Chinese Black Box Light

[davemaroon]

I picked up a light off of a buddy really cheap its an aquamana 165W. I was wondering if anyone had an idea for light cycle and intensity on a 29 tall 30x12x18. The tank will be kept with mostly softies and a few SPS. The light has a blue and white channel with knobs 0 to 100.

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[Knighthawk]

I was using a SB reef light controlled by an apex on a similar sized tank. I ran the whites at 10 and blue channel ramped up to 35 during the day.


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[Johnnybgood74]

I picked up a light off of a buddy really cheap its an aquamana 165W. I was wondering if anyone had an idea for light cycle and intensity on a 29 tall 30x12x18. The tank will be kept with mostly softies and a few SPS. The light has a blue and white channel with knobs 0 to 100.

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I have a black box light on my daughter's 40g breeder light is about 12" off the surface they ramp up to 30% on the white channel and 60 on the blue the corals seem to be happy and are growing like crazy.

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[Ron Reefman]

I have a black box light on my daughter's 40g breeder light is about 12" off the surface they ramp up to 30% on the white channel and 60 on the blue the corals seem to be happy and are growing like crazy.

I'd be more in this range, and there is no reason you couldn't run the mix more blue if you like the cool white look. Say in the 70 or 75% blue and 25 or 20% white. Up until I just got a new led for my frag tank (12" deep but the light was 24" off the water), I was running an Ocean Revive (very much like any 165w black box) at 90% blue and 10% white and the corals seems to be perfectly happy.

 

[EzReefs]

Be very careful about the intensity of that light. I have a 29g with the mars aqua 165w. I have it at 18" above the water surface to get a good spread over the full 30" width of tank. At first I set the brightness way too high and bleached a pocillapora, birdsnest, and stunner chalice. I would recommend starting with a low intensity and go up from there.

 

[davemaroon]

Thanks for the feedback guys, really appreciate it. Does anyone have recommendations on the light cycle itself? How long the lights stay on, blues before whites, should I dim at all, etc?

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[Knighthawk]

My schedule was blues on at noon whites turned on at 1. Whites off at 9 blues off at 10


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[Ron Reefman]

The zooxanthellae in your coral will only do photosynthesis for about 5 to 7 hours. So 7 or 8 hours of good, intense, blue and white light is more than enough. Blue channel for sunrise/sunset is just for your satisfaction, it does nothing for the coral. Having the lights on at high intensity longer has never been proven to be a problem.