Reef Breeder 32 V2+ on 40 gal breeder

[Muttly78]

So I just got the 32 V2+ yesterday and I had looked into quite a few different light options before picking it. I am very happy with the coverage none of my rock is against the wall and I plan to keep mostly lps flanking with a few sps and softies. I changed lights because my previous (Evergrow IT2060) wasn't long enough for my tank and my very large Monti almost gave up on life. It has gone white and I thought it bleached, but the polyps are slowly regaining color. My question is about light settings. I've pieced together a schedule from the many posts I've read, but none were specific to this model over a standard breeder 36x16x18. I currently have the light 13" above the tank (a little spill but I've never minded that), and my max settings are 44% blue 11% w/r/g/. Was wondering if anyone else has this light/tank combo and what settings you run. I'd like to know if I managed to be in the ballpark so to speak lol.

 

[nereefpat]

@Ron Reefman

 

[Ron Reefman]

So I just got the 32 V2+ yesterday and I had looked into quite a few different light options before picking it. I am very happy with the coverage none of my rock is against the wall and I plan to keep mostly lps flanking with a few sps and softies. I changed lights because my previous (Evergrow IT2060) wasn't long enough for my tank and my very large Monti almost gave up on life. It has gone white and I thought it bleached, but the polyps are slowly regaining color. My question is about light settings. I've pieced together a schedule from the many posts I've read, but none were specific to this model over a standard breeder 36x16x18. I currently have the light 13" above the tank (a little spill but I've never minded that), and my max settings are 44% blue 11% w/r/g/. Was wondering if anyone else has this light/tank combo and what settings you run. I'd like to know if I managed to be in the ballpark so to speak lol.

I too went from EverGrows to ReefBreeders, but that was more than a few years ago. I have a 36 x 30 x 20 tank and my fixtures are 10 to 12 inches off the water. Because my tank is 30" front to back and I have sps corals at the back and lots of RFAs at the front, I have 2 fixtures over the tank. I also have a PAR meter, so I know exactly what my PAR levels are.

I'd suggest you are in a very good place to start out. At midday I run mine at 80% blue and 30% white. You can add in red and green as you wish. I do run them at 30% during the 4 hours of high midday intensity. The hour before and 2 hours after midday I keep the blues at 80%, I drop the white to 20% and turn the red & green off. I do a 4 hour morning ramp up starting with all blue at low levels and as I ramp up the blue at 2 hours I start adding in some white. I also do a 5 hour ramp down with the last 3 hours being all blue.

I enjoy the blue because I have lots of corals that fluoresce and a garden of 25 Rock Flower Anemones that are just crazy beautiful when they fluoresce. BTW, I'm retired, so I'm home all day most days and get to see the changes in the tank as the light changes.

If you have any specific questions, feel free to ask. I worked for an aquarium light company for a couple of years and made it a point to learn as much as possible about the effects of light in my tanks.

 

[Muttly78]

I too went from EverGrows to ReefBreeders, but that was more than a few years ago. I have a 36 x 30 x 20 tank and my fixtures are 10 to 12 inches off the water. Because my tank is 30" front to back and I have sps corals at the back and lots of RFAs at the front, I have 2 fixtures over the tank. I also have a PAR meter, so I know exactly what my PAR levels are.

I'd suggest you are in a very good place to start out. At midday I run mine at 80% blue and 30% white. You can add in red and green as you wish. I do run them at 30% during the 4 hours of high midday intensity. The hour before and 2 hours after midday I keep the blues at 80%, I drop the white to 20% and turn the red & green off. I do a 4 hour morning ramp up starting with all blue at low levels and as I ramp up the blue at 2 hours I start adding in some white. I also do a 5 hour ramp down with the last 3 hours being all blue.

I enjoy the blue because I have lots of corals that fluoresce and a garden of 25 Rock Flower Anemones that are just crazy beautiful when they fluoresce. BTW, I'm retired, so I'm home all day most days and get to see the changes in the tank as the light changes.

If you have any specific questions, feel free to ask. I worked for an aquarium light company for a couple of years and made it a point to learn as much as possible about the effects of light in my tanks.

So It seems I need to wait and see how things react for a couple of weeks before making adjustments then. I assume the extra inch in height won't make much of a difference.

 

[Ron Reefman]

You should be fine given your starting point of 44% and 11%. The extra inches of air make very little difference, extra inches of water do have a real impact, lowering the PAR. I'd do the first bump or two a week apart and the next couple at 2 weeks apart. I'd recommend that if you get up to my levels, and you could, it shouldn't be in anything less than 2 months.