so more after you get to reply to the questions.

 

[harVentures]

I wish I could put my PAR meter in your tank and tell you exactly where you should be... but I'm in SW Florida and you're...?

Anyway, the 40w led fixture you have sounds like it should be fairly good PAR for your tank. So just how many of each color led does the fixture have? Are there any timers built into this fixture?

I'd start with the blue leds at about 50 to 80%, the white leds at much less, say about 20 to 40%. Power to the reds would be based on how many red leds there are, but I'd use them VERY sparingly is at all! Any coral in your system will use the blue spectrum as the zooxanthellae (algae inside the coral polyps) to do photosynthesis. The white are useful for some other chemistry inside the coral, but it's far less important. The red is used by macro algae and you really don't need any help growing that in a new tank. Maybe in 6 to 12 months the reds will be more useful. Just add as much white as you need to to make the overall color inside the tank to your liking.

I'm being called to breakfast, so more after you get to reply to the questions.

Yeah I wish I could throw a PAR meter in there. I'm in Nashville, TN so that doesn't work lol. Right now I have the blues set to 50% but I have the whites set to 75% Do you think that is too much for them? The color looks good and it doesn't look overly bright, but I know it's hard to judge with your eyes. I have the reds at 14% right now too. Had no idea what to do with those.

 

[Eagle_Steve]

Yeah I wish I could throw a PAR meter in there. I'm in Nashville, TN so that doesn't work lol. Right now I have the blues set to 50% but I have the whites set to 75% Do you think that is too much for them? The color looks good and it doesn't look overly bright, but I know it's hard to judge with your eyes. I have the reds at 14% right now too. Had no idea what to do with those.

Good ole Nashville. Down the road from me. I do not have my par meter currently, as my dad is using it, and not sure who has the club meter right now.

As for the tank, if this is a biocube 28, I have mine set at 80% blue, and 40% white. It is mostly a zoa garden with a few LPS in it and they do fine. It is more leaned towards blue, as at about 50% white (best color IMO) the zoas just did not pop as much as the wife wanted. I can think of someone else who might be able to help ya, as she grew a lot of stuff in hers with stock lights also. @Bleigh may be able to chime in and tell you her settings.

 

[harVentures]

144 blues (6 rows of 24)
120 whites (6 rows of 20)
10 reds (2 rows of 5)

 

[Eagle_Steve]

Good ole Nashville. Down the road from me. I do not have my par meter currently, as my dad is using it, and not sure who has the club meter right now.

As for the tank, if this is a biocube 28, I have mine set at 80% blue, and 40% white. It is mostly a zoa garden with a few LPS in it and they do fine. It is more leaned towards blue, as at about 50% white (best color IMO) the zoas just did not pop as much as the wife wanted. I can think of someone else who might be able to help ya, as she grew a lot of stuff in hers with stock lights also. @Bleigh may be able to chime in and tell you her settings.

I forgot par with an apogee MQ-510 when I measured it in my tank. Mine has the professional LEDs in it from JBJ. I think they are the 40w ones.

I was anywhere from 70-90 on the sand, depending on where it was measured. midway was about 125-175 and 1" below was 250-300. With all of the highest reading directly below the light. Lighting was measured with pump on and wavemaker going as well.

 

[Eagle_Steve]

144 blues (6 rows of 24)
120 whites (6 rows of 20)
10 reds (2 rows of 5)

Can you get a pic of the underside of your hood? As if this was not bought brand new it may have been upgraded. That is a ton of leds, and even the professional hood does not have that many.

 

[Eagle_Steve]

Can you get a pic of the underside of your hood? As if this was not bought brand new it may have been upgraded. That is a ton of leds, and even the professional hood does not have that many.

Scratch that. You have the newest design.

 

[Eagle_Steve]

Looks like this?

 

[harVentures]

Can you get a pic of the underside of your hood? As if this was not bought brand new it may have been upgraded. That is a ton of leds, and even the professional hood does not have that many.

Still need a pic? Yeah it's the newest version. The "WIFI" model.

 

[harVentures]

Looks like this?

Yes only a bit different. They aren't all exactly lined up like that and there are more of some than others. But yeah that kind of layout basically.

 

[Eagle_Steve]

Still need a pic? Yeah it's the newest version. The "WIFI" model.

Mine is wifi as well but is the version right before the one you have. My lights are rated at 89 watts, so being as yours has more spread then mine, but has less power, it could be assumed that the numbers will be lower, but you will have a better spread and it not jump around as much as mine.

 

[harVentures]

The order of the rows is the same. Just imagine 24 in each blue row, 20 in each white row, and then 5 in both red rows.

 

[Eagle_Steve]

Hit post to soon lol. I did find a par chart for my version that also shows the intermediate lights (same wattage as yours, but different led layout). It should be a good starting point at least to have an idea. I have to assume that the par is with all at 100% and no water movement, at least based on what they show for my tank, and what I recorded.

http://www.jbjlighting.com/prod-28g-nano-led.html

 

[Ron Reefman]

Yeah I wish I could throw a PAR meter in there. I'm in Nashville, TN so that doesn't work lol. Right now I have the blues set to 50% but I have the whites set to 75% Do you think that is too much for them? The color looks good and it doesn't look overly bright, but I know it's hard to judge with your eyes. I have the reds at 14% right now too. Had no idea what to do with those.

I don't think that's too much, but I'd seriously consider reversing the white and blue levels! White light is more for our eyes and blue light is way better for the coral. And even reversed, the tank won't look a lot different, just a cooler version of white.

 

[ohioreef513]

What schedule are you running now

 

[lindseyrosie]

Thank you for these levels! I need to change mine ASAP...didnt know what to set them at

 

[MaxTremors]

Thank you for these levels! I need to change mine ASAP...didnt know what to set them at

I recently took the hood off my tank, but when I was using it, I had the blues at 100, the whites at around 40, and the reds at 0 (with a 2.5 hour ramp up/ramp down, see the schedule below).
730am B-20% W-0%
8am B-40% W-10%
830am B-60% W-20%
9am B-80% W-30-%
930am B-90% W-35%
10am B-100% W-40%
and then ramping down exactly the same in reverse starting at 5pm.
With these settings I had decent growth and was able to keep most softies and LPS, and a few SPS and a BTA. Recently switch to an AI Prime and am seeing much better colors, haven’t had it long enough to gauge growth (though my green Nepthea has grown about an inch in almost a month, whereas under the Nanocube lights it grew only 1.5 inches in like six months).

 

[Superd513]

Looks like this?

I don’t have half that many in mine. Plus I think some of mine are burnt out.