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Lunar Cycle questions


roll_the_dice

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roll_the_dice

I am working with Dave, so this isn't a thread to bash Dave he has been great.  I just want to know if anyone has Lunar Cycle set to "on".  If you don't this doesn't apply unless you used to use it. 🙂

 

I have always loved Lunar Cycles and the moon glowing some during daylight hours during some phases of the moon.  I cannot for the life of me get my Lunar Cycle to work correctly. 

 

I have Lunar Cycle set to "ON".

My Night settings are every channel 0% except Royal Blue set to 1.5%

 

My lights go off at 10PM and according to my moonrise time is 3:19 AM and moonset is 1:48PM.  What I thought/assumed, was lunar cycle in the “ON” position would then use the moon cycle for the location that was set regardless of my on/off times for the morning/midday/evening settings.  It should adjust the on/off times of the moon based on the location setting and my on/off time.  So If my location moonrise is 11:30PM mine would be 3:19AM based on the time difference between my location on the app and my on/off settings.  When I go to my location and press the middle bottom button this is what it says.  So again, I "assumed" this is what my moonrise and moonset should be.

 

lunar.png

 

Otherwise it isn’t a true lunar cycle and no need for a night setting.  Otherwise, there should be a moon setting “ON/OFF” and it comes on when light go out and off when lights come on...no fuss no muss no lunar phase equation built in.

 

Does anyone actually use the lunar cycle and have the times be different everyday?

 

Before anyone says Lunar cycle is dumb or not needed...I want it and was under the impression it worked on BlueFish and Nanobox.  I have had snails spawn in the past based on moon cycle...so no it isn't a must have for everyone, but something I want/love on my systems.

 

 

 

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I run lunar on my prime. My main cycle is sunrise at 4pm, ramp for 4 hours until 8pm. Then full intensity from 8pm-12am, followed by a 4 hour ramp down. For lunar I run 3% blue and royal blue from lights out at 4am to noon. Then I give the tank 4 hours of total darkness. 

 

With the prime I know you can't have lunar overlap with you main cycle or it will interfere.  Yours sound similar. What exactly is the problem? 

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roll_the_dice

Thanks for responding.  My moonlight doesn't come on at all with lunar cycle set to "ON"...I would understand if there was no overlap since the royal blue channel will be used with my other settings...but I get nada for moon.

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You might have it set so low that on nights when the moon isn't very bright it won't come on at all. Try upping it to 3-5%. 

 

Lunar runs by moon percentage so on a night when the moon is at 60% you'll only get 60% of your max lunar setting. So in your case 60% of 1.5%. 

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roll_the_dice

That's what we thought at first also...I had it set lower.  Dave went in and changed the settings to 1.5%.  Also, when I hit the preview button it doesn't do anything for the royal channel no matter where I have the %.  It is very strange.

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57 minutes ago, roll_the_dice said:

I am working with Dave, so this isn't a thread to bash Dave he has been great.  I just want to know if anyone has Lunar Cycle set to "on".  If you don't this doesn't apply unless you used to use it. 🙂

 

I have always loved Lunar Cycles and the moon glowing some during daylight hours during some phases of the moon.  I cannot for the life of me get my Lunar Cycle to work correctly. 

 

I have Lunar Cycle set to "ON".

My Night settings are every channel 0% except Royal Blue set to 1.5%

 

My lights go off at 10PM and according to my moonrise time is 3:19 AM and moonset is 1:48PM.  What I thought/assumed, was lunar cycle in the “ON” position would then use the moon cycle for the location that was set regardless of my on/off times for the morning/midday/evening settings.  It should adjust the on/off times of the moon based on the location setting and my on/off time.  So If my location moonrise is 11:30PM mine would be 3:19AM based on the time difference between my location on the app and my on/off settings.  When I go to my location and press the middle bottom button this is what it says.  So again, I "assumed" this is what my moonrise and moonset should be.

 

lunar.png

 

Otherwise it isn’t a true lunar cycle and no need for a night setting.  Otherwise, there should be a moon setting “ON/OFF” and it comes on when light go out and off when lights come on...no fuss no muss no lunar phase equation built in.

 

Does anyone actually use the lunar cycle and have the times be different everyday?

 

Before anyone says Lunar cycle is dumb or not needed...I want it and was under the impression it worked on BlueFish and Nanobox.  I have had snails spawn in the past based on moon cycle...so no it isn't a must have for everyone, but something I want/love on my systems.

 

 

 

This question might be better suited for @SpencerShepard.  He should be able to tell how the logic of all those offsetting time schedule, etc, along with your moonlight schedule should work.  

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roll_the_dice
1 hour ago, specore said:

Mine adjusts for intensity, but doesn't seem to use the moonrise/moonset times.  

Can you post your settings so I can see how we differ?  Thanks!

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roll_the_dice
2 hours ago, micoastreefing said:

This question might be better suited for @SpencerShepard.  He should be able to tell how the logic of all those offsetting time schedule, etc, along with your moonlight schedule should work.  

I think Dave is talking to Spencer about it also.

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roll_the_dice

@specore Thanks!  

 

I currently set my lunar cycle to "OFF" just to see if it would come on based on my night setting.  IT DID NOT!  My moonlight was set to come on at 10:02PM and there is no moonlight on!  So not only is lunar cycle not working...moonlight is not working either.  Very frustrating.

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roll_the_dice

Anyone else running moonlighting either regular timed or lunar cycle?  I am frustrated that mine doesn't work in either mode...so I think I got a defective unit.

