Vertex Illumina Official Thread

[Alabamareef]

So I learned something new. Did not know that about the paste. Did you use the install kit? It makes it a little easer also. Here is a photo of my light %. The Blue, Royal Blue and UV's follow the same % line:

So.......yesterday, we installed our first extra pad in the light. Instructions that came with the pad were basic, and good, if you like game apps like Machinarium (meaning study the pictures carefully to make sure you understand what you are supposed to do). Here are the things we learned:
1. When they say install the pad as close as possible to the connecting pad, they mean right up tight against it. Our first try had a 1/8" gap, which was too much space for the wiring harness.
2. The tube of paste is heat sink paste and not conductivity paste. It is applied directly behind where the LED lights are, and is intended to help migrate heat away from the pad.
3. Have a pair of very small tip needle nose pliers to help seat the wiring harness. Using finger tips is about as easy as trying to perform surgery on a ladybug, and the pliers made it 1000% easier, but there are small parts and connections everywhere, so be careful. We used jewellers pliers, as they had a pointy tip that was only about 1mm wide at the end and was able to squeeze the connectors together well.

That's it! We installed the pad, cleaned the light, put it back up on the tank, turned it on, connected up the vlink, and it recognized and saw all the new colours right away! Yeah!

Now to figure out the levels for each. Considering there is only 1 green and 2 red, I assume that these should be turned up pretty high (eventually). Same with uv. Will keep them around 25% for now and raise them slowly.

If anyone wants to post their day time light levels would love to see how everyone is running their vertex lights.

 

[crayon]

Cool. What I see in your programming is interesting and raises a few questions:
1. Are you running max programming for about 6 hours total?
2. Are your whites at about 40% ish?
3. Are you going to adjust these levels at all, now that you have your light back?
4. I see reds are at about 10% ish, but I assume that's because you either have a lot of red pads or a lot of multicolour pads with lots of reds on them.

Since we have only 2 red LEDs on the one pad, I am running them about 50% right now, cause it's only 2 tiny LED lights. Will monitor what happens over the next couple weeks and report back about any changes we see.

To answer your question about using the install tool. Yes, did use it. Good for pushing on to seat the power prongs. Bad for visibility to actually know if you got the pad tight up to its neighbour. Ok to start the screws, but gets in the way to see if everything is tightening up properly.

 

[Alabamareef]

Yes I'm running about 6 hours and the whits max at 40%. I"ll adjust according to the corals but so far this setting has been good. Ive always kept the reds at about 10-15%. I have two multi color and two red pads but I've always adjusted for my eye only.
Remember its easier to kill coral with to much light. So I like to start at a low setting and work my way up.

 

[JDavis]

Following along. Just upgraded to a 3ft. SR360 with 2 UV and 1 Red added. I managed to figure out the programing (via V-Link) ok. Previously ran 2 dimmable 120w cheap fixtures.

First impressions: Quality build! Whites are way too strong... especially when I'm used to a 14K look. Running whites under 45%. Lots of control I never had.

 

[ritter6788]

Following along. Just upgraded to a 3ft. SR360 with 2 UV and 1 Red added. I managed to figure out the programing (via V-Link) ok. Previously ran 2 dimmable 120w cheap fixtures.

First impressions: Quality build! Whites are way too strong... especially when I'm used to a 14K look. Running whites under 45%. Lots of control I never had.

I was going to send you link to this thread but you're the one that brought it back!

 

[JDavis]

I can see this thing bleaching some stuff out if your not careful. Those Cree LEDs are quite a bit stronger than what I'm accustomed too.

 

[crayon]

Keep your whites at 25% for now. The 360 is a very powerful light and until you see how the corals react, keep them low. Alabama will chime in her soon, I am sure.
Generally, if you give yourself time, you can up the blues, reds and uv to full strength, but don't start anything at 100% at all. Once you find the sweet spot, your corals will be happy happy happy!

If you run into any programming issues, post a note. These lights are very sweet and have lots of control, but they have their idiosyncrasies, too.
And make sure you save your program to your computer.
Good luck!

 

[JDavis]

This is what I wrote this morning. I'll be watching to see the intensities.
... may be turning it down soon

 

[JDavis]

Keep your whites at 25% for now. The 360 is a very powerful light and until you see how the corals react, keep them low. Alabama will chime in her soon, I am sure.
Generally, if you give yourself time, you can up the blues, reds and uv to full strength, but don't start anything at 100% at all. Once you find the sweet spot, your corals will be happy happy happy!

If you run into any programming issues, post a note. These lights are very sweet and have lots of control, but they have their idiosyncrasies, too.
And make sure you save your program to your computer.
Good luck!

