I've got mostly LPS, zoas and some SPS. I've had my photon 24s for a few years and was wondering where others set their lights. I use the Excel worksheet that is on Logan's site to ramp up and then down. Some corals are really happy, others not so much so I'm thinking that I'm still not in the sweet spot. Thanks for reading
Where do you set your Reefbreeder photons?
- Thread starter LeslieP
- Start date
Ron Reefman
Active member
Leslie, how deep is your 125g?
What schedule have you been running?
I had EverGrow IT fixtures (they make the RB Photons and are virtually the same fixture). My tank was 24" deep and mostly sps with some lps and a few softies (no zoas). I did a 5 hour sunrise, 5 hour midday and 6 hour sunset. Sunrise is all blue as it ramps up for the first 2 or 3 hours (I change every so often just to play with it). Midday is 90% blue and 40% white. I also used black electrical tape and covered the red leds. Sunset becomes all blue for the last 3 or 4 hours as it ramps down. BTW, I used past tense because 2 months ago the tank sprang a 30gph leak and I scrapped the entire 400g system. My new tank has RB Photon V2 and you can see my build in the link below, in my signature.
What schedule have you been running?
I had EverGrow IT fixtures (they make the RB Photons and are virtually the same fixture). My tank was 24" deep and mostly sps with some lps and a few softies (no zoas). I did a 5 hour sunrise, 5 hour midday and 6 hour sunset. Sunrise is all blue as it ramps up for the first 2 or 3 hours (I change every so often just to play with it). Midday is 90% blue and 40% white. I also used black electrical tape and covered the red leds. Sunset becomes all blue for the last 3 or 4 hours as it ramps down. BTW, I used past tense because 2 months ago the tank sprang a 30gph leak and I scrapped the entire 400g system. My new tank has RB Photon V2 and you can see my build in the link below, in my signature.
Hi Ron,
I'm very sorry to hear of your leak - I can't even imagine what that was like.
My tank is ~22" deep and the lights are about 6-7" above the water. I've been monkeying around with my peak intensities, but in general over about 12 hours they ramp up for ~4 hours to a peak of ~50% blue and ~40% white for about 4 hours and then ramps down over the next 4 hours.
When I first put in the lights, I started very low and ramped up the peak intensities every other week or so. Things were going great with lots of growth, but as I got higher, things started to head south. I heard "feed more - your corals are starving", I heard "feed less, you are polluting your water". I finally decided it was the lights and have been chasing that ever since.
Hard to figure out as some corals are still doing very well and you need to wait weeks between each shift to see how they are responding. I've been thinking that I still have my whites way too high and perhaps my blues not high enough and your post agrees with that thought although I still have shorter total cycle.
I may go back to taking them lower than they are now and ramping up again, but much slower.
Thank you for your thoughts.
I'm very sorry to hear of your leak - I can't even imagine what that was like.
My tank is ~22" deep and the lights are about 6-7" above the water. I've been monkeying around with my peak intensities, but in general over about 12 hours they ramp up for ~4 hours to a peak of ~50% blue and ~40% white for about 4 hours and then ramps down over the next 4 hours.
When I first put in the lights, I started very low and ramped up the peak intensities every other week or so. Things were going great with lots of growth, but as I got higher, things started to head south. I heard "feed more - your corals are starving", I heard "feed less, you are polluting your water". I finally decided it was the lights and have been chasing that ever since.
Hard to figure out as some corals are still doing very well and you need to wait weeks between each shift to see how they are responding. I've been thinking that I still have my whites way too high and perhaps my blues not high enough and your post agrees with that thought although I still have shorter total cycle.
I may go back to taking them lower than they are now and ramping up again, but much slower.
Thank you for your thoughts.
Ron Reefman
Active member
Hi Leslie, I don't think the light is the issue you need to be worried about.
I am now running my V2 at 100% on both blue channels, 50% on white and violet and zero on red and green. I have the legs set so the light is 11" off the water and I have both zoas and sps corals in the top 6" to 8" of the water. Now it hasn't been set this way for more than a week or so, but all the coral are growing. I had a Coral beauty dwarf angel that ate zoas in my old tank. It's not going in the new tank and I have zoas up in the branchy rock structure right at the top. They are just small frags so you can't see them yet, but my goal is to have them grow all over the branches.
I am now running my V2 at 100% on both blue channels, 50% on white and violet and zero on red and green. I have the legs set so the light is 11" off the water and I have both zoas and sps corals in the top 6" to 8" of the water. Now it hasn't been set this way for more than a week or so, but all the coral are growing. I had a Coral beauty dwarf angel that ate zoas in my old tank. It's not going in the new tank and I have zoas up in the branchy rock structure right at the top. They are just small frags so you can't see them yet, but my goal is to have them grow all over the branches.
Your tank is beautiful! My water parameters are good for Ca, alk, Mg & NO3. I haven't tested PO4 in a few weeks but it's always pretty low. It may be time for another Triton test, but the one I did about 1.5 years ago didn't show anything out of whack.
I think I'm going to lower the whites a bit and up the blues and see how that goes. That seemed to be the advice I heard most from folks at a conference over the weekend.
Thank you for taking the time to respond.
I think I'm going to lower the whites a bit and up the blues and see how that goes. That seemed to be the advice I heard most from folks at a conference over the weekend.
Thank you for taking the time to respond.
Ron Reefman
Active member
Thanks. I hope your change improves your situation.
Good luck.
Good luck.
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