Bluefish Controller User Manual

[jedimasterben]

The intended way to offset with dynamic photoperiod is to select only one of the options for Sunrise or Sunset simulation:

But come on, who likes using things the way they were intended?

[Hexadron]

Currently the storm soundtrack only plays when you manually start the storm scene.

Any chances this may change in the future? So basically right now, if a 'natural' storm occurs, there is no sound - only if a manual one is started?

[jedimasterben]

Any chances this may change in the future? So basically right now, if a 'natural' storm occurs, there is no sound - only if a manual one is started?

Having it automatically do it would be a great way to make me crap my pants

[Hexadron]

Having it automatically do it would be a great way to make me crap my pants

 

I think it would be so cool though! As long as the volume on your speaker isn't too loud

[SpencerShepard]

Any chances this may change in the future? So basically right now, if a 'natural' storm occurs, there is no sound - only if a manual one is started?

Correct. I'm not planning on making that change currently. The audio plays from the app, so the only decent way to do it would be to dedicate a mobile device for that purpose, or to have another piece of hardware attached to the controller.

[Hexadron]

Correct. I'm not planning on making that change currently. The audio plays from the app, so the only decent way to do it would be to dedicate a mobile device for that purpose, or to have another piece of hardware attached to the controller.

 

Curious, would it be possible to use one of the 3.5mm 'channel' ports to plug in a speaker and have the bluefish hardware send the signal instead of the app/smartphone? This would make it not reply on a bluetooth connection, and rather hardware. Could a future firmware support this? I realize you probably have bigger fish to fry..

 

Just trying to think outside of the box

[SpencerShepard]

Not possible through the channel outlets with the current hardware. To think outside of the box, it would be possible through the Blueport connector, but using that directly could interfere with other devices (internally and externally). So that makes it a no-go. It would be possible with another piece of hardware, but I don't think there would be demand enough to make it a viable product.

 

It's pretty low down the list, but I've thought about an interface to help out the DIY types (ie. Blueport to arduino shield). The controller would send events and other data to your arduino. So it would receive a message when a storm starts, and you can do what you want with it. Also the storm event could trigger an outlet on the power bar.

[jedimasterben]

Not possible through the channel outlets with the current hardware. To think outside of the box, it would be possible through the Blueport connector, but using that directly could interfere with other devices (internally and externally). So that makes it a no-go. It would be possible with another piece of hardware, but I don't think there would be demand enough to make it a viable product.

 

It's pretty low down the list, but I've thought about an interface to help out the DIY types (ie. Blueport to arduino shield). The controller would send events and other data to your arduino. So it would receive a message when a storm starts, and you can do what you want with it. Also the storm event could trigger an outlet on the power bar.

 

 

 

sweet mother of god he mentioned it! IT EXISTS!

[Hexadron]

[sNEIRBO]

Still waiting for Steve's to ship my Bluefish, but in the meantime, I'm reading and planning ...

 

A couple of questions - how do I know if I need 5V or 10V? The Steve's upgrade kit uses PWM, I plan to hook all Stunners and TrueLumens to Power-PWM. But how do I figure out if I need 5V or 10V?

 

My plan for sunrise/sunset is - follow option B - set sunrise for 6:45am local time here in SE MI, allow the sunset to vary according to a location. If I pick a location like say the Great Barrier Reef on the other side of the world - is the Bluefish controller going to set sunset / night start to 8:22pm my local US Eastern Time, not 8:22pm Australia Koala Bear Time (1:22 am US Eastern Time)?

 

When lights start to ramp up / down, do they ramp at different speeds? For example, will magentas ramp up first / faster in the morning to simulate daybreak, then the blues ramp up, then finally the whites? Then reverse that for night? Or do I adjust that in the min / max light intensities?

[jedimasterben]

Still waiting for Steve's to ship my Bluefish, but in the meantime, I'm reading and planning ...

