LED lighting spectrum and settings Fluval Nano 3.0

[TwiTch18]

Hello,
I'm looking for some advice for my new Nano tank lighting settings. The light is a Fluval Nano Marine 3.0 LED over a 13 Gal nano reef tank.
Keeping mostly soft corals and one brain coral.
Any advice is appreciated :)
Thanks!

 

[blaxsun]

Myself, I prefer more blues and less whites - but that's just me.

 

[TwiTch18]

Myself, I prefer more blues and less whites - but that's just me.

So are the whites and pinks mostly just preference?

 

[blaxsun]

So are the whites and pinks mostly just preference?

It's all very much personal preference.

 

[umutcancamci]

Hello,
I'm looking for some advice for my new Nano tank lighting settings. The light is a Fluval Nano Marine 3.0 LED over a 13 Gal nano reef tank.
Keeping mostly soft corals and one brain coral.
Any advice is appreciated :)
Thanks!

Hey! I just bought this light, but it seems slightly weak to me. Do you have any issues so far with your softies? If not, could you share your current schedule, please?

 

[Lita]

It's all very much personal preference.

No it isn’t just preference. It depends on the light fixture. The Fluval’s par is coming mainly from the whites so if you knock off too much white you may not get enough light for the corals depending on what you have in the tank. These lights are not like Hydras that you can push certain colours over 100% and have a mainly blue spectrum and still have adequate lighting. To a degree you can adjust to your preference but these lights in particular need pushed quite high on the white’s depending on depth of the tank and stocking .

 

[blaxsun]

No it isn’t just preference. It depends on the light fixture. The Fluval’s par is coming mainly from the whites so if you knock off too much white you may not get enough light for the corals depending on what you have in the tank. These lights are not like Hydras that you can push certain colours over 100% and have a mainly blue spectrum and still have adequate lighting. To a degree you can adjust to your preference but these lights in particular need pushed quite high on the white’s depending on depth of the tank and stocking .

It very much is. While I agree that a portion of white is going to be needed - it's also very much what people like from an aesthetic standpoint (otherwise we'd all still be running T5s).

"Pink" is going to comprise mostly reds. The same for purple, etc. To ensure you have adequate light levels you really need a PAR meter.

 

[Hooz]

I ran one of those lights on a 9g softie tank for a year. It worked well enough. The Fluval "Pink" channel is more purple than pink, so I ran all colors at max and then just added enough white to meet the PAR requirements. Previous commentors were right, though. a LOT of the total PAR output on the Fluval lights comes from the white channel, so you'll probably need to use t least some of it.

I'll have to see if I can dig up a screenshot of my old schedule to share.

 

[Lita]

It very much is. While I agree that a portion of white is going to be needed - it's also very much what people like from an aesthetic standpoint (otherwise we'd all still be running T5s).

"Pink" is going to comprise mostly reds. The same for purple, etc. To ensure you have adequate light levels you really need a PAR meter.

Just because you like a certain colour rendition and you have your preference of what you like to look at it doesn’t mean that is adequate for your corals. Ideally yes you’d have a par meter but most people do not. I have a lot of experience with these lights having had them on multiple tanks since they were launched and telling someone to go by their visual preference with this specific light is bad advice and factually incorrect as the determining factor is what the corals need not your preference. Most people would prefer to be heavy on the blue spectrum due to the fluorescence but this light is not powerful enough in that spectrum for most situations and for most tanks it will need to run more white than many would prefer for at least part of the photo period. If you were talking about radions or hydras or a light with higher output you may well be able to run mostly on the blues or even exclusively on blues and still have adequate PAR but that is not feasible with these.

 

[nano reef]

Just because you like a certain colour rendition and you have your preference of what you like to look at it doesn’t mean that is adequate for your corals. Ideally yes you’d have a par meter but most people do not. I have a lot of experience with these lights having had them on multiple tanks since they were launched and telling someone to go by their visual preference with this specific light is bad advice and factually incorrect as the determining factor is what the corals need not your preference. Most people would prefer to be heavy on the blue spectrum due to the fluorescence but this light is not powerful enough in that spectrum for most situations and for most tanks it will need to run more white than many would prefer for at least part of the photo period. If you were talking about radions or hydras or a light with higher output you may well be able to run mostly on the blues or even exclusively on blues and still have adequate PAR but that is not feasible with these.

I agree totally with what you said about its not what you like but what corals need!

I have 2 of these and was thinking of adding a 3rd. I also have 2 95 watt smat farms all of them unused. trying to decide which way to go! Kind of afraid smat farm to powerful and fluval not enough and white heavy! Plus have to do some dremeling to get to fit my rimmed tank

I have a 20 long frag tank that is 30 wide but only 12 deep and front to back. I am going to have mostly zoas and shrooms but also some low light lps more then likely!

