Lighting Opinions (Upgrade from PC)
- Thread starter Annahra
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I might need his number.
Tomorrow I promise! I have five big zoas (went a round or two with zoa eating nudis but that's another story), two discosoma, two rhodactis, a ricordea, huge Kenya tree, GSP, clove polyps, xenia, hulk lepto, and a gorgeous little stylo (inspiration to upgrade lighting).
I have bourbon and dishes!
Okay so I ordered the Nano Box large retro kit but now I'm thinking I need to rearrange some corals. Here's the plan:
Green: Discosoma and Rhodactis move down to partial shade
Blue: Ricordea moves lower down and to side
Purple: Stylo moves up and center and I want to add some Monti on that same rock
Red: Kenya tree moves off to side out of the way
Black: Zoas, GSP, and Lepto stay in place on sand bed
Orange: Xenia and Clove polyps stay in place
Yellow: Add a crocea clam in a couple of months
Sound good? Is there a good resource for programming the Nano?
Green: Discosoma and Rhodactis move down to partial shade
Blue: Ricordea moves lower down and to side
Purple: Stylo moves up and center and I want to add some Monti on that same rock
Red: Kenya tree moves off to side out of the way
Black: Zoas, GSP, and Lepto stay in place on sand bed
Orange: Xenia and Clove polyps stay in place
Yellow: Add a crocea clam in a couple of months
Sound good? Is there a good resource for programming the Nano?
Are you moving stuff for lighting?
Or just a make over?
Or just a make over?
Lighting. And the Kenya tree to make room for a clam eventually. I was worried my mushrooms would melt that high up with the lights so close to the surface and enough intensity for a clam.
Thoughts?
Yes , one. I need another cup of coffe.
And I'll look at the light specs again and get right back to you.
And I'll look at the light specs again and get right back to you.
How deep is the tank again?
No, can you just Amazon me a latte? That would be great.
So two things.
In a small shallow thank the par is not going to change all that much. Think light bulb. Closer brighter. So the depth shouldn't radically change where you put stuff. Except that you may get a smaller hot spot down the middle of the tank as the source is right over it.
So Take a look at this par map.
http://nanoboxreef.com/mini.html
One thing to consider on the instal imo is if there's a clear cover over the compacts, leave it in. It'll help diffuse the light and spread it out more sonits less of a hot spot and more even. For a long time the hobby was against this because so much light was lost. But you new light has more than enough power. You may even connsider adding a diffusion.
So you'll kinda want to decide the range of par you want in the tank. And then understand that it doesn't drop off that much at the bottom.
Most medium light stuff is good at 100 par. A lot of low light will acclimate to this as well. Med to higher seems to be ok in the 175 to 350 range. But lower light stuff generally doesn't like that.
So as a guess , I'd say you likeley want about 200 par at the top of the tank.
I would bet 200 or so is pretty close to what the manufactures tried to supply but probaly less.
I highly reccomend the use of a lux meter. They're cheap. $15 For led you devide Lux by 60. So 6000 lux is 100 par. You can play with the apps to get the hang of it but they're unreliable. So basicly as the light is right on top of the water you put the meter almost right on the light. Then move the meter away from the light the same distance as the depth of the tank.
So on most of the stuff your moving Esp the shrooms , your probaly right on track.
It's likely the zoas will do fine no matter where in the tank you put them.
Acclimation an s finding the sweet spot will be another story once my latte arrives.
So two things.
In a small shallow thank the par is not going to change all that much. Think light bulb. Closer brighter. So the depth shouldn't radically change where you put stuff. Except that you may get a smaller hot spot down the middle of the tank as the source is right over it.
So Take a look at this par map.
http://nanoboxreef.com/mini.html
One thing to consider on the instal imo is if there's a clear cover over the compacts, leave it in. It'll help diffuse the light and spread it out more sonits less of a hot spot and more even. For a long time the hobby was against this because so much light was lost. But you new light has more than enough power. You may even connsider adding a diffusion.
So you'll kinda want to decide the range of par you want in the tank. And then understand that it doesn't drop off that much at the bottom.
Most medium light stuff is good at 100 par. A lot of low light will acclimate to this as well. Med to higher seems to be ok in the 175 to 350 range. But lower light stuff generally doesn't like that.
So as a guess , I'd say you likeley want about 200 par at the top of the tank.
I would bet 200 or so is pretty close to what the manufactures tried to supply but probaly less.
I highly reccomend the use of a lux meter. They're cheap. $15 For led you devide Lux by 60. So 6000 lux is 100 par. You can play with the apps to get the hang of it but they're unreliable. So basicly as the light is right on top of the water you put the meter almost right on the light. Then move the meter away from the light the same distance as the depth of the tank.
So on most of the stuff your moving Esp the shrooms , your probaly right on track.
It's likely the zoas will do fine no matter where in the tank you put them.
Acclimation an s finding the sweet spot will be another story once my latte arrives.
I have a Lux app on my phone that reads about 15K maybe any inch from the light (with diffuser). Even if it's not 100% accurate, I would expect it to work for comparison purposes from old light to new, so I might be overly worried about the brightness. All of my frags have come from brightly lit grow out tanks that also contained SPS.
So I might not actually be in bad shape. But the trick will be dialing down the LEDs to appropriate levels. I found this post and was thinking about just copying the LPS settings to start: https://www.nano-reef.com/forums/topic/367284-nanobox-how-to-bluefish-tideduoquad-series/.
So I might not actually be in bad shape. But the trick will be dialing down the LEDs to appropriate levels. I found this post and was thinking about just copying the LPS settings to start: https://www.nano-reef.com/forums/topic/367284-nanobox-how-to-bluefish-tideduoquad-series/.
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