Are my light settings ok for corals?

[Miami Reef]

My tank is about 20” high, and the lights are about 12” above water level. My main focus is providing the correct lighting for corals. Their main food source is light, right? In that case, I want to make sure the settings are correct. My main focus is the reds, greens, and uv. I also want to know if the blues and whites are ok, too. I’m using Ai Hydra lights.

 

[Miami Reef]

 

[SDboatguy]

First a few questions...What type of coral are planning, how many and which fixture? Whats your schedule? Personally(60" x 18" x 20" tank) , I run 3 Hydra 26HDs with a long ramp up/down(4-5 hours) with a 4 hour peak. At peak whites are 70% all others are at or near 100%. I also have 4- T5s , 2 on for 10hrs and all 4 on for 5 hours overlapping the peak LED time. SPS dominate mixed reef. So depending on your schedule ,your percentages look good ,I might kick the UV up a bit. The main thing is make any changes gradually. There are also some Coral lab / Ecotech programs for SPS and LPS tanks available...

 

[Miami Reef]

I have a mixture of sps and lps:
Gsp
Flowerpot
Toadstool leather
Finger leather
Plate coral
Anemones
Discosoma Mushroom
Torch
Kenya tree

I have 4 hydra 52 hd but there is a thick slab of acrylic in the middle that I’m pretty sure blocks 2 of the lights.

 

[Bpb]

If you keep the acrylic clean it won’t block a ton of light.

I’d max your blues, violets, and uv at 100%, and the white green and red at 25%. It is a fairly blue appearance but that program is tried and true among the top aquaculture facilities and hobbyists. It’s the ecotech ab+ program but your diodes are basically the same so it is applicable. Just set your overall intensity to hit 250-400 par near the top and you can forget about lights and focus on other things

 

[Miami Reef]

I don’t think there is a setting to change intensity. It just lets me change the percentages. I suppose 100% means the highest intensity.

100% uv? That sounds rather scary to me. Don’t you think it’s too much uv? Won’t it harm the corals?

 

[Miami Reef]

Also, my ramp time is set to 1hr. I don’t know exactly what ramp time means. What does ramp time mean and should it be more?

 

[SDboatguy]

Personal choice. I like the look of the tank as it gets dimmer(ramping down), but 1 hour is fine. Most reef lighting is on/ off(MH , T5 as well as numerous LEDs) I also like having the lights on longer ,so the long ramp up/down and a shorter PEAK period allows this with out stressing the animals in the tank. As far as the UV - its fine to up your % just do it slowly ,over several weeks. I've been running mine at 100% for a year now ,with no issue.

 

[SDboatguy]

After reading pages and pages of info on these fixtures, dating back several years, the most common complaint /issue people have had was with the whites bleaching corals when they are above 50%. BUT if you add say 5% every month and use the acclimation feature the corals will adjust. The MAIN thing is to adjust very slowly nothing good happens fast. You don't have to run them that high, but some of us do. from the picture of your tank ,I'd bump up your UV to where YOU like the look , then set it at the point and acclimate for 2 months at maybe 50%. But If you like the way it looks now.... you should be fine

 

[Bpb]

I don’t think there is a setting to change intensity. It just lets me change the percentages. I suppose 100% means the highest intensity.

100% uv? That sounds rather scary to me. Don’t you think it’s too much uv? Won’t it harm the corals?

It’s not real UV. very few fixtures come with true UVA wavelengths. It’s just more violet and perfectly fine. They just call it UV because it sounds zipper. Misleading Marketing

 

[Dana Riddle]

I don’t think there is a setting to change intensity. It just lets me change the percentages. I suppose 100% means the highest intensity.

100% uv? That sounds rather scary to me. Don’t you think it’s too much uv? Won’t it harm the corals?

Agree that white /red should be limited. As for the UV, they are probably 390-405nm, which is so close to the visible spectrum that calling them UV is a bit of a stretch (some humans can actually see this radiation as visible light, and zooxanthellae can use these wavelengths in photosynthesis.)

 

[Miami Reef]

Thank you guys! I actually really like the look of the lights now. I’m slowly raising uv as said. I feel like showing the acrylic slab to get your opinion if it’s blocking light. I dont have many corals in the middle because I’m scared they’ll die from not enough light.