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12 minutes ago, roll_the_dice said:

Anyone else running moonlighting either regular timed or lunar cycle?  I am frustrated that mine doesn't work in either mode...so I think I got a defective unit.

I literally just went in and reset a few items. I see you have storms marked to on as well. 

 

The unit is not defective. It is something on the backside on the programming. I am trying to figure out what is triggering this. I sent a message to Spencer to see if he can log into the account to see on the backend. 

 

You may have found a bug with the moonlight, storm setting ,etc that maybe disabling it from coming on. 

 

I should know something within the next 48 hours. 

-Dave

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roll_the_dice

@davefason


I literally  this morning changed storms to "on" since moonlights haven't worked since the day I received it no matter what the settings are.  I find it difficult to believe it  a bug when no one else has ever had this problem.  I just now (12:40pm) changed storms, Light Easing, and storms at night to "OFF".  Everything is set to OFF.  Then if I go into "Night" mode and press preview I get nada.  Shouldn't preview ...actually preview what that mode will do?  So everything set to off as you want and nothing. 

 

If I can't run the lights how I want to..by having storms on/off, lunar cycle on/off, there is no point in having the light.  I paid hard earned money and I expect a product to work as advertised. 

 

That is not what I wanted...a basic light with features that don't work.   I understand problems, but a bug seems to be weird if this never has happened before and with the settings above from another reefer there isn't a bug.  Then the question is...what has changed in the software or the lights that would cause a "bug"?

 

Quick question...since these are built by hand...do you test all feature before sending out?  If not, Is it not possible, something was missed or miswired?

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22 hours ago, roll_the_dice said:

@davefason


I literally  this morning changed storms to "on" since moonlights haven't worked since the day I received it no matter what the settings are.  I find it difficult to believe it  a bug when no one else has ever had this problem.  I just now (12:40pm) changed storms, Light Easing, and storms at night to "OFF".  Everything is set to OFF.  Then if I go into "Night" mode and press preview I get nada.  Shouldn't preview ...actually preview what that mode will do?  So everything set to off as you want and nothing. 

 

If I can't run the lights how I want to..by having storms on/off, lunar cycle on/off, there is no point in having the light.  I paid hard earned money and I expect a product to work as advertised. 

 

That is not what I wanted...a basic light with features that don't work.   I understand problems, but a bug seems to be weird if this never has happened before and with the settings above from another reefer there isn't a bug.  Then the question is...what has changed in the software or the lights that would cause a "bug"?

 

Quick question...since these are built by hand...do you test all feature before sending out?  If not, Is it not possible, something was missed or miswired?

A bug/program issue can pop up with firmware updates, etc. With the amount of operating systems for mobiles things can come up. That is the only reason I asked and inquired. 

 

You can run the lights any way you want to. I am simply trying to find out why this is happening. 

 

I do not test every setting for each light, it would take hours. I test proper dimming on each channel, fan and put in demo mode. If anything is incorrect it will show up. 

 

I want to be clear that all models now include mint to replace the single blue LED for moonlight. Using the royal blue channel to function as the moonlight. This allows for a even spread of light which more people wanted. 

 

-Dave

 

***EDIT*** - I just tried on a test unit here. The lunar schedule right now must be a new moon. As my unit is OFF. I will ask Bluefish what the algorithm is for the lunar/moon cycle. 

 

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roll_the_dice

Well I figured out the problems with my light...none of the Royal blue lights are working, no matter the setting (morning, midday, evening, or night)....so it isn't a lunar problem afterall...it is a light problem.

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On 11/3/2018 at 4:20 PM, roll_the_dice said:

Well I figured out the problems with my light...none of the Royal blue lights are working, no matter the setting (morning, midday, evening, or night)....so it isn't a lunar problem afterall...it is a light problem.

Same thing happened to me dude (got my unit in early August). 

 

Dave eventually got me replacement arrays, all is good now. Corals (SPS included) still grew without the royal blues while I waited for the new arrays, but the whole tank looks so much more beautiful now with full lighting. Probably just a bad batch of blue LEDs. 

 

Dave is a one man show but worked with me to make it right, overall still happy I went with the NanoBox duos. Hope you get your replacements soon. 

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roll_the_dice
1 hour ago, madadium said:

Same thing happened to me dude (got my unit in early August). 

 

Dave eventually got me replacement arrays, all is good now. Corals (SPS included) still grew without the royal blues while I waited for the new arrays, but the whole tank looks so much more beautiful now with full lighting. Probably just a bad batch of blue LEDs. 

 

Dave is a one man show but worked with me to make it right, overall still happy I went with the NanoBox duos. Hope you get your replacements soon. 

I did further testing and my Violet Channel doesn't work either.    Without royal blue and violet the coloration wasn't great and not bright at all.  I lost an SPS frag while I tried figuring out the light.  No idea if it was light related or not, but in my mind it was...

 

I am sending back for a full refund.  I am waiting on the label from Dave now.  Great guy....I have been a one man show in this business so I understand how busy he is...but I have no problem with Dave's customer service.  We tried figuring out everything together...just wasn't meant to be this time.

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  • 2 weeks later...
SpencerShepard

Lunar cycles work by simply applying a dimming % to your night levels.  So if you have your Royal Blues set for 1% and your location is showing 50% moon illumination, the output will be 0.5% on your Royal Blue channel.

 

Moonrise/moonset times are pulled in, but this was for development and shouldn't be displayed in the location details...it's not currently implemented.  

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