 

A couple of questions - how do I know if I need 5V or 10V? The Steve's upgrade kit uses PWM, I plan to hook all Stunners and TrueLumens to Power-PWM. But how do I figure out if I need 5V or 10V?

Depends on the drivers. Steve's drivers use 5v PWM. I don't know about the PowerPWM boards, tbh.

 

My plan for sunrise/sunset is - follow option B - set sunrise for 6:45am local time here in SE MI, allow the sunset to vary according to a location. If I pick a location like say the Great Barrier Reef on the other side of the world - is the Bluefish controller going to set sunset / night start to 8:22pm my local US Eastern Time, not 8:22pm Australia Koala Bear Time (1:22 am US Eastern Time)?

It will set it to local time wherever you select. The fix for that is to set your time zone manually to an offset that you prefer. I have mine set 5 hours off from Bora Bora time, so my photoperiod starts around 11AM and doesn't end til around 11PM.

 

When lights start to ramp up / down, do they ramp at different speeds? For example, will magentas ramp up first / faster in the morning to simulate daybreak, then the blues ramp up, then finally the whites? Then reverse that for night? Or do I adjust that in the min / max light intensities?

You adjust that according to your morning/midday/evening settings, or if Natural Sun is used, just midday.

[sNEIRBO]

It will set it to local time wherever you select. The fix for that is to set your time zone manually to an offset that you prefer. I have mine set 5 hours off from Bora Bora time, so my photoperiod starts around 11AM and doesn't end til around 11PM.

 

Are you using "Option C" - letting the controller set both your sunrise & sunset??

 

I noticed Bluefish said "Option C" is "not recommended" ... I wondered why?

 

 

I was going to set the controller for Natural Sun - if I do it will self adjust the ramps for the different channels based on color? My magenta channel would ramp up before the blue channels & white channel?

[jedimasterben]

Are you using "Option C" - letting the controller set both your sunrise & sunset??

 

I noticed Bluefish said "Option C" is "not recommended" ... I wondered why?

Because it will set it to your location's time, so if you wanted it to start at 12PM EST it would instead start at 6:22AM local time to your sim location, etc. Adjusting the time zone on the controller bypasses this issue, though.

 

I was going to set the controller for Natural Sun - if I do it will self adjust the ramps for the different channels based on color? My magenta channel would ramp up before the blue channels & white channel?

It doesn't do anything based on color. The controller has no way of knowing anything about what you have attached to it, all it does is send a signal out with no input.

[sNEIRBO]

It doesn't do anything based on color. The controller has no way of knowing anything about what you have attached to it, all it does is send a signal out with no input.

 

Still trying to figure out how this Natural Sun works then ... if I set controller to Natural Sun, and tell it that at mid-day I want -

 

White @ 50% full power

Actinics @ 75% full power

Magenta @ 100% full power

Royal Blue @ 100% full power

Ultraviolet @ 100% full power

Moonlights @ 0%

 

At the prescribed morning start time, it is going to start ramping the 5 active channels up from 0% to the level I want for mid-day, without any time adjustment for color? So basically I'm going to get the same color mixture from the ramp start, until full intensity? Just a gradual fade in / fade out of that color mixture?

 

I was hoping for more of this type scenario -

 

6:30am - 7:00am - magentas fade from 0% - 33% max value

7:00am - 7:30am - magentas continue to fade from 33% - 66% max value, actinic, royal blues, UV fade from 0% - 33% max value

7:30am - 8:00am - magentas fade from 66% to max, actinic, blues, UV fade from 33% - 66% max, white fade from 0% - 33% max

8:00am - 8:30am - magentas at max, actinic, blues, UV fade from 66% to max, white fades 33% - 66% max

8:30am - 9:00am - magenta, actinic, blues, UV at max, white fades 66% - max

 

So that there's a red to purple to blue to blue-white progression to the lights. Sounds like Natural Sun may not accomplish that for me, I might have to play around with the morning, mid-day, evening level settings.

