Intensity vs duration experiment

[805reeftank]

Intensity vs duration

I posted a question that peaked my curiosity so now I’m going to try an experiment.

Par and photo period vs color

Wanted to get everyone’s opinion on my lighting schedule. My lights run from 8am to 9pm with a 30min ramp up to a 18k-20k with a par of 450-550 (4hrs peak) on my main rock where my sps are. Then to a blue spectrum for the remainder of the day 400-475 par with a 30 min ramp down. Growth isn’t a...

www.reef2reef.com

Alright here’s the experiment I’m going to take a picture (iPhone 13 orange filter) every week Wednesday mornings water change day, one in full spectrum and one in full blues. Any suggestions to make this more useful for any are welcome I try and see what I can do.

Temp 77-78
alk 7.4-8
No3 15-20ppm
Po4 .06- .1
Cal 450
Mag 1350

I only dose all for reef 70lm currently

Current light settings (photon v2): peak runs 5hrs

Cool Blues, royal blues, and violet 100%
Whites 45%
Red, green 25%

For my tank this about 350-450 par on the edges on the sps and 450-550 par in the middle. I’ll try and get par meter and reconfirm these numbers.

After peak par drops about 100-150 in par

I’ll added 5% every week till I get to 60/70% maybe even 100% we’ll see as time comes. I’ll add to the reds and green but I’ll keep them 50% of what ever the white channel is. Once I hit the 60/70% or 100% and assumingj there’s been no negative effects we’ll start adding time to the peak till we get to 8hrs and assess from there.

Going to try and keep parameters the same my tank is stable at my current level. I auto feed a mix of pellets 6x a day. If I need to increase the amount to keep nitrates and phosphates the same I’ll do that. I’ll update nutrients when I post the pictures.

I did order some reefbreeders lumenbars that I’ll be adding for extra Uv they’ll most likely be on the tank for the next pictures.

For simplicity I’m going to focus on one section of my sps.

If anyone has any tips to reduce the LEDs glare let me know.

 

[MnFish1]

Nice tank (very) - 1. What is your hypothesis? What do you think is going to happen? 2. I would do this In a frag tank - as compared to your display you can control the variables much better, etc. If you were planning not to use your display - apologies for not understanding - I would not risk the success you have - although - coral are pretty light tolerant.

 

[805reeftank]

Nice tank (very) - 1. What is your hypothesis? What do you think is going to happen? 2. I would do this In a frag tank - as compared to your display you can control the variables much better, etc. If you were planning not to use your display - apologies for not understanding - I would not risk the success you have - although - coral are pretty light tolerant.

I think you can achieve the same goals using one or the other. I’m going to try intensity first since I’m already halfway there. Another member posted this article which states/claims corals really only need 350-400 par to exhibit their colors. Didn’t see anything about exposed time tho.

This is a cliff note article of Dana's Series of articles--

Aquarium Corals: Making Corals Colorful: New Information on Acropora species

We will look at colors of some of the most popular reef aquarium corals - Acropora species (Family Acroporidae). There is a considerable amount of relatively new information presented in this article.

reefs.com

I highly recommend reefers with dominant acropora systems read the actual 6 part series.

It’s a good read.

As for a frag tank… nah the display will do. I don’t mind experimenting. It’s just light if I see something I don’t like I’ll back it off. If the coral can handle it I’ll keep pushing. It’s going to be small increments we’ll see what happens.

Quick update decided I wanted to swap voodoo majick and bill Murray liked the contrast better.

 

[REEFRIED!]

I like this experiment, it I do not think one week is enough. You should raise the intensity and wait 3-4 weeks before raising again.

 

[805reeftank]

I like this experiment, it I do not think one week is enough. You should raise the intensity and wait 3-4 weeks before raising again.

We’ll see how it goes. Maybe I’ll do 5% every two weeks if I see negative affect.

 

[805reeftank]

Update whites are now at 50% current picture is under 50% whites

 

[areefer01]

Intensity vs duration

Do a search on Dana Riddle and DLI. He has a MACNA talk I think in 2013 and a couple of articles on the subject. He has done actual real world studies in Hawaiian tidepools.

Edit: DLI = Daily Light Integer.

 

[bubbgee]

Any updates?

 

[805reeftank]

.

 

[805reeftank]

Any updates?

Ive changed the tank quite a bit and moved most of the coral to different spots but I did settle on a lighting schedule.

Parameters are still the same but I ended on a 7hr peak schedule with blues/uv at 100 whites at 60 and red/green at 15 for the peak and 1 hr ramp up and down to blues for a total of 13hr light schedule.

Also just switched over to 3 part dosing from all for reef

 

[bubbgee]

Ive changed the tank quite a bit and moved most of the coral to different spots but I did settle on a lighting schedule.

Parameters are still the same but I ended on a 7hr peak schedule with blues/uv at 100 whites at 60 and red/green at 15 for the peak and 1 hr ramp up and down to blues for a total of 13hr light schedule.

Also just switched over to 3 part dosing from all for reef

Any progress on color or growth? I'm tinkering with my lights as well and looking for inspiration. Right now, my focus is full spectrum vs just blue.

 

[805reeftank]

Any progress on color or growth? I'm tinkering with my lights as well and looking for inspiration. Right now, my focus is full spectrum vs just blue.

I like all the spectrums but I have settled on full spectrum for 7hrs peak. Followed by a hour ramp up and down and blue for the remainder. Best of both worlds. I get my blue fix at the beginning and end of the day. I actually like the ramping down right before it’s all blue. Anyway a lot of the corals have been moved or replaced but there’s some you can see the color and growth. Also you’ll notice I added 4 led bars. So both intensity and duration has been upped since the beginning.

 

[805reeftank]

Here’s a direct comparison

 

[bubbgee]

Thanks. I’m trying an 8 hour full spectrum recommendation with t5 and then the blue LEDs take over after the t5s are shutdown. Still a 14-hour cycle though.

 

[805reeftank]

Thanks. I’m trying an 8 hour full spectrum recommendation with t5 and then the blue LEDs take over after the t5s are shutdown. Still a 14-hour cycle though.

14hrs might be a touch to much. But that’ll depend on how powerful your blue accents light are. For my 7hr peak the majority of my sps are getting between 350-450 par on the edges and 450-550 par in the middle. That was the last time I tested par and that was before adding the extra bars, so who knows what it’s at now.

 

[bubbgee]

14hrs might be a touch to much. But that’ll depend on how powerful your blue accents light are. For my 7hr peak the majority of my sps are getting between 350-450 par on the edges and 450-550 par in the middle. That was the last time I tested par and that was before adding the extra bars, so who knows what it’s at now.

It's not that strong the last two hours. it's more for my viewing pleasure.