Pacific Sun Pandora hyperion hybrid Fanclub
- Thread starter jdamon
- Start date
Pacific Sun RD
Przemek Cybulski
So Przemec why you never recommend the ultra wide UV for the Pandora when people ask. It seems to me that this tube has the right spectrum to match your founding I'm thailand. Is the Bali pat program base on this foundings? What is the spectral graph of the Bali par program after full ramp up?
Pacific Sun RD
Przemek Cybulski
We recommend using this tube as additional/suplement T5 tube not as basic/main tube.
Why?
Answer is very easy.
Using only that kind of tubes will make your aquarium looking unnatural - it will be blue/green with very difficult to red warm colors(yellow/red/pinks) which will looks like brown. So we will get the same effect like in nature - corals looks fine on shallow water, but their colors arent so intense like the same species kep on 5-7m.
On this depth where they are nice colored - everything seems to be blue-green. It's not something which we expect to observe in our aquariums ;-)
Why?
Answer is very easy.
Using only that kind of tubes will make your aquarium looking unnatural - it will be blue/green with very difficult to red warm colors(yellow/red/pinks) which will looks like brown. So we will get the same effect like in nature - corals looks fine on shallow water, but their colors arent so intense like the same species kep on 5-7m.
On this depth where they are nice colored - everything seems to be blue-green. It's not something which we expect to observe in our aquariums ;-)
Hi Przemek! I have a couple questions on configuration of my Hyperion S lamp on my tank. I am "trying" to create a mixed reef with some SPS on top, with the rest soft and LPS. MY tank dimensions are unusual, with about a 30"-31" depth, 34" left to right, and about 12" from front to back. The lamp HAS to be 6" from water line. With light mounted there, the SPS is about 12"-14" from the bottom of the lamp. I have a Hyperion S 2 x 145W lamp. I am running basic mode at 60% with all colors at 100% except red at 20%, amber at 20%, and total lamp power at 60%. At these settings, I'm seeing color fading, polyp retraction, and eventual STN in ALL SPS put on top of reef (including montis, acros, seriatop, etc). I bought an Apogee PAR meter because I became so frustrated. At 40% total power, I'm seeing PAR readings at top of reef of 200-250, and perhaps 50-75 at bottom. At 40% total power, I was getting Par Readings at top of reef of only 100'ish and 25-50 on bottom. This is what prompted me to turn up the lamp power to 60%. Any ideas to improve my situation? Should I turn red down to 10%, perhaps keep amber at 20% (or put it at 30%). Should I turn down UV to, say, 40%? My photoperiod is 10 total hours, but with a 2 hour ramp up and 2 hour ramp down. Perhaps I should change this to 9 hours, with 1 hour ramp up/down? Overall, I'm perplexed, and your input would be much appreciated! Thanks!
Rudimenta
Member
Prez knows better, but a few pointers.
The Bali program is really good and it's set and forget.
Your pars seem way to low, do you have weather conditions on? These LEDs should generate way more par at those depths.
Do you get enough spread at 6"? Because 10-12" is recommended. However your tank dimensions are indeed weird.
I have mine at 12" above the tank at 90% with high water movement and I get 700 par easy at the top of my sps.
Anyway any change you make should be slowly.
The Bali program is really good and it's set and forget.
Your pars seem way to low, do you have weather conditions on? These LEDs should generate way more par at those depths.
Do you get enough spread at 6"? Because 10-12" is recommended. However your tank dimensions are indeed weird.
I have mine at 12" above the tank at 90% with high water movement and I get 700 par easy at the top of my sps.
Anyway any change you make should be slowly.
Thanks for advice Rudimenta! I know that my Par readings sound hard to believe with that lamp only 6" above water. But, that's what the Apogee PAR meter is reading. 6" AWL is necessary because the lamp is placed on top of a hood with an opening (for the light) cut into it. Perhaps I could put some rubber 'feet'/spacers on the bottom of the lamp to raise it another 1/2", though it will look weird, and I doubt that will make much difference. As for spread, I seem to be getting plenty because the light is long and narrow, as is the tank. In fact, the lamp fits almost perfectly across the length of the tank (about 34"). As such, the light spread visually looks great. To the human eye, the entire tank is evenly filled with light--not a shadow to be found anywhere. In fact, I specifically chose this lamp because it's shape fit the top of the hood so well--almost as if it were custom made for it! What do you think about my UV, red, and amber settings? Should I perhaps modify them? I'm just completely perplexed. I could try BALI Par again, though that failed already. But, when I trie BALI, I had red and amber at 100%. Perhaps I should try it again with red/amber/UV lowered. Any ideas would be much appreciated.
