How much AI Prime HD lighting wattage for 20Wx14Lx15H reef tank

[Haacheew]

How much AI Prime HD lighting wattage for a 20-gallon (tank dimension: 18Wx14Lx15H inch - plus 8" gap between water surface and the AI Prime HD) mixed reef tank with mostly soft corals and LPS, and 5 pieces of easy SPS.

 

I am using Stuart-Bertram AI Prime lighting profile.  Its peak lighting output is about 34 watts during noon time.  I think is too much wattage for my nano tank.

 

  For those reefers having their nano tanks, what profile or wattage you are using?  And your recommendations?  Thanks for your help in advance.

[GetPsyched2124]

My tank is pretty much the same dimensions as yours, I'm using an AI prime HD as well.

I started with the AB+ relative schedule, and slightly modified it over time to suit what i felt my tank needs.

 

[Haacheew]

I think I have AB+ profile but not really sure.  Whats the peak wattage output of AB+.   What did you modified?

 

And where can I find the "official" profile?  (I think I had seen it from BRS site)

[mitten_reef]

I don’t think you’ll have problem with the light intensity. But when in doubt start low then increase it every week or two, then observe for another week. If you obsessively watch your tank like I do, you’ll be able to tell if the corals responded well or not to the increase. 

 

A really good, and scientific, alternative is to measure the PAR number by renting or borrowing a PAR meter, maybe from LFS or I’ve seen posts on here about an online rental source. 

 

btw, one of the tank of the month by @Cannedfish used 2 (!) AI PrimeHD on an IM 10 tank, much smaller tank than yours. Go read tank of the month feature of that tank, I think he mentioned something about his light.   So it just goes to show that light level is relative to what you’re keeping too. 

[GetPsyched2124]

yeah I got mine from BRS, i just copied the spectrum percentages. Honestly I've never really paid attention to the peak wattage for mine, but this is the color spectrum at it's peak at 6:20pm, which is 32 watts. but like Mitten said, any adjustments you make, do them slowly over time and pay attention to how your corals respond. if they're happy, don't bother with the light. i don't know what my reason was for having green at 15% and red at 7%, most people prefer not to have them each over 5%. 

[Clown79]

It really depends on the corals you keep.

 

It's really easy to fry corals that require low to moderate light under an ai.

 

With a tank full of sps you can get away with really high light, they love it but other corals like brains, blasto's, etc may not do so well under high intensity.

 

It's best to start at 35/40% and acclimate lighting to where corals are happy.

[SliceGolfer]

This is, by far, the most informative video I found regarding lighting. It is worth taking a look at and should help guide your decision beyond watts. For comparison, I run a modded AB+ spectrum at 65% intensity on UV,V,B,RB, 5% R&G, 30% W through two AI Prime HDs 8” above my IM Nuvo 20. This provides 450 par at water surface, 250 par where my SPS are mounted, and 175 par at the bottom. Renting a par meter is a must if you want to get it right. No guessing.

 

 

[Haacheew]

Thank you for all your input.  The video, indeed, is very informative and helpful.

 

Now, I am trying these modified settings:

at 12pm (ramping from 10am to 12pm)

UV-V -RY-B-G-R-W

70-70-80-80-4-5-25 ::{26 watts}

 

at 3pm  (+25% on 12pm)

88-88-100-100-5-6-33 ::{33 watts}

 

at 6pm  (+20% on 12pm)

84-84-96-96-5-6-30 ::{31 watts}

 

at 10pm (ramp from 10pm to 12am, then ends the day cycle)

70-70-80-80-4-5-25 ::{26 watts}

 

[GetPsyched2124]

It would be beneficial to run acclimation mode. when i first got mine i think i ran acclimation mode for 10 days