 

Or could I accomplish what I want using the pendant time shift? Set the actinic, blue & UV to a 30 min shift, and the whites to a 60 min shift?

 

Right now, I have my Typhoon controller set so that the actinics start up at 6:45am, and ramp up for 2 hours. At 7:15am, the whites start up and ramp up for 3 hours. They hold those levels until 2:15pm, then the whites start to ramp down over 3 hours. At 5:30pm the actinics start to ramp down for 2 hours.

[SpencerShepard]

sNEIRBO, yes it sounds like you've got the idea of Natural Sun. If you need more control over color during different parts of the day, just turn it off. You might be able to accomplish what you want to do with pendant offset, but there wouldn't be much point. You may as well use the Morning/Evening settings for ease of use.

 

[sNEIRBO]

You may as well use the Morning/Evening settings for ease of use.

 

 

 

I fired up Numbers on the Mac and figured it out - I needed to see it laid out visually before it made sense.

 

After I get my Bluefish controller, and get the Stunners / TrueLumens installed, I'll play around with the percentages for each channel at each phase until I get something that looks good.

[sNEIRBO]

Depends on the drivers. Steve's drivers use 5v PWM. I don't know about the PowerPWM boards, tbh.

 

Was thinking about this, this morning - I never did find out if the Power-PWM boards are 5V or 10V ...

[SpencerShepard]

Was thinking about this, this morning - I never did find out if the Power-PWM boards are 5V or 10V ...

It doesn't really matter, but if you've got the board open already, set it to 5V. The PWM inputs are rated 15V maximum, 10V maximum for longest life.

[sNEIRBO]

I was talking to the loved ones these evening over dinner about this new Bluefish controller (because I just got shipping notification from Steve's this afternoon) when I started to notice some weird looks on faces ... apparently my Christmas present this year is a new 125 Gallon Tank!

 

Tank dimensions are 60"L x 18"W x 28"D - the want to just buy the tank, stand and glass lids. I would need to figure out lighting ... any suggestions for something that will light that tank, work with Bluefish, and not empty my wallet?

 

How about the Current USA Orbit?

[jedimasterben]

How about the Current USA Orbit?

That certainly won't light a tank that large without spending well over $1K for multiple units, and you'd still have crappy lights that aren't Bluefish compatible.

[sNEIRBO]

That certainly won't light a tank that large without spending well over $1K for multiple units, and you'd still have crappy lights that aren't Bluefish compatible.

 

Recommendations?

[jedimasterben]

Recommendations?

You're pretty limited due to most lights not being 0-10v or PWM controlled. For stock lights you're limited to Kessil, BuildMyLED, and certain Chinese LED panels, none of which I would recommend. BML is at least a decent option in that you can customize it to what you want, but you'd need more than one strip to light the tank.

[sNEIRBO]

BML is at least a decent option in that you can customize it to what you want, but you'd need more than one strip to light the tank.

 

Just checked BML out - they recommend 4 fixtures at $420 each - $880 in lights ... OUCH!

 

I looked at the Rapid LEDs - Bluefish says on their site that the Onyx units work with Bluefish. Rapid LED recommends 3 Onyx fixtures - $900 in lights ... again OUCH!

 

As much as I'd love to have a larger tank, and I know the loved ones want a larger tank so we can get a Blue Hippo Tang, I think I'm going to tell them that we're just going to stick with the NanoCube! They haven't order anything yet, they just found it online and were waiting to ask me if that's what I wanted.

[jedimasterben]

The 1K range is actually on the cheap side for a tank that size. I think mine is up to ~$1400 for my 80.

[sNEIRBO]

Spencer -

 

I got my Bluefish controller and a breakout board from Steve's today. Hooked up and channel 2 on the breakout board is not working. Originally I got the whites to work on Channel 1, could not get blues to work on Channel 2. I spent about 90 minutes troubleshooting, then tried swapping the wires - now the blues work fine on Channel 1, but I can not get the whites to work on Channel 2. Any suggestions?