Help with my lighting settings

brclark82 · Oct 9, 2023

Let me start by saying this is a long post and I appreciate anyone who reads through it and helps.

So my lights aren’t the greatest but they are what I have to work with for now. 2x Current Marine Orbit 48” over a 48” tank.

I am trying to grow Euphyllia, Zoas and I have a Duncan.

Readings below done with Apogee SQ-510

With whites and blues set to 100% I get PAR levels between 130-170 in the areas I have my current corals set and they are doing well.

The issue is this light setup isn’t aesthetically pleasing with whites set to anything above 20%.

At 20% white I only get around 50-60 PAR (it has Red/Green channels but they have 0 affect in PAR levels regardless if 0 or 100).

Here is the only schedule I can use with the lights with X being the only option I can change.

1.5 hours sunrise, X hours Daylight, 1.5 hours sunset, 6 hours moonlight

I tried doing Sunrise/Sunset/Moonlight at 20% White and 100% Blue with daylight at 100% White and Blue for 6 hours.

This means 20/100 7a-830a, 100/100 830a-230p, 20/100 230p-10p, off 10p to 7a

Is 10p-7a enough time with lights out?

Also, this works for me as far as a schedule is concerned but instead of the tank going to sleep at 10p when the lights go out my tank kinda “goes to sleep” around 230p when the lights change.

I just started this schedule yesterday so maybe it will adapt but my anemone starts to shrink and my fish kinda go to their respective beds instead of being active in the evening. Possibly if I keep my feeding schedule if around 7p they will adapt and stay up?

Curious what your thoughts are and if you have any other suggestions.

Thanks again

MnFish1 · Oct 10, 2023

brclark82 said:
Let me start by saying this is a long post and I appreciate anyone who reads through it and helps.

So my lights aren’t the greatest but they are what I have to work with for now. 2x Current Marine Orbit 48” over a 48” tank.

I am trying to grow Euphyllia, Zoas and I have a Duncan.

Readings below done with Apogee SQ-510

With whites and blues set to 100% I get PAR levels between 130-170 in the areas I have my current corals set and they are doing well.

The issue is this light setup isn’t aesthetically pleasing with whites set to anything above 20%.

At 20% white I only get around 50-60 PAR (it has Red/Green channels but they have 0 affect in PAR levels regardless if 0 or 100).

Here is the only schedule I can use with the lights with X being the only option I can change.

1.5 hours sunrise, X hours Daylight, 1.5 hours sunset, 6 hours moonlight

I tried doing Sunrise/Sunset/Moonlight at 20% White and 100% Blue with daylight at 100% White and Blue for 6 hours.

This means 20/100 7a-830a, 100/100 830a-230p, 20/100 230p-10p, off 10p to 7a

Is 10p-7a enough time with lights out?

Also, this works for me as far as a schedule is concerned but instead of the tank going to sleep at 10p when the lights go out my tank kinda “goes to sleep” around 230p when the lights change.

I just started this schedule yesterday so maybe it will adapt but my anemone starts to shrink and my fish kinda go to their respective beds instead of being active in the evening. Possibly if I keep my feeding schedule if around 7p they will adapt and stay up?

Curious what your thoughts are and if you have any other suggestions.

Thanks again

If you think about natural light in a warm reef area it's about 12-13 or so hours/day. It sounds like your fish are not responding well to the schedule but since it's only been a day, I think you have a valid plan. I would consider having your 'X' longer than it is at some point. I would also think an anemone may need more light than you're providing.

I have used these exact lights - and in general can understand your issues - because I found them not as adequate long-term for coral, etc. I don't know how easy it is for you but you could consider buying a couple used higher quality/more adjustable lights? In any case - I guess the main point, IMHO - is give it some time and don't tinker too much too quickly.

brclark82 · Oct 10, 2023

MnFish1 said:
If you think about natural light in a warm reef area it's about 12-13 or so hours/day. It sounds like your fish are not responding well to the schedule but since it's only been a day, I think you have a valid plan. I would consider having your 'X' longer than it is at some point. I would also think an anemone may need more light than you're providing.

I have used these exact lights - and in general can understand your issues - because I found them not as adequate long-term for coral, etc. I don't know how easy it is for you but you could consider buying a couple used higher quality/more adjustable lights? In any case - I guess the main point, IMHO - is give it some time and don't tinker too much too quickly.

I appreciate the feedback, I actually don’t have any issue taking the full daylight period longer I was just concerned that it may not be ideal having the actual nighttime period being too short.

I am planning a large tank upgrade in the next 6 months and don’t really want to put much more money into this tank in the mean time although if I can figure out a lighting solution that could be moved to part of a larger array for the new tank I wouldn’t be opposed to trying it in the short term.

The anemone (and the Zoas) were seemingly doing very well on my previous schedule of about 100 par for 8 hours. (Before I had access to the Apogee this is what my setting and schedule came out to be)

I may try the X at 8 hours and just leave it for a while and see how everything does. Still curious how the Zoas and anemone will do moving from 100-150 PAR.

Hooz · Oct 10, 2023

I do something similar with my schedule (different lights). I use longer ramp times so my lights can be "on" for more of the day. My coral does start going into night mode about an hour before the lights go off, but my total ramp time is 2.5 hours.

Actually, my total schedule is 14 hours long, but my lights are ramping up or down for 10 of those hours. Blues ramp up to their peak over 2.5 hours, then whites ramp up to their peak over 2.5 hours. Everything is at its "max" for 4 hours, then the whites ramp down over 2.5 hours, then the blues ramp down for 2.5 hours. Makes for nice blue viewing in the morning and night, and makes the 14 hour schedule more bearable for the coral.

Since you've only been running it for a day, I'd give it some time.

As for the PAR and aesthetic thing... The only way around that is to add another strip, or get some other kind of lights, unfortunately. A lot of the less expensive "strip" type lights rely on whites for a lot of their total output. Adding more will give you the PAR you need without having to use the white light crutch.

As a general rule, soft coral and LPS do fine in 75-150 PAR. I keep my anemones (BTAs and RFAs) between 100 and 200 PAR, and they're perfectly happy.