Thanks for the advice! Shortly after I last posted, whites got dropped to 25%. Much above that I can't see enough of blue hue I've come to enjoy.

 

[JDavis]

Lunar profile

 

[crayon]

Cool,
Here are some other thoughts and options, too.
-a good reefer friend who has a lot of sps likes to have all lights off at night to allow the corals to fully close. I don't know, as some reading suggests that corals follow the lunar cycle, too. Have you played with this feature? You just need to program in the first full moon, and then your night lights will follow the moon cycle, too. Right now, I have my moons on all off, just to see what happens to the sps. Can't say I've noticed a difference.
-since your light is new to the corals, you might want to turn down your blues a bit, to start. Just watch what happens and adjust accordingly
-the rule of thumb is whites for about 6 hours, which, with your ramp up and down, looks like you are hitting about 6, so that looks fine
-since reds are so small a qty of lights on the pads, I think you could increase those in a couple weeks. I run mine around 60% and will probably increase up shortly (just been a bit lazy about changing the programming in the light)

Good luck! Report back shortly about how everything is going

 

[Alabamareef]

It's crazy but I've had my light for around 3 years and about 2 months ago I turned my whites from 45 to 15%. I did this because I could not seem to get the color from my corals. Mosst of my SPS grow great but have a washed out color. Since turning them down I've noticed better color. Guess once I"m happy I may try to ramp them up slowley. These lights have a lot of white in them. I"ve not had a problem since I've turned them down just noticing better clolor.

 

[JDavis]

I'm running a mixed reef. So far everything seem to be ok with my settings. Another week or two should show any issues. I'm having some cyano type issues, but unrelated to the light. Had previous to install. Tank dims 48x30x18, Light is sitting 15" off the water... approx. 28" off the sandbed.

Here's a before FTS.

After install FTS

Short video of Livestock

 

[Alabamareef]

Nice tank! Did you have to go so high off the water for spread, seems a bit high. One of the reasons I got the VI was its light spread at only 3 inches off the water. Now Ive got 24" wide to cover but at 3" it seems fine. Seems like that distance will give you a lot of spillage. Even on a 30" wide spread. Also your cyano could be related to the lights, lot of light + a lot of nutrient = algae. I've had the same issue but cleaned it up with a water change and GFO.

 

[JDavis]

As you can see from the previous lighting, I'm just accustom too the height. Being the SR360 model, didn't figure it would suffer or lack reach. Plus, I'm addicted to having my hands in the water

As for the Cyano, you can see it in the before pics... I've recently started back in college + 40hr job + family... my own fault. I had been getting away with just my Reef Octopus NWB150 and weekly 10% WC. Those got stretched out to bi-weekly. That's seems to be when it took off. Back on the weekly schedule now, adding GFO again soon too.

Along with the standard 6 white/blue modules, I have a Red (middle) and 2x UV. What are your thoughts about these?

 

[Alabamareef]

No the SR360 is a very strong light, no problems with that height. I think I've been told you can grow coral at 30" with the 360. I also like being able to get my hands in the water but you know what they say, "keep your hands out of the tank". Busy schedual I can relate to that. I change water once a month but I do a good cleaning and change GFO and carbon, I alos change sock filters about once a week or bi weekly.
As far as the Red and UV goes they are great but If you could change them out for two multi color pads they have all parts of the UV spectrum and I think would be a good upgrade.

 

[JDavis]

Thanks for all the help. I feel confident & knowledgeable about programming it. I'm happy with my "Day" settings, but need to understand the Lunar settings better. I believe I'm running the Lunar cycle, however I was never prompted to enter a "Start Date"? I might be missing something.

 

[Alabamareef]

Most Likley if you were not prompt for a start date it's not the lunar cycle your running.

 

[JDavis]

Elaborate when you can?

 

[crayon]

I'm going by memory cause I set up Lunar cycle a long time ago, but you can run Lunar cycle without setting a start date. It just won't coincide with what's happening outside. I recall that there was a prompt in settings that was something like "number of days to full moon" that's it. Next time I get into the program I will check.
Funny thing was, on one tank, my lunar moon settings were exactly opposite what was happening outside. Don't know how that happened. When I did run the lunar cycle, I only used royal blue and blue and kept them less than 10%. I found that some fish just wouldn't go to sleep if they were brighter.
As mentioned, now I just run a long day time ramp down and don't have any moon lights. A friend suggested this for the sake of the sps corals, but what I have found is that my more delicate fish (princess queen anthias, tamarin wrasse) will disappear in the evening more consistently and I think having lights off at night helps them.