Sb basic 16in reef light

[ovrsier]

Ive looked a forum and most say 12 hours of lighting a day..these lights have white and blue dimmers..do I run them at the same time? only blue only white? Any suggestions for a planned mixed reef tank? I currently have them on a timer as follows
10am blue only on
1030am the white join the blue
1230 blue turn of so only white
530pm blue join in
6pm white drop of
1030 blue shut of and dark till 10am the next day.
intensity on the white is 40percent
blue is at 50percent
this is on a 72 gallon bowfront

 

[redfishbluefish]

I have three basic SBReef fixtures over a five foot, 90 gallon DT, and here's my light schedule:

Here's my current light schedule:

Sunrise (Moonlights) ----------- 1 hr --- 10AM-11AM
Morning (Blues only) ----------- 3 hr --- On at 11AM
Mid-day (Blues and Whites) -- 4 hr ---- 2PM - 6PM
Afternoon (Blues) ---------------3 hr ---- Off at 9PM
Sunset (Moonlights) -------------1 hr --- 9PM-10PM


The sunrise and sunset (moonlights) are two, four foot IceCap LED strips.....fairly bright.

 

[ovrsier]

I have three basic SBReef fixtures over a five foot, 90 gallon DT, and here's my light schedule:

Here's my current light schedule:

Sunrise (Moonlights) ----------- 1 hr --- 10AM-11AM
Morning (Blues only) ----------- 3 hr --- On at 11AM
Mid-day (Blues and Whites) -- 4 hr ---- 2PM - 6PM
Afternoon (Blues) ---------------3 hr ---- Off at 9PM
Sunset (Moonlights) -------------1 hr --- 9PM-10PM


The sunrise and sunset (moonlights) are two, four foot IceCap LED strips.....fairly bright.

what are your intensities at?

 

[redfishbluefish]

I'm at 60 blue/30 white.

 

[ovrsier]

wondering if somebody could help me with the height these lights should be above the water line?

 

[Ron Reefman]

High enough that it lights the entire bottom of the tank with a minimum of light 'spilling' out onto the floor around the tank (wasted light). That will give you the best intensity which you can then adjust with the dimmers. How high they were mounted used to be a huge deal before we had dimmers. Now it's just about coverage.

BTW, don't turn the blue channel off during the day. The zooxanthellae (algae) that lives inside your coral's polyps needs the blue spectrum to do photosynthesis. The coral can do OK with all blue, but is much more at risk with all white. And the white looks brighter to our eyes, but that isn't what the coral 'sees'. It needs all the blue it can get. That's why newer led fixtures are starting to use more blue than white leds. They used to be 50:50 and now they are more like 60:40. In short, your corals will be MUCH happier if you run the blue channel all day.

 

[McPikie]

Assuming the SB lights are like my evergrow, here is my schedule

2080settings by Phil Cookson, on Flickr

and mine are around 10" off the waterline

2018-05-16_08-38-48 by Phil Cookson, on Flickr

 

[redfishbluefish]

wondering if somebody could help me with the height these lights should be above the water line?

I remember seeing somewhere that 14 inches was the ideal height. I have mine at 13 inches.

 

[ovrsier]

High enough that it lights the entire bottom of the tank with a minimum of light 'spilling' out onto the floor around the tank (wasted light). That will give you the best intensity which you can then adjust with the dimmers. How high they were mounted used to be a huge deal before we had dimmers. Now it's just about coverage.

BTW, don't turn the blue channel off during the day. The zooxanthellae (algae) that lives inside your coral's polyps needs the blue spectrum to do photosynthesis. The coral can do OK with all blue, but is much more at risk with all white. And the white looks brighter to our eyes, but that isn't what the coral 'sees'. It needs all the blue it can get. That's why newer led fixtures are starting to use more blue than white leds. They used to be 50:50 and now they are more like 60:40. In short, your corals will be MUCH happier if you run the blue channel all day.

So the white is for my viewing pleasure as long as the blue are on all day?

 

[Ron Reefman]

So the white is for my viewing pleasure as long as the blue are on all day?

That's about 80% right. Your coral can use some of the other spectrum in the white light for photosynthesis and for production of pigments and amino acids. But the vast majority of the photosynthesis is done with blue spectrum. You could run just blue for weeks and your corals will open up and look good. Long term it's probably better that you run both white and blue. I have Reef Breeders leds that aren't that different from what you have. I run the white leds at 40% and the blues at 90%... but I have a PAR meter so I know just how intense the light is. One other point, dim light does next to nothing for corals and they only utilize about 6 to 8 hours of strong light for photosynthesis before the process shuts down. It's a genetic thing. So strong lights for 12 hours doesn't help with feeding the coral (photosynthesis) but it doesn't hurt the coral either. And it may help with production of pigments and other chemical processes.