Few questions about bluefish mini w/ small retro

[Hig789]

Finally got my small retro mounted in my hood last night and hooked them up and turned on this afternoon when I got up. First of all I have to say that this is a KILLER setup. The small retro is wayyyyy too much light for my 14g haha. But I love having it available if I want it. I am trying to get the day cycle setup on the bluefish app now. I am not home right now either so I can't check and see what's going on. Sorry if some of the questions sound stupid, but I'm a total noob to LEDs and controllers. My previous tanks years ago had halides and VHOs that where controlled by outlet timers.

 

Questions:

 

1. How many channels do my lights actually use? I have 1-6 on the app. I have seen other posts in the settings thread that say they run the blues @ a certain percentage and the whites @ a certain percentage but I think those are for the regular bluefish because the screen looks different from mine on the app.

 

2. I have the moon light upgrade, what channel is that? I assume it is channel 3 and if I set the moonlights at a 0 min ramp will the moonlight just come on when the main LEDs go off and stay on all night? What's a good percentage to run it at without being too bright? I assume it's just personal preference but since it's a separate LED do I need to run it also during the day or let it have a rest.

 

3. Anyone use the natural sun option? It says that the morning and evening levels will be ignored in the natural sun mode, during midday will it ramp all the way to 100% or just to my max percentage settings? From what I have read this seems like the best option for a smooth daylight cycle.

 

4. How would leaving the thunderstorms enabled affect the coral growth if it rains for a few days straight if simulating a certain location. I realize that this happens in the natural setting but I didn't know if it would be better to have a constant light level vs dimming because of clouds in the aquarium.

 

 

Right now all settings are at the standard levels.

 

Morning: 270 min @ 20%. 90 min ramp starting @ 8am

Midday: 90 min ramp to 50%

Evening: 270 min @ 20%. 90 min ramp ending @ 8pm

Moonlight: 90min ramp to 20% starting @ 8pm

 

Thanks for any help in advance.

[RJWalters]

Finally got my small retro mounted in my hood last night and hooked them up and turned on this afternoon when I got up. First of all I have to say that this is a KILLER setup. The small retro is wayyyyy too much light for my 14g haha. But I love having it available if I want it. I am trying to get the day cycle setup on the bluefish app now. I am not home right now either so I can't check and see what's going on. Sorry if some of the questions sound stupid, but I'm a total noob to LEDs and controllers. My previous tanks years ago had halides and VHOs that where controlled by outlet timers.

 

Questions:

 

1. How many channels do my lights actually use? I have 1-6 on the app. I have seen other posts in the settings thread that say they run the blues @ a certain percentage and the whites @ a certain percentage but I think those are for the regular bluefish because the screen looks different from mine on the app.

 

2. I have the moon light upgrade, what channel is that? I assume it is channel 3 and if I set the moonlights at a 0 min ramp will the moonlight just come on when the main LEDs go off and stay on all night? What's a good percentage to run it at without being too bright? I assume it's just personal preference but since it's a separate LED do I need to run it also during the day or let it have a rest.

 

3. Anyone use the natural sun or cloud options? It says that the morning and evening levels will be ignored in the natural sun mode, during midday will it ramp all the way to 100% or just to my max percentage settings?

 

 

Right now all settings are at the standard levels.

 

Morning: 270 min @ 20%. 90 min ramp starting @ 8am

Midday: 90 min ramp to 50%

Evening: 270 min @ 20%. 90 min ramp ending @ 8pm

Moonlight: 90min ramp to 20% starting @ 8pm

 

Thanks for any help in advance.

1. Your light uses 3 channels. #1 is blue, #2 is the whites, #3 is the moonlight

 

That is about all I can answer since I just got my light and it is still cycling

[Hig789]

1. Your light uses 3 channels. #1 is blue, #2 is the whites, #3 is the moonlight

 

That is about all I can answer since I just got my light and it is still cycling

That's what I thought. My tank is still cycling. Just trying to get this figured out before adding anything.

[jedimasterben]

1. How many channels do my lights actually use? I have 1-6 on the app. I have seen other posts in the settings thread that say they run the blues @ a certain percentage and the whites @ a certain percentage but I think those are for the regular bluefish because the screen looks different from mine on the app.

 

2. I have the moon light upgrade, what channel is that? I assume it is channel 3 and if I set the moonlights at a 0 min ramp will the moonlight just come on when the main LEDs go off and stay on all night? What's a good percentage to run it at without being too bright? I assume it's just personal preference but since it's a separate LED do I need to run it also during the day or let it have a rest.

 

3. Anyone use the natural sun option? It says that the morning and evening levels will be ignored in the natural sun mode, during midday will it ramp all the way to 100% or just to my max percentage settings? From what I have read this seems like the best option for a smooth daylight cycle.

 

4. How would leaving the thunderstorms enabled affect the coral growth if it rains for a few days straight if simulating a certain location. I realize that this happens in the natural setting but I didn't know if it would be better to have a constant light level vs dimming because of clouds in the aquarium.

1) However many you paid for. By default they're all dual channel, but you can upgrade to triple or quad channel. Moonlight adds a third, fourth, or fifth channel.

 

2) Set it to 0.1% and see if that is too bright. You should be able to, well, not see into your tank at all. 'Moonlight' is to make us feel better about it, a blue LED doesn't match up with moonlight at all (which is almost all reflected red) so it shouldn't be too bright. Use your best judgement on that part, you'll just have to observe.

