Orbit Marine LED

[TieuMuchReefing]

This is the specific light I am running on my 38g Nuvo

 

http://current-usa.com/aquarium-led-lights/orbit-marine-fixtures/orbit-marine/

 

 

 

I will primarily have and will be running LPS and possible low sps

 

 

I am looking for advice how time schedule, how intense the lighting should be and etc.

 

 

As of now, i get up in the morning at 7am i turn the lights for about 1.5 hours then shut it off to go to work. Then i turn it back on at 5pm-9ish then i turn it off. is that inconsistent?

 

Im thinking of using the preset setup they have but i haven't done anything yet. Looking to get advice on how people are doing it with this specific light

 

 

as far as the 2 channel actinics and white. I see that i can adjust the %. I am looking to understand that works.

 

If i put m blues on at 30% and whites on at 30% does that mean My total light intensity is 30% or say if i do 60% blue and 30% white. how or what will that have an affect on my corals besides the way I like the light/tint look.

[evilc66]

Consistency is key here. Get the timer working and set it up for an 8-10 hour schedule, and keep it that way. Corals do use the lighting schedule as an indicator of when it's time to feed. After a while, you will notice that the corals will start to open and extend their feeding tentacles a little before the lights go out.

 

As for the intensity, I think you are overthinking it a little. With a tank as large as yours, you will want to be running it at close to full output. Just adjust the channels to get the color temperature you like.

 

Which Orbit are you running? The 18-24" version, or the 24-36" version? That makes a big difference. Really though, even if you had the 24-36" version, it's not a lot of light for a tank that size and yo may struggle keeping corals happy in certain spots in the tank.

[TieuMuchReefing]

its the 24-36

 

 

so you think more lighitng for my tank size is good? or the intensity. im afraid of over running the lightl I beleive this isnt intense as the higher paid led's

Here is a pic o fmy tank

[smeagol108]

When I ran my orbit I had blues ramp up to 100 percent. Don't worry ur not gonna give ur corals to much blue, it's difficult to do, and that light isn't that powerful but it's good on shallow tanks. Than after three hours of blue, white ramped up to 45 percent for four hours. Then three more hours of just blue before lights off. That's how I ran that light for over a year.

[TieuMuchReefing]

so leaving at 100 blue is for fine a long time.? and then slowly ramp up the white?

[aaron186]

I have this same light (18in) on a 10 gal rimmed tank (12 in deep). I have been running the standard programming which is 100% blue 100% white with the ramp up and moonlights. Is this too much light?

[evilc66]

so leaving at 100 blue is for fine a long time.? and then slowly ramp up the white?

With this fixture, and your tank size, you can't have too much blue. You will have to run this fixture at max for it to be good for lps and softies. It's really not a very powerful fixture. It's 23W over a 38g tank that's 19" deep. I've seen 24W PAR38's over 5 gallon tanks where that amount of light was just about enough.

 

I have this same light (18in) on a 10 gal rimmed tank (12 in deep). I have been running the standard programming which is 100% blue 100% white with the ramp up and moonlights. Is this too much light?

How are your coals reacting? They will tell you everything you need to know.

[Reefer69]

I had this light on my Fluvial Spec V for about 6 months. It was great and the controllability was awesome. My tank is only 12 inches deep and i had the light mounted right above the water. Blues were at 100% and whites never got over about 45%. All lps were doing ok at the bottom of the tank but i had some zoas stretching for light towards the middle. I would get some growth from my acros/montis at the top 2-3 inches of the tank as well. I recently switched over to a maxspect razor and have a noticed a significant increase in puffiness of lps and encrusting of sps.

 

FWIW - Current Orbit Marine is a great light that will grow and sustain many types of corals. At 19" deep tank though I would possibly look for something with a little more umph.

[holy carp]

I think this is a great little light with a nice sleek style. My tank is shallower than yours, so I might get a little more punch out of it, but I'm having good response from a variety of corals, including some acros growing nicely closer to the top. You can see some time lapse acro growth I've been tracking on my build thread.

 

I use the standard programming of either Timer 1 or Timer 3. I like Timer 3 - it's the 12 hour cycle plus 4 hr moonlight so there's some light from 8am to midnight. If I start getting nuisance algae then I switch it back to Timer 1, which does the 10 hour light plus moonlight. Corals seem pretty happy with either of those.

 

Their defaults run it up to 100% white & blue on those settings. I don't think that'll be too much, so it may not be worth the effort of trying to reprogram it, unless you're trying to get a bluer look.

 

For light acclimating new coral frags, I've been using Timer 2 for 1 day, then Timer 4 for a 2nd day, and then back to Timer 1. That may be unnecessary, since this light isn't going to burn 'em up, but they seem to do well with it.

 

If you need more kick because of the depth of your tank, you could possibly just line up a 2nd one of these parallel to the first if you don't with to shell out the big bucks.

[holy carp]

I just posted an excel file that should simplify programming this light:

 

http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/367721-current-usa-ramp-timer-pro-programming-orbit-marine/?p=5191605

 

[stash98]

I have had this light for months now and it's great. My issue is that my hammer and torch have looked pretty deflated and not as full as in the past. Not sure if it is the light, as this happened before I switched tanks, but I just can not get my torch to extend anymore even though it still looks healthy. My parameters are looking good and everything is stable. The flow is not high anymore. Although with the high flow in the prior tank, my torch was extended, so that is something I need to look at.

 

Anyway, more details and questions :

 

My tank is the Mr aqua 12 gallon wide, so the depth is 9 inches from light to sand bed. I had the light turning on with white and blue at 100% from 11 to10. I think it was a default setting on the light. I'm starting to think that was way too much light.

 

I set the blue at 100% from 12 until 10 and the white at 45% from 2 to 8. Moonlight after that. It is definitely different to see the tank lit this low compared to before but I am hoping this is better for the LPS.

 

Any thoughts?

[stash98]

Just to add, the blue light at 100% almost seems like a moonlight only. My clownfish is in sleep position already..lol. So this can't be a great cycle...can anyone assist?

[Clown79]

Light schedule is important. Set your timer to when you are home to view the tank. Consistency is important for the corals. I wouldn't turn it on for an hr then off, then back on for a few hrs.

Corals should have lighting on for 8hrs minimum.

 

I have my light set up for sunrise at 11am with 2 hr ramp up. 8pm lights go into sunset, moonlights are on from 10pm-12am.

 

I have an aquamaxx which is a similar set up as the orbit.

I run my blues 100% and whites at 40%.

 

Blue is more important than white.

 

With the size of your tank and the fixture you have running blues at 100% shouldn't be an issue. Your corals will let you know if its too much, then you can just drop the percentage.

 

For sps, you will need to put them up high with that light.

 

Lps will be fine.

[stash98]

Light schedule is important. Set your timer to when you are home to view the tank. Consistency is important for the corals. I wouldn't turn it on for an hr then off, then back on for a few hrs.

Corals should have lighting on for 8hrs minimum.

 

I have my light set up for sunrise at 11am with 2 hr ramp up. 8pm lights go into sunset, moonlights are on from 10pm-12am.

 

I have an aquamaxx which is a similar set up as the orbit.

I run my blues 100% and whites at 40%.

 

Blue is more important than white.

 

With the size of your tank and the fixture you have running blues at 100% shouldn't be an issue. Your corals will let you know if its too much, then you can just drop the percentage.

 

For sps, you will need to put them up high with that light.

 

Lps will be fine.

 

 

Excellent, thanks. I am pretty much doing exactly that but my ramp up is 30 minutes.

 

I think my lights were on too long and bright and the corals did not need to extend for anything, so they didn't. They are all alive and colorful but not nearly as full or extended as they used to be. Hopefully this tapered down lighting and schedule makes things better.

[Clown79]

You're welcome.

 

I had to play around with my aquamaxx to find the perfect mixture which seemed to be more blue than white.

[Nomoreammo]

Bump. I've had to dial down my non-pro lights. Alot of my corals have started bleaching in the past couple months after I've been running it on Timer 1.

 

I surmise that 100% intensity may have been too much for my Spec V although some member comments above don't reflect my experience. I've dialed the intensity down to 80% and hopefully my corals will colour up again.

 

I keep my dual channels identical. I found that having more blue than white makes it a bit hard on my eyes.

[Paint@1]

I am new to this is the max the blue and min the white

[holy carp]

13 hours ago, Paint@1 said:

I am new to this is the max the blue and min the white

No, Blue is CH1 and White is CH2

Each of those two channels have their own min and max.

Max is the light percent during the day

Min is the light percent during the moonlight phase

 

If you haven't already, try using the excel file (from the thread linked earlier).  It should help understand everything.