Nero 5 and Prime 16 HD light help

[NewFisher18]

Hello everyone. I’m new to the hobby and haven’t found a straight answer to my situation. I have the Nero 5 pump and Prime 16 hd reef light. I am not sure in the app MyAI what settings to use for both. There are different light times and intensities and i am not sure with the pump either with the different settings and intensities. It would be much appreciated if someone could help me out. I have a water box 35 gallon and getting fish in a couple of days and want to figure this out. Thanks a lot.

 

[Bohemian Waxwing]

Hey, so this shouldn't be too hard to answer. First we just need to know:

What kind of coral will you be keeping?

What kind of fish will you be keeping?

 

[NewFisher18]

Hey, so this shouldn't be too hard to answer. First we just need to know:

What kind of coral will you be keeping?

What kind of fish will you be keeping?

For now I’m adding clownfish and later soft coral and maybe lps coral (probably not soon).

 

[Bohemian Waxwing]

Ok so my recommendation, for something very easy, would be to run your light something like the Vasquez schedule:

Karen Vazquez – AquaIllumination

www.aquaillumination.com

You can actually download these already made to your MyAI app as text files.



or iOS:



Or you can just build it yourself. This is a very basic lighting schedule to start with for lower light coral and the blues will make the LPS pop. Then from there, you can adjust the whites and blues to a point where you like the aesthetic a little more.

You can find more examples of popular schedules here: https://www.aquaillumination.com/lightsciences/signature-series just as a baseline to start with.

As for the Nero...I ran a Nero 3 in a similar sized tank, and honestly anything over 30% was really strong. I would start with having the pump on a low setting, maybe try "Random" with a min speed of 15% and a max speed of 30%, with variance at med. Again, this is just a very basic start.

One thing to know about these variable speed wave pumps is that 1% isn't 1% of the pumps capability. The pump needs to run at something like 15% of it's overall power as a minimum (so if the pump does 1000gph max, it likely runs at something like 150gph at 0%). Just keep that mind.

Here's the nero tutorial:

https://support.aquaillumination.com/hc/en-us/articles/360014500434-Nero-Connecting-and-Programming-Tutorial

 

[NewFisher18]

Ok so my recommendation, for something very easy, would be to run your light something like the Vasquez schedule:

Karen Vazquez – AquaIllumination

www.aquaillumination.com

You can actually download these already made to your MyAI app as text files.



or iOS:



Or you can just build it yourself. This is a very basic lighting schedule to start with for lower light coral and the blues will make the LPS pop. Then from there, you can adjust the whites and blues to a point where you like the aesthetic a little more.

You can find more examples of popular schedules here: https://www.aquaillumination.com/lightsciences/signature-series just as a baseline to start with.

As for the Nero...I ran a Nero 3 in a similar sized tank, and honestly anything over 30% was really strong. I would start with having the pump on a low setting, maybe try "Random" with a min speed of 15% and a max speed of 30%, with variance at med. Again, this is just a very basic start.

One thing to know about these variable speed wave pumps is that 1% isn't 1% of the pumps capability. The pump needs to run at something like 15% of it's overall power as a minimum (so if the pump does 1000gph max, it likely runs at something like 150gph at 0%). Just keep that mind.

Here's the nero tutorial:

https://support.aquaillumination.com/hc/en-us/articles/360014500434-Nero-Connecting-and-Programming-Tutorial

What do you mean about the pump?

 

[Bohemian Waxwing]

What do you mean about the pump?

Which part? The schedule or the 0% part?

Here's a thread by @Homebrewer that might explain the whole "1% is not actually 1% of it's capability" thing:

Nero 5 - % Settings and Actual Flow

First, I want to say that I love these pumps. If I were writing a review on a vendor website, it would be "5 stars" and "yes, I would recommend to a friend." These are my first controllable pumps and I find the app to be really easy to use, fun to program, and I think built-in flow meter is...

www.reef2reef.com

So the pump does 3000gph max, so at 1% you are probably thinking it will put out 3000*0.01= 30gph. However, because it runs at 950gph as a minimum, 1% is actually much higher than 30gph.

Basically, your Nero 5 is a bit overpowered for your tank but can still be used as long as you keep it dialled down to lower %s.

Your target in a softie+LPS tank is probably somewhere in the 1000-1500gph total flow range. Some corals will like more, some less, so you will have to learn and adjust as you go. This means setting your flow rates on the app from somewhere between 1%-25% or so. Aim it at the rockwork or position it at the top, this will lessen the chances it damages a coral.