 

3) Lots of people do lol. Enable Natural Sun and set your midday percentages. It will spend four hours ramping up, four hours at those peak percentages, and then four hours ramping down. Soon there will be a different, truly 'natural' ramp that will look like this.

 

4) It won't have any effect.

[Hig789]

1) However many you paid for. By default they're all dual channel, but you can upgrade to triple or quad channel. Moonlight adds a third, fourth, or fifth channel.

 

2) Set it to 0.1% and see if that is too bright. You should be able to, well, not see into your tank at all. 'Moonlight' is to make us feel better about it, a blue LED doesn't match up with moonlight at all (which is almost all reflected red) so it shouldn't be too bright. Use your best judgement on that part, you'll just have to observe.

 

3) Lots of people do lol. Enable Natural Sun and set your midday percentages. It will spend four hours ramping up, four hours at those peak percentages, and then four hours ramping down. Soon there will be a different, truly 'natural' ramp that will look like this.

 

4) It won't have any effect.

This for the help I just bought the standard small retro with one 13up V3 array with the moonlight upgrade. I'll try the .1% and see what it looks like. I'll try out the natural sun option too. Won't be able tell much till I get some corals in there I don't guess. Looking forward to the truly natural ramp.

 

This light system coupled with the bluefish mini is well worth what you pay and more imo.

[DaveFason]

Finally got my small retro mounted in my hood last night and hooked them up and turned on this afternoon when I got up. First of all I have to say that this is a KILLER setup. The small retro is wayyyyy too much light for my 14g haha. But I love having it available if I want it. I am trying to get the day cycle setup on the bluefish app now. I am not home right now either so I can't check and see what's going on. Sorry if some of the questions sound stupid, but I'm a total noob to LEDs and controllers. My previous tanks years ago had halides and VHOs that where controlled by outlet timers.

 

Questions:

 

1. How many channels do my lights actually use? I have 1-6 on the app. I have seen other posts in the settings thread that say they run the blues @ a certain percentage and the whites @ a certain percentage but I think those are for the regular bluefish because the screen looks different from mine on the app.

 

2. I have the moon light upgrade, what channel is that? I assume it is channel 3 and if I set the moonlights at a 0 min ramp will the moonlight just come on when the main LEDs go off and stay on all night? What's a good percentage to run it at without being too bright? I assume it's just personal preference but since it's a separate LED do I need to run it also during the day or let it have a rest.

 

3. Anyone use the natural sun option? It says that the morning and evening levels will be ignored in the natural sun mode, during midday will it ramp all the way to 100% or just to my max percentage settings? From what I have read this seems like the best option for a smooth daylight cycle.

 

4. How would leaving the thunderstorms enabled affect the coral growth if it rains for a few days straight if simulating a certain location. I realize that this happens in the natural setting but I didn't know if it would be better to have a constant light level vs dimming because of clouds in the aquarium.

 

 

Right now all settings are at the standard levels.

 

Morning: 270 min @ 20%. 90 min ramp starting @ 8am

Midday: 90 min ramp to 50%

Evening: 270 min @ 20%. 90 min ramp ending @ 8pm

Moonlight: 90min ramp to 20% starting @ 8pm

 

Thanks for any help in advance.

Told you that you would have plenty of coverage and be more than happy

 

1. 1-3. Ch1 - Whites, CH2 - Blue/Royal CH3 - Moonlight
2. .1-.5% is the normal. More to your liking?
3. See if you like it more. Ben posted the graph, I personally do not use it.
4. No effect. I personally do black outs on my tank with no light for 2-3 days at times.

Hope this helps and thanks to the other guys for pitching in. I am feeling 70% now.

 

-Dave

[Hig789]

Told you that you would have plenty of coverage and be more than happy

 

 

• 1-3. Ch1 - Whites, CH2 - Blue/Royal CH3 - Moonlight
• .1-.5% is the normal. More to your liking?
• See if you like it more. Ben posted the graph, I personally do not use it.
• No effect. I personally do black outs on my tank with no light for 2-3 days at times.

Hope this helps and thanks to the other guys for pitching in. I am feeling 70% now.

 

-Dave

Thanks for all the help Dave. I I'm trying the natural sun setting with blues at 60 and whites at 40. Moonlight at .2. Really just for looks now though I guess haha. They are seriously intense at full out.

[jedimasterben]

3. See if you like it more. Ben posted the graph, I personally do not use it.

Only weenies don't use it

 

And actually, the current one looks like this:

 

And if you use the 'normal' setting, with ramp times of 90 minutes and morning/evening length of 270 minutes, it looks like this:

[PorkchopSandwiches]

Hey not to hijack your post but what did you end up using for your settings? i just got my small retro installed yesterday on my biocube 14 and im completely at a loss for what to set them at. the bluefish shows the 6 channels but i thought there were only 2? i have the natural sun option ON and Dynamic Sunrise ON as well.

[jedimasterben]

The Bluefish has six channels no matter what it is connected to. You can hide the unused channels in settings.

[DaveFason]

Hey not to hijack your post but what did you end up using for your settings? i just got my small retro installed yesterday on my biocube 14 and im completely at a loss for what to set them at. the bluefish shows the 6 channels but i thought there were only 2? i have the natural sun option ON and Dynamic Sunrise ON as well.

http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/367284-nanobox-how-to-bluefish-tideduoquad-series/

 

Check that out. Yours will be just like a Tide.

-Dave

[PorkchopSandwiches]

http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/367284-nanobox-how-to-bluefish-tideduoquad-series/

 

Check that out. Yours will be just like a Tide.

-Dave

thanks dave!