SPS Lighting Schedule Help

[Jonify]

To your specific question about lighting schedules, that might be too long for peak intensity ... perhaps shorten that up by a few hours. I have my peak intensity set for about 6 hours ... the rest of the lighting period is either ramping up to/down from that, or moonlight. You could also just find a program people swear by (or an app preset) and go with that for several months. To your general comment about not being happy with coral color and growth, that could be caused by factors outside of the scope of your lighting schedule question ... 1) flow and 2) nutrients/chemistry. Since lighting usually takes the longest to dial in and see results, maybe just throw a preset on your light, and then focus on the flow/chemistry first. You can tweak the light later by observing daily alkalinity uptake as you make small changes.

 

[ReefPig]

To your specific question about lighting schedules, that might be too long for peak intensity ... perhaps shorten that up by a few hours. I have my peak intensity set for about 6 hours ... the rest of the lighting period is either ramping up to/down from that, or moonlight. You could also just find a program people swear by (or an app preset) and go with that for several months. To your general comment about not being happy with coral color and growth, that could be caused by factors outside of the scope of your lighting schedule question ... 1) flow and 2) nutrients/chemistry. Since lighting usually takes the longest to dial in and see results, maybe just throw a preset on your light, and then focus on the flow/chemistry first. You can tweak the light later by observing daily alkalinity uptake as you make small changes.

Thank you so much, I very much appreciate your valuable insight about the specific question I asked

 

[MONTANTK]

Guys, if I had started the thread in general forums asking why my coral colour wasn’t where I think it should be, I would expect me to have provided a load of information up from around params and setup, and for you guys to ask a bunch of questions and for us to have some dialogue.

I didn’t do that, in the lighting sub forum I asked a VERY specific question about schedule.

Thats not a novice question and many people are still learning how the G5’s behave, which is very different to the G4’s.

Assume for a moment that I test my water multiple times a week, I do ICP’s, and I’m in tune with my tank, but I’m questioning my lighting schedule and I’m looking for people either with the same light as me, or very similar, who can actually contribute to the discussion with me.

Not random nonsense like “do you dose anything”. Yes I do, a range of things, but that’s got zero to do with the question I asked.

I appreciate the help, but this is what annoys me about this forum, is that everyone assumes everyone else knows nothing and they throw all sorts of crap into discussions which don’t help at all.

Its not nasty or arrogant to twice tell someone that they are asking a specific question and that they don’t want to talk about other stuff, only to be asked something unrelated a third time.

As I said, if you have nothing of value to add, then please don’t contribute, it’s not difficult.

And to your point, I don’t feel it’s out of bounds for anyone to say “hey I know you’re looking at x but perhaps consider Y”. Maybe I’m completely wrong and your lighting schedule could use some tweaks but I know personally I’d want to be informed of something I may not be considering. Maybe that’s just me though

 

[X-37B]

Like I said before but more to the point.
90% of my friends run radion g4' and 5's plus orphek bars.
No one I know run them at 9".
Min 14" and most 24".
With that said your corals may be getting to much focused light at that distance.
Shorten you time and reduce the intensity would be where I would start after running it by a few friends.

 

[ReefPig]

And to your point, I don’t feel it’s out of bounds for anyone to say “hey I know you’re looking at x but perhaps consider Y”. Maybe I’m completely wrong and your lighting schedule could use some tweaks but I know personally I’d want to be informed of something I may not be considering. Maybe that’s just me though

Thank you.
Please feel free to provide some insight into your LED lighting schedule and why you feel it contributes to your success with keeping acro's.

 

[ReefPig]

Like I said before but more to the point.
90% of my friends run radion g4' and 5's plus orphek bars.
No one I know run them at 9".
Min 14" and most 24".
With that said your corals may be getting to much focused light at that distance.
Shorten you time and reduce the intensity would be where I would start after running it by a few friends.

Thank you so much. As I cannot change the height, I can look to reduce peak intensity or duration, which may then help.
Cheers.

 

[Dana Riddle]

I'm late to this party but here goes. I don't think your lighting is an issue but with minor caveats. In general, non-fluorescent proteins are expressed around the point of photosaturation (*generally* around 300 to 400 microMol/m2/sec) while florescent proteins are often seen at 200. I'm not a big fan of too much red light - IMO, red light should not be more than 15% or so of total PAR. If your corals are getting PAR of 200 to 400, you should be OK, lighting wise.

 

[ReefPig]

I'm late to this party but here goes. I don't think your lighting is an issue but with minor caveats. In general, non-fluorescent proteins are expressed around the point of photosaturation (*generally* around 300 to 400 microMol/m2/sec) while florescent proteins are often seen at 200. I'm not a big fan of too much red light - IMO, red light should not be more than 15% or so of total PAR. If your corals are getting PAR of 200 to 400, you should be OK, lighting wise.

