AI Vega Color and Coral Color Issue - Please Help

[coralcrazy]

I have 2 AI Color Vegas above my 90 gallon and am having some issues dial it in. Currently my setup is 10.5 inches above the waterline with a tank depth of 20 inches to sanded. I am getting great growth from the corals but I am having issues with coral color, in particular my SPS. I have set the timer to a 3 hour ramp on the Caribbean global setting. I am currently running the lights at:

White 60
Red 25
Green 15
Royal Blue 55
Deep Blue 55
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Blue 55[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]

My water is pristine

Temp 78.3
PH 8.31
Nitrate 0
Calcium 430
Alkalinity 10 dkh
Magnesium 1400
Phosphate 0

All tested last night.

I dose 2 part ESV and top off with Kalkwasser controlled by Neptune with a PH threshold of 8.35.


Any suggestions? What am I doing wrong?[/FONT]

 

[screefer]

I would lower your whites to the 40-45% range. Blues look good, could actually bump them up to around 60% each. I would try that out and see how your sps does.

 

[coralcrazy]

I would lower your whites to the 40-45% range. Blues look good, could actually bump them up to around 60% each. I would try that out and see how your sps does.

I was under the impression that not enough white browns SPS.

 

[Acro76]

I ran the whites and all colors at 30% and all blues at 100%. I had great color, but we decided to go a different route than the AI vega because we really needed 12 modules on a 8' x 4' tank for full coverage. The 8 we had was not spreading the light out enough. Our lights were 24" off the surface and water depth is about 12".

 

[coralcrazy]

I ran the whites and all colors at 30% and all blues at 100%. I had great color, but we decided to go a different route than the AI vega because we really needed 12 modules on a 8' x 4' tank for full coverage. The 8 we had was not spreading the light out enough. Our lights were 24" off the surface and water depth is about 12".

What would you suggest for my tank based on your experiance? I have a mixed reef with LPS, SPS, and some softs.

 

[coralcrazy]

I am really thinking seriously about selling them and getting T5's or MH. Unless there are some other LEDs that people have better experience with.

 

[jedimasterben]

Like I continue to say, use low-CRI cool whites for your base and you'll have poor coloration in your corals. (Not much you can do, of couse, since it's a premade fixture, this deals more with DIY stuff since Ecotech no longer follows the DIY trends [of which AI copies shortly thereafter], but still holds true)

What colors specifically are you missing? More than likely they are non-fluorescent pigments and the low-CRI cool white LEDs in the Vega are simply not capable of exciting.

 

[TheSaint216]

My lights are 12 inches off the water line, depth is 12 inches of water. Whites are at 30%, Reds are at 30%, Greens are at 15 % and all blues at 85%. tanks been running for around a month. Just play around with them to see what you like and what your corals like.

Id really like to be able to take the percentages off one of the ATI Bulbs that I like and somehow translate that into a percentage of what it would look like on the Vega's.

 

[coralcrazy]

Like I continue to say, use low-CRI cool whites for your base and you'll have poor coloration in your corals. (Not much you can do, of couse, since it's a premade fixture, this deals more with DIY stuff since Ecotech no longer follows the DIY trends [of which AI copies shortly thereafter], but still holds true)

What colors specifically are you missing? More than likely they are non-fluorescent pigments and the low-CRI cool white LEDs in the Vega are simply not capable of exciting.

The issue is really around my sps colors which have either browned out or gone dull. I have a green birdnest, purple stylo, green acro, and blue acro.

 

[ontop27]

Like I continue to say, use low-CRI cool whites for your base and you'll have poor coloration in your corals. (Not much you can do, of couse, since it's a premade fixture, this deals more with DIY stuff since Ecotech no longer follows the DIY trends [of which AI copies shortly thereafter], but still holds true)

What colors specifically are you missing? More than likely they are non-fluorescent pigments and the low-CRI cool white LEDs in the Vega are simply not capable of exciting.

What's a good cri? I got the hydras and they say cri is greater than 70..end thread jack

 

[jedimasterben]

The issue is really around my sps colors which have either browned out or gone dull. I have a green birdnest, purple stylo, green acro, and blue acro.

Have you measured your lighting with a PAR meter? Browning means that the zooxanthellae are multiplying beyond what the coral normally has because there is either a nutrient imbalance (aka too much N&P, prolly not your issue) or because lighting intensity is not where it needs to be.

What's a good cri? I got the hydras and they say cri is greater than 70..end thread jack

70 is in the ****-poor range. You want 80 as an absolute minimum, with 85 and higher being excellent.

 

[coralcrazy]

Have you measured your lighting with a PAR meter? Browning means that the zooxanthellae are multiplying beyond what the coral normally has because there is either a nutrient imbalance (aka too much N&P, prolly not your issue) or because lighting intensity is not where it needs to be.


70 is in the ****-poor range. You want 80 as an absolute minimum, with 85 and higher being excellent.

I measured a while back with a seneye which may not be crazy accurate. I think it was about 250 at the surface. I will measure again tonight.

 

[jedimasterben]

I measured a while back with a seneye which may not be crazy accurate. I think it was about 250 at the surface. I will measure again tonight.

250 at the surface is very, very low. You'll want between 150 and 200 on your sandbed. PAR decreases exponentially as you get farther away from the light.

 

[Igarc009]

I would say lower your whites green provides a good white spectrum for corals. I have all my blues set at 100 colors at 80 and whites at thirty color is amazing!

 

[coralcrazy]

250 at the surface is very, very low. You'll want between 150 and 200 on your sandbed. PAR decreases exponentially as you get farther away from the light.

I don't know how accurate the seneye is. I have a clam on my sand bed that has been thriving for 5 months.

 

[jedimasterben]

I would say lower your whites green provides a good white spectrum for corals. I have all my blues set at 100 colors at 80 and whites at thirty color is amazing!

If you're only talking about colors that fluoresce under blue light, then that is correct.

Green (530nm) doesn't provide anything that even cool white does. Cool white is most anemic in 550-700nm.

 

[TheSaint216]

I would say lower your whites green provides a good white spectrum for corals. I have all my blues set at 100 colors at 80 and whites at thirty color is amazing!

How far is your light from the waterline and tank depth?

 

[coralcrazy]

Just did some PAR readings, looks like it is an issue of the LEDs not being able to spread the light well. Some areas like the surface were 350 and other around the edge were 80. The corals that are not doing well are those in the dead spread area. Looks like I will be switching ti T5's, can't afford to lose anymore coral.

 

[jedimasterben]

I think the stock lenses on the Vega are like 40-50 degrees, so a very tight radiation pattern, but the edge of the water's surface doesn't matter at all.

That being said, 350 PAR at the water's surface is nothing, that should be 1000+, easy. Did you not ramp up the power level?

 

[coralcrazy]

I think the stock lenses on the Vega are like 40-50 degrees, so a very tight radiation pattern, but the edge of the water's surface doesn't matter at all.

That being said, 350 PAR at the water's surface is nothing, that should be 1000+, easy. Did you not ramp up the power level?

I have turned it up to 75% blues and 60% white but that was only registering like 450 at surface. The PAR drop off wasn't at the surface it was directly under the last lights on the fixture. about 8 inches down.