Rudimenta
Member
Jtime, well because your par readings are so low, there has to be a reason for that. It really sounds wrong. So either your water is yellow like crazy or some other factor is removing the power of these leds. 50-100 at the bottom is possible since you have a deep tank, however 200 something at the top just doesnt make sense. Yes i would not increase/decrease the power until you figure out what is going on. Might be best to eliminate a few things first:
-water very dirty?
-difference between pumps (wave) on and off
-Clouding program on or off
-Bali on or off?
-settings of your par meter, these fixtures don't have white leds, which affects the reading a lot, there are some posts somewhere on how to adjust. I dont use a apogee so cant tell you.
On ramping, if you see a day curve of the light in a natural reef, you will see some crazy par readings. Its not a flat line during the day at all. Thats why some people say oh sps only needs 150 par or even less. Here is an image of shallow reef msr posted some time ago on a discussion thread. But as you can see some readings are up to 1500 par or as low as 600 a few min before. This is 2" below the water. This is why i have my weather pattern on because corals just don't get 450par 10 hr a day straight. Not even to talk about the spectrum, but i think Bali covers the spectrum change during the day very well.
-water very dirty?
-difference between pumps (wave) on and off
-Clouding program on or off
-Bali on or off?
-settings of your par meter, these fixtures don't have white leds, which affects the reading a lot, there are some posts somewhere on how to adjust. I dont use a apogee so cant tell you.
On ramping, if you see a day curve of the light in a natural reef, you will see some crazy par readings. Its not a flat line during the day at all. Thats why some people say oh sps only needs 150 par or even less. Here is an image of shallow reef msr posted some time ago on a discussion thread. But as you can see some readings are up to 1500 par or as low as 600 a few min before. This is 2" below the water. This is why i have my weather pattern on because corals just don't get 450par 10 hr a day straight. Not even to talk about the spectrum, but i think Bali covers the spectrum change during the day very well.
Thanks for the detailed response! I am starting to wonder if PAR meter is off. I'm researching that now. As for water quality, it is very clean. I run carbon, socks, and skimmer. All parameters are on target. Water is very clear. Surface is very agitated due to maxspect gyre powerhood. I am currently not running Bali, though I will change back to it as per your recommendations.
Rudimenta
Member
Try to eliminate the factors, you should get close to a 1000 par at water level. at 100%. So when you are home, try to do tests with the pump on and off. Yes you have to set the apogee for led and there is some formula to put in, i dont have an apogee but this information is available somewhere here on the forum.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2374979
you should also read:
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2013/2/equipment
And a good video to watch:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7rpUQEorDU
In general i personally think 20-30% should be about the number.
Pacific Sun RD
Przemek Cybulski
based on my own observation anything higher than PAR 200-300 UNDER LED only stop corals growth, they start bleaching(if yoi have ulns tank) or brown if your tan organic levels are higher than should. Next is RTN/STN. Keeping this too long make your Corals hard to alive even if you will decrease power/adjust water parameters.
Pacific Sun RD
Przemek Cybulski
Yes, in peak it can be ok, but if somebody turn on lamp in the morning(because feed fishes before the work) and turn off before midnight (because he want observe his tank before go to sleep ) - im almost sure that its perfect receipt for getting troubles with corals(a specially hard Corals).
Rudimenta
Member
Agree!
Can you post your weather settings if you don't mind
Well, I am about as convinced as I'm ever going to be after seeing Rudi's TOTM-worthy pics. I just got back home and I'm going to switch back to Bali, only this time I will stay at 60% total power, but keep amber and red at Rudi's same current settings. Last time I tried (and failed) with Bali, I had total power at 40%, and all colors at 100%. So, here goes nothing........any last minute advice from you Rudi (or anybody else), please feel free to let me know.....
