AI Vega Color/Blue Owners Thread!

[Hooked4life]

Originally Posted by liquidfunk

I've got maxima, crocea and derasa under my Vegas. Maxima has been in so long half the shell is completely encrusted by montipora. Vegas have been on the rank for a year.

Good to hear. Any idea what kind of par you're hitting maxima with?

[liquidfunk]

Sorry i don't have a meter.

[Hooked4life]

Originally Posted by liquidfunk

Sorry i don't have a meter.

no worries - thanks for the info you provided.

[tannersmith2000]

@ Hoooked4life

How are your acros doing in your tank under the vega colors?

[tannersmith2000]

How is the director working out for you all? Mine is working great and working like a charm.

[mypepper]

Originally Posted by tannersmith2000

How is the director working out for you all? Mine is working great and working like a charm.

My Director is working like a charm and the local weather feature is working out very well.

Randy

[Hooked4life]

Originally Posted by tannersmith2000

@ Hoooked4life

How are your acros doing in your tank under the vega colors?

Most are doing very well, meaning I fried a couple, but most of the ones that are remaining are doing great.

I have a pink lemonade, copps bonsai, ponape birds nest, bird of paradise, ORA green birds nest, and a couple of monti caps that are all doing great.

Not doing so great - pink millepora, superman monti, and a hot pink stylophora. They all have turned very dark, which would lead me to believe they need more light, but my gut says no. I picked up 1/2 dozen frags a couple of weeks ago - too soon to report on those.

I had my lights set too high for awhile and lost a few acros. During that time, my neon green monti cap started to grow downward. Since I have turned the lights down a bit, it has started to grow up again.

I will get my settings posted in the next couple of days.

[Hooked4life]

Here are my current settings:

2 Vegas mounted about 10-12" AWL on a tank that is 16" deep.

Timer 1 - 10 a.m. DB 70% 4hr ramp
Timer 2 - 11 a.m. RY 70% 3hr ramp
Timer 3 - 12 noon BR 70% 2hr ramp
Timer 4 - 1 p.m. CW 45% 1hr ramp
Timer 4 - 1 p.m. DR 50% 1hr ramp
Timer 4 - 1 p.m. GR 50% 1hr ramp
Timer 5 - 7 p.m. CW 0% 1.5hr ramp
Timer 5 - 7 p.m. DR 0% 1.5hr ramp
Timer 5 - 7 p.m. GR 0% 1.5hr ramp
Timer 5 - 7 p.m. BR 0% 1.5hr ramp
Timer 6 - 7 p.m. RY 0% 2.5hr ramp
Timer 7 - 7 p.m. DB 1% 3.5hr ramp

All lights are on a peak setting for 5 hours from 2:00 to 7:00.

I lowered everything by 5% about 2-3 months ago. I've seen improved color on some corals since then.

I have a mixed reef and the following are doing very well around the outer edges of the tank:

blue cespitularia
monti caps
war coral
chalices
bleeding apple scoly
acans
bird of paradise
meteor shower cyphastrea
duncan
purple blade gorgonians
neon candy cane
hammer coral
assortment of zoas

In the higher light areas I have
neon green goniopora - doesn't seem to notice when I change light settings
Pink lemonade - very yellow new growth
copps bonsai - dark purple growth - i think I bleached this one bit when the light was set higher
orange setosa - had it about 4 weeks, looks good so far
ORA green birds nest
pink millepora - color has gotten very dark
neon pink stylophora - color has gotten very dark almost black/green

Some other observations:
-my zoas are still looking kind of scorched
-mushrooms seem to shrink from the light
since I lowered the light intensity 2-3 months ago, the rose bubble is really extending up toward the surface alot

I just added a nice size clam on Saturday. It seems like it's mantle is not extending as much as it was at the store under a 250w MH, so I may adjust my lights back just a little more.

I added all of this information because it seems my biggest challenge has been coral placement. There are definitely some spots of much greater intensity.

Hope this is helpful.

[tannersmith2000]

Originally Posted by Hooked4life

Here are my current settings:

2 Vegas mounted about 10-12" AWL on a tank that is 16" deep.

Timer 1 - 10 a.m. DB 70% 4hr ramp
Timer 2 - 11 a.m. RY 70% 3hr ramp
Timer 3 - 12 noon BR 70% 2hr ramp
Timer 4 - 1 p.m. CW 45% 1hr ramp
Timer 4 - 1 p.m. DR 50% 1hr ramp
Timer 4 - 1 p.m. GR 50% 1hr ramp
Timer 5 - 7 p.m. CW 0% 1.5hr ramp
Timer 5 - 7 p.m. DR 0% 1.5hr ramp
Timer 5 - 7 p.m. GR 0% 1.5hr ramp
Timer 5 - 7 p.m. BR 0% 1.5hr ramp
Timer 6 - 7 p.m. RY 0% 2.5hr ramp
Timer 7 - 7 p.m. DB 1% 3.5hr ramp

All lights are on a peak setting for 5 hours from 2:00 to 7:00.

I lowered everything by 5% about 2-3 months ago. I've seen improved color on some corals since then.

I have a mixed reef and the following are doing very well around the outer edges of the tank:

blue cespitularia
monti caps
war coral
chalices
bleeding apple scoly
acans
bird of paradise
meteor shower cyphastrea
duncan
purple blade gorgonians
neon candy cane
hammer coral
assortment of zoas

In the higher light areas I have
neon green goniopora - doesn't seem to notice when I change light settings
Pink lemonade - very yellow new growth
copps bonsai - dark purple growth - i think I bleached this one bit when the light was set higher
orange setosa - had it about 4 weeks, looks good so far
ORA green birds nest
pink millepora - color has gotten very dark
neon pink stylophora - color has gotten very dark almost black/green

Some other observations:
-my zoas are still looking kind of scorched
-mushrooms seem to shrink from the light
since I lowered the light intensity 2-3 months ago, the rose bubble is really extending up toward the surface alot

I just added a nice size clam on Saturday. It seems like it's mantle is not extending as much as it was at the store under a 250w MH, so I may adjust my lights back just a little more.

