AI Vega Gurus

ReefRacer · Apr 26, 2013

I am struggling to get my Vega dialed in on my all SPS tank and hoping to get some help from R2R. I have been slowing increasing my Vega over the last few months and I am currently at 75% W 80% R & G and 100% on all Blues. The fixture is about 14" off the water and my tank is a shallow 24x24x12. They ramp up from 8 am to 12pm and then ramp down from 5pm to 10pm.

Do LEDs penetrated the water comparable to MH? I have pretty heavy surface agitation and the PAR meter shows a severe degradation of penetration right below the surface of the water. My 250 MH seemed to have better penetration. Anyone experience this?

None of my corals ever bleached after switching from 250 MH, but the colors are now very very pale. I only ran my MH for about 4 hours every day and had bright, vivid colors.

I am trying to figure out if my light schedule is ok or if I am off the mark completely.

mgdth · Apr 26, 2013

How long have you been running the Vegas? I've been running mine for about 5 months and currently at 60% W 70% B 35% R/G on a 90 Gallon - 2 fixtures. Some of my SPS are just now starting to look good. I've found it takes the SPS a long time to adjust for me.

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mgdth · Apr 26, 2013

I would dial back on the photo period or drop the percentages and let the coral adjust...IMHO.

Jason

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Connie · Apr 26, 2013

I've had my Vegas over my 180 for 8 months. My numbers are:

white 50%
All blues 70%
green and red 20%

I turned them down a little because I have SPS frags acclimating, but the highest I have had them ever was:

white 60%
all blues 80%
green and red 20%

ReefRacer · Apr 26, 2013

Thanks for the info. They have been up for about 4 months and I slowly increased them up over that time. IME corals can pale from too much light and not enough light which makes it hard to trouble shoot. How high off the water do you guys have your fixtures?

twiddledog · Apr 26, 2013

I have had my vegas for 5 months and I am just at 70% max on Blues and 50% on whites. 5 inches above water line. My SPS is finally beginning to look good and a lot of new growth. When adding new frags I find it really difficult to place them because of the different intensities in the tank. Of course I leave them on the sandbed for about 2 weeks before even attempting but still you have to keep an eye on them.
Regarding SPS..I have found that some varieties flourish while others not so much under the Vegas. I think the key is placement.

ReefRacer · Apr 26, 2013

Twiddle...how deep is your tank? Mine are about 14" off the water link but my tank is only 12" deep. I agree, I have a few colonies that seem to be doing great, but a few that are pale and a few that have turned brown. Getting these dialed in has been harder than I anticipated.

gqjeff · Apr 26, 2013

For the most part on par numbers with leds its been said they read 30-35% lower then actual par numbers. Mr saltwater tank has a par meter and a scientific meter like Sanjay Joshi uses. I have been trying to get him to measure his led's with both meters to see if the 30-35% off value is true. I have sent him a few messeges but nothing yet. I will say they are very powerful and def can smopke corals. I ran 400 watt halids for yrs and never had problems. You turn these leds up to fast and they will smoke a coral in a day.

LEDSIXTYFIVE · Apr 26, 2013

Great thread. I'm very interested in the information.

ReefRacer · Apr 26, 2013

GQ. I don't know anything about the mechanics of a Par meter, but I would agree with you. My meter actually has a 'sunlight' option and 'electric light' option. So, i could imagine there is a difference between MH light and LED light. I have pretty much abandoned the par meter readings and just going with how my corals are reacting. But, that hasn't proven fool proof either since they are not all reacting the same way.

gqjeff · Apr 26, 2013

Just heard back from Mark Mr Saltwater and I am hoping he will just do a simple test. He had 80hrs into the last production showing the scientific meter alone. He does not have the time to do that again. So I simple asked him to measure with each meter and see if we r at the 30-35% off reading. I may contact Sanjay also and see if he has tested with both meters as well.

ReefRacer · Apr 26, 2013

Anxious to hear the results. As suggested, I think that I am going to turn them down a bit and see what effects I see. I'm going to shorten the 'daylight' photoperiod also.

New schedule is going to have 6 hour ramp to 60% W 80% B and 30% R&G for 2 hours then 6 hour ramp down.

gqjeff · Apr 26, 2013

I've sent a message to Sanjay also...

gqjeff · Apr 26, 2013

Sanjay just sent me this link.

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2013/2/equipment

twiddledog · Apr 26, 2013

My tank is 24"deep. 72x24x24 with 3 Vegas and 4 T5s. I really think the T5s add a lot of supplemental lighting. I my T5s just run about 6 hours during the day.
Like I said..SPS is tricky.

ReefRacer · Apr 27, 2013

For me it's the LEDs that are tricky :) I've been keeping SPS only for a long time with MH and figuring out these LEDs is kicking my butt. I think it also has a lot to do with my shallow tanks. At only 12" deep, I have corals that have grown up half an inch from the water line. So even at 14" of the water, the corals are pretty close.