Excellent, thank you so much.
You feel that my peak intensity duration of 10 hours is ok?

With my Apogee MQ510 I measure between 350 and 450 (mid point to highest point in the tank).

 

[Dana Riddle]

Your Daily Light Integral for 350 & 450 is 12.6 and 16.2, respectively. This is approaching levels seen at shallow depths during winter in Hawaii but is much higher than I run in my tank (DLI of 7 or so on the sand bed.)

 

[ReefPig]

Your Daily Light Integral for 350 & 450 is 12.6 and 16.2, respectively. This is approaching levels seen at shallow depths during winter in Hawaii but is much higher than I run in my tank (DLI of 7 or so on the sand bed.)

Ok, great thank you.
I'll look to reduce my peak period a little, perhaps I'll front load the peak and then trail it off slowly.
Peak PAR is fine by the sounds of it, but duration is likely more the issue.

Cheers Dana.

Dave

 

[Midrats]

Is the Queen dead yet?

 

[Dana Riddle]

Ok, great thank you.
I'll look to reduce my peak period a little, perhaps I'll front load the peak and then trail it off slowly.
Peak PAR is fine by the sounds of it, but duration is likely more the issue.

Cheers Dana.

Dave

Check your red LEDs output and calculate a percent. I'd be curious to know. As a footnote, some of the 'smooth' deep-water Acros might not like as much light as you have at max.

 

[Greg P]

Ok, great thank you.
I'll look to reduce my peak period a little, perhaps I'll front load the peak and then trail it off slowly.
Peak PAR is fine by the sounds of it, but duration is likely more the issue.

Cheers Dana.

Dave

Although I run T5s I feel my input may be of some value.
With the correct N,P and Alk levels for my light schedule I had great success with fuzzy sticks. My Powermodule easily has the same PAR capabilities of your fixture.
My schedule;
10hrs @ 25%, 7hrs @ 50%, 5hrs @75% and 3hrs @ 100%
So in your case this MAY translate to 20, 40, 60, and 80% respectively.

I realize you're dealing with different color control and such but feel your peak is quite long.

 

[ReefPig]

Is the Queen dead yet?

Fortunately/unfortunately not.
She's still kicking and did a great Christmas day speech, as always.
Thankfully, the longer she lives, the less time Charles will have in the hot seat, as he's a complete idiot.

Long live the queen.

 

[ReefPig]

Although I run T5s I feel my input may be of some value.
With the correct N,P and Alk levels for my light schedule I had great success with fuzzy sticks. My Powermodule easily has the same PAR capabilities of your fixture.
My schedule;
10hrs @ 25%, 7hrs @ 50%, 5hrs @75% and 3hrs @ 100%
So in your case this MAY translate to 20, 40, 60, and 80% respectively.

I realize you're dealing with different color control and such but feel your peak is quite long.

Excellent, thank you.
Very much correlates with the other information, and I likely need to reduce my peak duration.

 

[tnw50cal]

Thank you so much. As I cannot change the height, I can look to reduce peak intensity or duration, which may then help.
Cheers.

Ecotech determined that 8 to 9" was the perfect mounting height for the gen 5 lights. BRS has a good video out on it.

 

[Greg P]

Thank you so much. As I cannot change the height, I can look to reduce peak intensity or duration, which may then help.
Cheers.

Ecotech determined that 8 to 9" was the perfect mounting height for the gen 5 lights. BRS has a good video out on it.

For now it looks like the OP is stuck with their height

 

[Doctorgori]

I did address the scheduling issue or so I thought, but IMO since lighting schedule is unlikley to cause a coloration issue I AND OTHERS suggested other possible variables to look at.
There are a LOT of unanswered threads, I’d personally welcome any input....
I re-edited , I did see your thank you ....

 

[ReefPig]

I did address the scheduling issue or so I thought, but IMO since lighting schedule is unlikley to cause a coloration issue I AND OTHERS suggested other possible variables to look at.
There are a LOT of unanswered threads, I’d personally welcome any input....
I re-edited , I did see your thank you ....

Thanks very much, and my rant wasn’t directed at you, it was the dosing comment sent me over the edge

 

[Maximitsurugi]

Your Daily Light Integral for 350 & 450 is 12.6 and 16.2, respectively. This is approaching levels seen at shallow depths during winter in Hawaii but is much higher than I run in my tank (DLI of 7 or so on the sand bed.)

Dana, could you show us what your lighting schedule looks like? What you aim for at sand bed and highest point? That would help a lot.