I added all of this information because it seems my biggest challenge has been coral placement. There are definitely some spots of much greater intensity.

Hope this is helpful.

Thanks for you post. It is very helpful. I scorched my acros as well at the beginning. I just cant get them to respond. I have a shallow reef. 8" deep with my lights 24" AWL. blues set to a high of 70%, white at 45 along with green and red.

I have excellent spread and my LPS are doing perfect but my acros are bleaching. I just cant seem to find that sweet spot.

[Cinder01]

I am running 2 Vegas. All blues 69% , Red/Green 2%, White 7%, UV and Violet at 5%.

Don't need much White. I know some using only blues with no white and having great growth . I dislike the Green/Red. Causes disco effect and spotlighting.

Getting great SPS growth. Good polyp extention and all basing out. I fried a Birds Nest when I first got UV/V pucks.

90 Gallon Standard 8" AWL.

[tannersmith2000]

Originally Posted by Cinder01

I am running 2 Vegas. All blues 69% , Red/Green 2%, White 7%, UV and Violet at 5%.

Don't need much White. I know some using only blues with no white and having great growth . I dislike the Green/Red. Causes disco effect and spotlighting.

Getting great SPS growth. Good polyp extention and all basing out. I fried a Birds Nest when I first got UV/V pucks.

90 Gallon Standard 8" AWL.

Interesting. Thanks for your post. Could you post some pics of your tank?
So many don't use the white? The white is very intense on these lights and seem to really scorch corals if too intense. I wonder if I bring my whites down to around 10% along with green and red at 5%. I wonder if that will help. I just want to be able to keep SPS.

[Cinder01]

I feel SPS don't really like white light. It does make your tank brigjter so I do run some to brighten it up but like I said the place where I buy most of my corals has been running blue only for over a year and has has great success. They are using Sol's and Vega's as well. I will post some shots!

[Cinder01]

Here is a few shots of the tank...

[tannersmith2000]

Originally Posted by Cinder01

I feel SPS don't really like white light. It does make your tank brigjter so I do run some to brighten it up but like I said the place where I buy most of my corals has been running blue only for over a year and has has great success. They are using Sol's and Vega's as well. I will post some shots!

Your tank looks very good! Nice job!

My tank is 8" deep and I have lowered my fixtures to 24" AWL. I am also going to try to go more blue. Thanks for sharing and posting pics.

Is that a stylophora in your tank as well?

What camera do you use for the quality pics you take?

[Cinder01]

In the back middle yes Stylphora. Bought as a little frag. Really growing out. The big green one on the top is ORA Green Birdsnest. I use a Cannon Rebel EOS T3i. Need to get a macro lens though to get some really good close ups of coral.

[tannersmith2000]

Originally Posted by Cinder01

In the back middle yes Stylphora. Bought as a little frag. Really growing out. The big green one on the top is ORA Green Birdsnest. I use a Cannon Rebel EOS T3i. Need to get a macro lens though to get some really good close ups of coral.

Cool. Well the tank looks great!

Thanks for sharing

[jonthany]

How do I hook up my vega and hydra to the same controller? It's been so long I don't remember how to do it or if I can.

[gregrocks79]

Easy! Since both are wireless; make sure you have the led in the back on red on both lights. Then plug in and turn on the controller. Go to set up lights and BAM done

[jonthany]

I couldn't get it to recognize the hydra. Maybe it's old firmware. Didn't feel like updating so I just hooked up my director and set them both up

[jbraslins]

So I got an Apogee par meter and measured PAR levels in my rimless tank.
My Vega Color fixtures are 6" above water level. I have 4 of them.

What's really surprising is how spotty PAR levels are. Directly underneath the middle of the fixture, in the middle of my tank, my par levels can be as high as 400, but move less than an inch away, it drops to 150..200, then another inch it's back at 400. Does not seem like there any light diffusion going on at all.

Wonder if the frosted lenses would help with that.

Or maybe I just need to wait for Vega -> Hydra 52 upgrade

[jonthany]

I should get one myself and test. I have been using a vega color for about a year. The lens aren't frosted but I did just get a hydra for my frag tank and they are frosted so I'm hoping it will make a difference.

[tannersmith2000]

Originally Posted by jbraslins

So I got an Apogee par meter and measured PAR levels in my rimless tank.
My Vega Color fixtures are 6" above water level. I have 4 of them.

What's really surprising is how spotty PAR levels are. Directly underneath the middle of the fixture, in the middle of my tank, my par levels can be as high as 400, but move less than an inch away, it drops to 150..200, then another inch it's back at 400. Does not seem like there any light diffusion going on at all.

Wonder if the frosted lenses would help with that.

Or maybe I just need to wait for Vega -> Hydra 52 upgrade

Interesting. Thanks for sharing this.

can you post your settings? how far are light AWL? etc

[hkgar]

Originally Posted by tannersmith2000

Interesting. Thanks for sharing this.

can you post your settings? how far are light AWL? etc

Sure looks to me like he said 6 inches AWL in his original post.

[tonypittman]

Since the test of time is very telling, here is my tank before/after 1 year. Tank was set up about a year ago, running 3 Vegas since day 1.

Before (March, 2013)





After

[jbraslins]

Originally Posted by tannersmith2000

Interesting. Thanks for sharing this.
can you post your settings? how far are light AWL? etc

My lights are ~6" AWL. Here's a pic of the tank and pic of my director ramps: