Light intensity

[ggabrielcc]

Hi, I have a TMC Reef Photon light (84 watts) running on a 15 gallon cube, I was wandering what intensity and colours I should run, right now I have it starting at a low intensity blue dominant colour at 10am then it goes up to a whiteish blue with white at about 66% and the blues at about 80%, thats at about 12-2 then the white goes back down again and its mainly blue until it fades out at about 11:30pm. I don't know if I'm going over the top but after watching some videos it confused me with the intensity as some lights run at 100% and some run at 40% and other people said if you don't have enough of certain wavelengths it can dull your corals.

thanks for any help

 

[mcarroll]

There's a lot of voodoo info on lighting out there, so take it all with a grain of salt, IMO.

 

If you do this, you and your corals should be happy:

 

Turn on the lights and adjust the blue lights to the level you want them.  (100% may be correct if the light was specified for the tank it's on.)

 

Then slowly adjust the whites up from 0% until there's just enough white light that the tank looks good, but no more.

 

This should result in something like 15.000K-20,000K color temperature.

 

I would also suggest getting a light meter so you can stop guessing at your overall light levels.   (A lux meter can be had for as little as $10-$20.)

[ggabrielcc]

6 hours ago, mcarroll said:

There's a lot of voodoo info on lighting out there, so take it all with a grain of salt, IMO.

 

If you do this, you and your corals should be happy:

 

Turn on the lights and adjust the blue lights to the level you want them.  (100% may be correct if the light was specified for the tank it's on.)

 

Then slowly adjust the whites up from 0% until there's just enough white light that the tank looks good, but no more.

 

This should result in something like 15.000K-20,000K color temperature.

 

I would also suggest getting a light meter so you can stop guessing at your overall light levels.   (A lux meter can be had for as little as $10-$20.)

ah ok, the light Is probably meant for slightly bigger tanks, I just got some zoas and they're not opening and its only just dawned on me that that it could be too much light, I had them on the bottom of the tank but directly under the light, I asked another forum and no one could seem to find an exact problem. maybe I'll lower the intensity or move them to a shaded area and see how they are after a few days. 

Thanks for making me realise the light is probably a bit too strong, you may have saved my zoos lol

 

[dling]

You can also buy just the par sensor with a usb end and download the software for free. This is what I did so I have a good idea of what par reading I get at different locations of the tank.

Much cheaper than buying the meter. 

 https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/usb-smart-quantum-par-sensor-apogee.html

 

[ggabrielcc]

7 hours ago, dling said:

You can also buy just the par sensor with a usb end and download the software for free. This is what I did so I have a good idea of what par reading I get at different locations of the tank.

Much cheaper than buying the meter. 

 https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/usb-smart-quantum-par-sensor-apogee.html

 

oh thanks a lot for this as I had no clue, I thought if I wanted one I would have to spend £400 or something silly 

[dling]

GlYou can also buy just the par sensor with a usb end and download the software for free. This is what I did so I have a good idea of what par reading I get at different locations of the tank.

Much cheaper than buying the meter. 

 https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/usb-smart-quantum-par-sensor-apogee.html

 

[dling]

Glad to be of help. Hope you can find one. I use mine enough to justify it.  I have corals coming in tomorrow.  And plan on putting them in par range that the supplier was using.

[Ratvan]

On 5/2/2020 at 1:06 AM, ggabrielcc said:

Hi, I have a TMC Reef Photon light (84 watts) running on a 15 gallon cube, I was wandering what intensity and colours I should run, right now I have it starting at a low intensity blue dominant colour at 10am then it goes up to a whiteish blue with white at about 66% and the blues at about 80%, thats at about 12-2 then the white goes back down again and its mainly blue until it fades out at about 11:30pm. I don't know if I'm going over the top but after watching some videos it confused me with the intensity as some lights run at 100% and some run at 40% and other people said if you don't have enough of certain wavelengths it can dull your corals.

thanks for any help

 

Can you post a picture of the tank? Sounds interesting

 

I use a lux meter, free to doenload

Takes a bit more working out than PAR readings

[dling]

I used to use the free lux app. Was not convinced it or I was reading the right par doing the conversation. 

[ggabrielcc]

21 hours ago, dling said:

GlYou can also buy just the par sensor with a usb end and download the software for free. This is what I did so I have a good idea of what par reading I get at different locations of the tank.

Much cheaper than buying the meter. 

 https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/usb-smart-quantum-par-sensor-apogee.html

 

yeah sounds like a good idea, hopefully it'll get them acclimated asap, as for the app as well, even if it did work I my phone isn't water proof but I guess I could put it in a water tight bag but thats a bit risky 

[Ratvan]

23 hours ago, dling said:

I used to use the free lux app. Was not convinced it or I was reading the right par doing the conversation. 

I used every 10k lux as a step up in Par. So 20-30k was sps, higher lps. Etc. 

2 hours ago, ggabrielcc said:

yeah sounds like a good idea, hopefully it'll get them acclimated asap, as for the app as well, even if it did work I my phone isn't water proof but I guess I could put it in a water tight bag but thats a bit risky 

My light is on a gooseneck so I swivelled and used my phone to estimate rough levels. It's 10" deep so water wouldn't play a great deal of interference 

[ggabrielcc]

1 hour ago, Ratvan said:

I used every 10k lux as a step up in Par. So 20-30k was sps, higher lps. Etc. 

My light is on a gooseneck so I swivelled and used my phone to estimate rough levels. It's 10" deep so water wouldn't play a great deal of interference 

ahi may as ell try it as it is better than having no clue at all, I can compare it to natural sunlight and do the conversions that way 

[mcarroll]

On 5/7/2020 at 6:14 PM, dling said:

I used to use the free lux app. Was not convinced it or I was reading the right par doing the conversation. 

It's not hard to do, but it is possible to get a dud of an App....there are MANY combinations of light sensor/camera's and not all use the same software calibration to interpret standard intensity levels.

 

If that happens, try a different/newer app.  Better yet, plunk down the $7-$20 to get a handheld meter.   Way better!

 

As for the conversion, unless you have access to a PAR meter to create a real conversion factor for your light setup, just use a "close estimate' of 50....which is the conversion factor for sunlight.   2000 PAR = 100,000 lux.   50 makes for easy calculations.

 

In reality, reef lights tend to get a conversion factor of around 60 or as high as 70...but that's not really a huge difference.  

 

E.g.

• 200 PAR
  200*70 = 14,000 lux.  
  200*50 = 10,000 lux.  
  Both say low light tank that will be fine growing corals...you don't need to know for sure whether it's really 10,000 or 14,000 or somewhere in between.
• 600 PAR
  600*70=42,000 lux.
  600*50=30,000 lux.
  Both say medium light tank that will be fine even growing high-light animals like clams...you don't need to know for sure for sure whether it's 30,000 or 42,000.

[ggabrielcc]

12 hours ago, mcarroll said:

It's not hard to do, but it is possible to get a dud of an App....there are MANY combinations of light sensor/camera's and not all use the same software calibration to interpret standard intensity levels.

 

If that happens, try a different/newer app.  Better yet, plunk down the $7-$20 to get a handheld meter.   Way better!

 

As for the conversion, unless you have access to a PAR meter to create a real conversion factor for your light setup, just use a "close estimate' of 50....which is the conversion factor for sunlight.   2000 PAR = 100,000 lux.   50 makes for easy calculations.

 

In reality, reef lights tend to get a conversion factor of around 60 or as high as 70...but that's not really a huge difference.  

 

E.g.

• 200 PAR
  200*70 = 14,000 lux.  
  200*50 = 10,000 lux.  
  Both say low light tank that will be fine growing corals...you don't need to know for sure whether it's really 10,000 or 14,000 or somewhere in between.
• 600 PAR
  600*70=42,000 lux.
  600*50=30,000 lux.
  Both say medium light tank that will be fine even growing high-light animals like clams...you don't need to know for sure for sure whether it's 30,000 or 42,000.

ah alright this really helps, thanks 🙂