NICREW Marine LED 2- Channel Timer

[Abelardo]

Hey there! I need your help/advice on this LED I have for my 29 gallon. Will this be able to support soft corals or maybe LPS corals?? This was purchased on Amazon this is quoted from product description “Features 445nm and 460nm blue, 10k white, and RGB LEDs” I will attach a picture with more specs. It’s currently set to 100% intensity all LEDS on (channel 1) from 8am-6:45pm with 30% intensity blue lights (channel 2) until 9:45pm. Any advice please?!? Also I have this LED sitting right over the tank, it sits on the aquarium rim. Is that too close?? I noticed brown algae forming on the sand bed and I’m thinking it may be due to the lights? The tank is currently cycling with 2 clowns ! Any advice will help. Thanks in advance ! 

  

 

[Clown79]

Is it actually a marine light for corals because all the nicrew i have seen are for freshwater or fish only marine.

 

A lot of cheaper leds boast they can support corals/plants but its not always the case. 

 

Can you post a link to the light because they have many versions.

 

If you are ok with mushrooms, paly's, leathers, gsp it will work but for lps and sps, probably not.

 

There are other budget lights that do work.

 

Running 100% white/red will give you more algae. 

 

During cycling, no lights should be on to prevent unnecessary algae

 

 

[Abelardo]

Thanks for the reply! Well advertising it will be able to support some corals, I decided to buy this but now I’m not really sure what it would be able to support, Here is the link. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0819MQQ76/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_api_i_kUhlFb...

I suppose I need to adjust my lighting schedule, any advice on where the intensity should be? I wasn’t aware of the lights off during cycling until after watching some BRS on YouTube 🤷🏻‍♂️. 

[Clown79]

It would support soft corals. It only has 86 par rating at 12" and 20w.

That rating is probably 100% all channels.

 

 

[Abelardo]

This is the 24-30in version so I’m assuming it’ll give out around 97 PAR at 12in water depth, Still for soft corals. Okay we’ll I’m glad that’s cleared up, it’ll support corals but I’m still not convinced with what intensity I should have them at. 100% intensity both channels looks BRIGHT?? Like I have to squint eyes to look at the tank. Also I’ve read that the blue end of the spectrum supported corals better? Thanks for the help! 

[Clown79]

32 minutes ago, Abelardo said:

This is the 24-30in version so I’m assuming it’ll give out around 97 PAR at 12in water depth, Still for soft corals. Okay we’ll I’m glad that’s cleared up, it’ll support corals but I’m still not convinced with what intensity I should have them at. 100% intensity both channels looks BRIGHT?? Like I have to squint eyes to look at the tank. Also I’ve read that the blue end of the spectrum supported corals better? Thanks for the help! 

Par all depends on the actual leds that are used, kelvin, spectrum not the size of the fixture.

 

The nicrew is rated at 86 at 12", so after 12" its will be even lower.

 

Companies are also known to advertise higher par levels than the light produces. The par levels advertised are usually tested at the light being at 100% use. That means all leds at 100% 

 

A light being bright to us has nothing to do with its ability to keep corals alive.

Corals require a certain spectrum as well as certain par levels to grow.

 

Blue light isn't bright to us but it penetrates water more than white abd blue is what corals actually prefer.

 

You can do soft corals like i listed but lps and sps, the lights wattage and par value is too low.

The other option is non photosynthetic corals but that means feeding corals which means diligence in maintenance/equipment to prevent issues arising from daily feedings.

 

 

 

 

I would highly suggest researching lighting for corals and then decide if you still want to keep the nicrew or move on to something that won't limit you.

[Abelardo]

Thanks for all this advice and information! 

 

I’m really not convinced with this light fixture, I don’t mind housing soft corals at all because this is my first reef build and it was literally built with knowledge learned along the way plus I’ve also seen some soft corals that look amazing! But I don’t want to have issues due to lighting along the road,

 

Another thing is there’s a glass canopy right under the light fixture (1 inch) that I feel is casting shadows due to the material down the middle holding the two glass panels together. Any info/advice on that??
I went for a glass canopy because I couldn’t keep the surface of the water free of lint or whatever is floating around the room, no skimmer there’s a canister running with filter pads and live rock rubble 🤷🏻‍♂️

 

Any budget lighting fixtures for reefs ?? I could have sworn the market used to be full of these “Plug Nd Play” reef fixtures 😅

[Clown79]

Glass will effect lighting so you have yo consider that.

 

Does your tank have a black plastic brace in the middle because that effects the type of lighting you need to get.

 

The nicrew is really close to the glass so you will get shadowing. The higher the light fixture, the less temperature issues and less shading of light.

 

There are black boxes like mars aqua and viparspectra that ae well priced and alot of folks use them.

 

Abi par 38's are another.

 

Most fixtures aren't plug n play anymore do people can customize their lighting for their needs.

[Abelardo]

I’m using a glass canopy to try and keep the surface free of lint or whatever and slow evaporation, but wasn’t aware that it would effect the lighting? 
 

No, this tank doesn’t have that plastic down the middle but the glass canopy that I’m using does, to hold the two panels of glass together. I feel like it’s basically the same thing?? Maybe I should remove the canopy completely, idk. It forces me to place the light towards the back of the tank because of the plastic and the way the first glass panels opens when I need to feed or whatever. 

I haven’t had any issues with heat either, The water stays around 77-78. Haven’t seen the heater turn on once though. I feel like the ambient temperature is helping. 

I did totally notice about the shadowing, the closer the fixture to the glass, the more shadow I would get in the negative space of my aquascape. The further away and I would get what seemed to be better distributed light and less shadowing. But considering this light only gives out basically minimal PAR 🤔🤔

[Sameer221]

Hi I actually have the same light . I had a question . How do you set up the timmer so it displays white/blue lights and only blue lights on the scheduled on/off timmer instead of having the green light and the blue light on the timmer