Programming new Current Lighting schedule

[Susan Edwards]

The new current marine orbit ic pro (dual) has a set program with sunrise and sunset and moonlight. I can change the color/intensity etc of each program. I believe I cannot change the ramp up or down times, just time on and off. I can also set up a new custom (but not sure how or if I can add that to the program that runs)

Right now, with nothing in the tank, it doesn't matter. Don't even need the lights on, but want to get them adjusted before. What should I be running the whites, blues, reds and green percentages at?

Read on some posts that reds and greens should be off. Does anyone have a suggestion for setting up the lights? Right now they are 7" above the water. Will prob. move them to 5". I won't have any acros or other sps for quite a while as the tank is new. When I do, will most likely have to move lights down to 3" above water. Or should I just move them down now and adjust the intensities.

Here is the par chart from current and a pic of my tank. Will prob. add another rock or 2 from another tank to raise one side a bit higher (want a live rock or 2 in the tank as well as sump

)

 

[1WildBill]

https://current-usa.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Orbit-IC-LED-Light-Manual-Web.pdf
Not sure if you have the instructions. There’s a thread here that talks about the settings for these lights. I believe one guy was running his at 100% blue and 30% white. I’ll see if I can find it. When I tested mine, I set them at that. Here’s a pic to give you an idea of what it looks like.

 

[1WildBill]

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/current-usa-loop.333239/#post-4149363 Found it.

 

[Susan Edwards]

Thanks @1WildBill I'll change the full daylight to 100 blue, 70 white. Thinking of moving them down 1 notch as well to the 5 inch above

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Don’t worry about color. Set it to your eye.

Consider the par range you want to work in. High light or low light.
A lot of shrooms lps etc are Lower Light. Acros and many softies are high light and how much do you want a clam on the sand.

You can run a longer photoperiod with with a lower par.

For a higher light tank IMO , you’ll want about 400-500 par at the surface of the water for at min 8-10 hrs.

For a lower light tank about 200- 300 par at the surface.

I have two tanks now , one that ramps , one that does not. Both have the lights on for a little over 12hrs. One has a long ramp and six hour peak, one is on timers and has a set peak of 10with blue only on either end.

I do highly encourage the use of a meter to Set intensity. A decent lux meter is $15. At a 1:1 w/b ratio 6000 lux is about 100 par with that light.

So set color by eye, consider overall time, consider livestock down the raoad, set intensity with a meter.