Doo you think 3 of these will be enough? Fortunately I have a par meter. What is you opinon on the presets? Is pink supposed to be red? Never heard of a pink channel in my life!

 

[okiegirl]

I read that on a 12 in high 24 long 20gal that 2 of these lights gave 75 par on the bottom each side and 140 at 4 in from top of the water and lights 2.75 in from water surface they were running a little higher at 70 percent on the whites 60 on blue and purple at 100. I don't recall the settings on the other colors. I'm looking into purchasing new lights for a new aquarium and browsing around for a cheaper light that has auto setting capabilities. I have one light aqua knight I can grow any corals with nicely and I use only 1 light on my 20g 13x24. Bad thing is it doesn't have auto capability. I think you'd be fine with 2 of these fuval nano marine lights for softies.

 

[lowlow411]

I ran one of those lights on a 9g softie tank for a year. It worked well enough. The Fluval "Pink" channel is more purple than pink, so I ran all colors at max and then just added enough white to meet the PAR requirements. Previous commentors were right, though. a LOT of the total PAR output on the Fluval lights comes from the white channel, so you'll probably need to use t least some of it.

I'll have to see if I can dig up a screenshot of my old schedule to share.

If maxed out, is there a par spec for the fluval nano?...I know depth with change, lookin for potential.

 

[oreo54]

If maxed out, is there a par spec for the fluval nano?...I know depth with change, lookin for potential.

There appears to be a 4.0 Nano.. so which one?
https://fluvalaquatics.com/ca/shop/product/reef-4-0-nano25W
54 -12000k white,30- 460, 6-480, 24-"violet blues", 7-pink
Estimated from picture..
Basically 50:50 "Blue" to "not blue"

OR
https://fluvalaquatics.com/us/shop/...fkjDWI5IVFObb6bZiS_N5h6my5thWFD_tW_EVRKfILLqb20W
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/fluval-marine-reef-3-0-review.487421/

I would recommend having this light directly above the water using the mounting legs it gives you and unobstructed from water as this light is not the strongest but not the worst by the time you get to 18” the PAR reading is around 55 so water penetration is not the best, At 3": PAR=390, At 12": PAR=102 this will get the job done for softies the blue spectrum on this light is fantastic the app has a sunrise and sunset mode witch works great I would recommend this light to new hobbyists as it is easy and user friendly and can maintain softies and if you want to get in to LPS or SPS and anemones you will need to add lighting that about sums it up thanks for reading feel free to hit me with more questions! The pictures are corals I have maintained under this light and this light only.

 

[lowlow411]

There appears to be a 4.0 Nano.. so which one?
https://fluvalaquatics.com/ca/shop/product/reef-4-0-nano25W
54 -12000k white,30- 460, 6-480, 24-"violet blues", 7-pink
Estimated from picture..
Basically 50:50 "Blue" to "not blue"

OR
https://fluvalaquatics.com/us/shop/...fkjDWI5IVFObb6bZiS_N5h6my5thWFD_tW_EVRKfILLqb20W
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/fluval-marine-reef-3-0-review.487421/

It was the marine reef one..Thanks for details.I think its better than what i have.

 

[Izzy36c]

So are the whites and pinks mostly just preference?

Sorry old post and reply but for anyone doing research in the future....from the research and reading ive done on this light and from my experience owning one for a little over a year....The power of the LEDS on this light are fairly weak and so turning up the white leds on this light is sort of required to help with coral growth. 20-40% white intensity, while normal on other stronger LED lights, I believe is much much too low for this light. I ramp all lighting up to close to 100%...I havent had any issues with corals being burned or anything like that. I put the light about an inch from its full extension and have a mixed reef 5.5gallon tank. My corals are a frogspawn, zoas, devils hand and cabbage leather, xenias and a chalice coral. I would recommend this light but I think that its only good to use one per 5 gallons or put on one end of a 10gallon pinninsula and put corals that need less light further away. Anything larger i think might be too much for this light to handle.

 

[Izzy36c]

No it isn’t just preference. It depends on the light fixture. The Fluval’s par is coming mainly from the whites so if you knock off too much white you may not get enough light for the corals depending on what you have in the tank. These lights are not like Hydras that you can push certain colours over 100% and have a mainly blue spectrum and still have adequate lighting. To a degree you can adjust to your preference but these lights in particular need pushed quite high on the white’s depending on depth of the tank and stocking .

This is correct!!!. Its not preferance at all. This lights LEDs are WEAK and require them to be at 100% or close to 100% at peak. MOST of this lights power are from the WHITE LEDS lights. I remember reading someone who did PAR test on this light and the blues/purples are VERY VERY WEAK. I ramp mine up to like 85-100 and then just ramp down in 25% increments. Thats pretty much all you can do with this light considering it only had 10 custom time slots and 2 of those slots are required to make the light turn off in the morning and at night.