Mitras LX7 Light Program Check

[ingchr1]

Hi,

I have a GHL Mitras LX7 and just want to make sure that I'm not doing anything fundamentally wrong with the initial settings I've applied. This is my first reef tank and there are no coral in it yet. Will be looking at LPS and softies.

The peak spectrum (14k) measures 110 - 145 PAR, 72% PUR and the after peak spectrum (17k) measures 75 - 100 PAR, 77% PUR. I used a Seneye for the measurements.

The tank is an AIO with a display of 24"L, 18"W and 18" D.

The light is 11" off of the water.

Light Program:

Peak Spectrum (14k)

After Peak Spectrum (17k)

Night View Spectrum "moonlight" (6k)

 

[ludnix]

It looks fine for softies and LPS. I think the photo period is a little long but it should be fine if you keep to the lower PAR levels you have listed.

 

[ingchr1]

It looks fine for softies and LPS. I think the photo period is a little long but it should be fine if you keep to the lower PAR levels you have listed.

Thank you

Added a few frags to the tank today. Favia, GSP and Galaxea

 

[ingchr1]

After a bunch of reading I made some changes to my program. The tank was also too blue for my taste, so the changes were to whiten it up as well.

At peak I'm running a full spectrum, all LEDs at 100% except ultraviolet which is at 50%. I saw a post or two where people seamed to indicate 100% was too much on the UV. Not sure how real this is, so I decided to just play it safe. I have the overall brightness set at 75%.

The spectrum after peak I turn the whites down, leave the rest where they were during peak. I tried to turn the whites completely off, but the tank was way too blue looking for my taste. So I had to adjust the sky white (7500k) to 50% to offset it.

The spectrum before the peak is the same as after peak, just with no UV. This light is very low power just to try to offset ambient light in the room. I feed the tank before I leave for work, so I wanted the lights on.

In the evening I run a low power more blue spectrum, which makes the corals really pop.

I also lowered the height of the light from 11" to 8.5" above the water, this was to reduce the light spill. This height seamed to be an optimal spread into the tank.

One thing I have noticed is that when the lights go into the evening spectrum the corals initially close up. They do reopen after ~20 mins. Is this normal when going to low light?

Time will tell how this program works out.

Light Program

Peak Spectrum (11.9k)

After Peak Spectrum (14.7k)

Night View Spectrum "moonlight" (17k)

 

[D6025K]

Hi ingchr1, how are your corals responding to your lighting? Have you changed settings since your last post?
Cheers

 

[bluprntguy]

11“ off your tank? That seems high and would result in very low PAR.

 

[ingchr1]

Everything seams to be doing fine. I have a made a couple of tweaks to the program and spectrums. The biggest being that I increased the power of the after peak spectrum, to run a constant PAR for the entire photo period. The light is 9" off the water surface and I'm getting ~130 PAR at the bottom in the center. At the top of my rock work I'm getting 170 or so. The light is in High Efficiency Mode. The 17170K and 17190K are the same, except the 17170 has the UV channel off. The morning is at low power so I can view the tank and feed before leaving for work. It's just enough to overcome ambient lighting in the room.

Light Program

11940K

17190K

18810K

 

[D6025K]

Cool thanks for the info.

 

[ingchr1]

Cool thanks for the info.

No problem.

I actually just tonight made the blue spectrum a little bluer. I wasn't 100% happy where it was, the colors seamed a little washed out. I kept the spectrum total brightness the same as it was before, so I'm actually maxed out in power on that spectrum in High Efficiency Mode. Again 17990 is the same as 18010, just with the UV channel off.

Give it a few days to see how I feel about it. Spent too much time looking at the tank and the differences in spectrum.

Light Program

18010K