AI Vega Color/Blue Owners Thread!

[duberz]

Does the region timer change the colors and %'s?

[Wills612]

Originally Posted by duberz

does the region timer change the colors and %'s?

x2

[NaturalReef]

Originally Posted by Wills612

x2

Just the timers that I'm aware of.

[BlakDuc]

Originally Posted by Jcromp

That looks great. Would you even need the bracket? Or could I just connect the hanging kit straight to the light itself?

You could do that if the legs from the hanging kit were long enough. I have the ones from ecotech because they are shorter and it looks nicer with them short IMO. Plus, it gave me a chance to incorporate some Carbon Fiber into the tank! Who doesn't like a little bling here and there?

[BlakDuc]

How do you do regional timers? I am still using the easy timer.

[ug.mac]

Originally Posted by duberz

Does the region timer change the colors and %'s?

Yes to both.
Regional timer mimic Kelvin and intensity change during the day for area you set to. All you need to do is to set max % for each channel and ramp time, controller will handle everything else.

[ug.mac]

Originally Posted by BlakDuc

How do you do regional timers? I am still using the easy timer.

Upgrade to 2.0.1 firmware.

[reefervinny]

I like the concept of the regional timers but its kinda silly IMO to put my light timer on FIJI's sunset sunrise. That would mean my lights come on Eastern Standard at 1:30pm and go off around 1:30am. I like to view my tank a lot but I like to get sleep at night also and my tank would light up my whole house. Now on the other hand if there is different color combinations that will change the "color/look" of my tank then that is awesome but only if I can put my own sunrise/sunset times. So i would like to see different "easy timer" color ramp combinations with out the regional timer settings. Hopefully the director will implicate such things like i just described above.

[jbraslins]

Originally Posted by reefervinny

I like the concept of the regional timers but its kinda silly IMO to put my light timer on FIJI's sunset sunrise. That would mean my lights come on Eastern Standard at 1:30pm and go off around 1:30am.

Maybe I am wrong, but I would imagine regional timers control sunrise/sunset time and light progression throughout the day. For example: If during this day of the year, sun rises at 8:30am in Fiji, then lights will come on at 8:30am your time and ramp to intensity similar to region you chose.

If they did actually start at Fiji time, it would be rather useless.

[duberz]

I just noticed on my on my controler uv,dr and cw.It must have something to do with the new firmware update.The only thing is there is no option for those colors in the timer setup.Anyone know what's up with that?

[BlakDuc]

I did the firmware update, I guess I didn't play around with it that much. A good idea for anyone who hasn't done it yet is to do what I did beforehand; write down all of your settings first! I'll play with it some more when I get home tomorrow.

[duberz]

Anyone notice the deep red,ultra violet and cool white yet?

[BlakDuc]

That will be for when they come out with the custom pucks?

[duberz]

Ok but my current timer has those now with my current setup.

[reefervinny]

Originally Posted by jbraslins

Maybe I am wrong, but I would imagine regional timers control sunrise/sunset time and light progression throughout the day. For example: If during this day of the year, sun rises at 8:30am in Fiji, then lights will come on at 8:30am your time and ramp to intensity similar to region you chose.

If they did actually start at Fiji time, it would be rather useless.

-Support for PowerPuck™ custom pucks.
- Adds wireless operation for Sol White, Sol Blue, and Nano when used with -- Wireless Adapter (sold separately).
- Supports full sunrise/sunset/cloud sweeps and weather effects for all Sol and Nano models.
- Supports both Sol and Vega models simultaneously (wireless mode) with one controller.
- Fail-safe Vega dim down prevents coral burning if wireless communications fail for an extended period of time.
- Global Region Timers simulates actual sunrise/sunset times of major coral reefs around the world.
- GPS coordinate Timers for automatic local sunrise/sunset tracking.
- Fully automatic sweep speed for up to 30 Vega lighting modules.
- Revamped user interface for easier setup and control.

Looks like it implements time of the sunrise/sunset accordingly and doesn't say anything about changing the color percentages to simulate a "fiji" spectrum with adjusted color percentages.

[Newsmyrna80]

Unsub

[Cinder01]

I set mine up for Great Barrier Reef last night. It doesn't use that time zone just the Sun Rise and Sunset times. So if the sun comes up at 6:30 AM over the Great Barrier Reef then on your system it will start to rise at 6:30 AM your time. That would be silly if your lights came on at 1:30 PM?? You can easily test this by running through your program with "Test Run". I did so last night with Great Barrier Reef setting my lights start ramping up at 6:30 AM with 1:45 ramp up time I set and then start setting at 6:00 PM with a 1:45 ramp down. I sent AI an email last night asking if they did any research on the proper ramp up and down for the Great Barrier Reef. Waiting response. I am also now playing with the Lunar Cycle. For the last 3 months I have been just setting Royal Blue to 1% all night long. So cool to see corals glowing all night and really didn't seem to effect fish sleeping. I did though get a new Labouti Wrasse last Friday which led to a discovery that led to my interest in Lunar Cycle. When I added the wrasse a few others were picking on him pretty bad so I hit the all off button on my lights for about 2 hours until I went to bed. I then turned the program back on. When I did, to my amazement, all of my SPS had huge polyp extension and everything else was swollen and looked like begging for light or felt more comfortable to feed? Who knows. But I think it was a good thing so I want my system to have nights where it gets totally dark just like the moon cycle. I'll let you know what I figure out!

[MikeD]

I was thinking about the Vega's vs. the Sol units for my tank. Now, would you recommend mixing a color and two blue modules if I went with the Vegas? Does a Vega unit equal a 250mh? Wasn't sure if the Vega was an entirely different type of light or it was supposed to be an 'upgraded' sol.

[Cinder01]

I did not have the SOL I used T5 ATI before. The Vegas are different LEDS than the SOL it has 80 Degree 5 up lights on each puck for greater reflectivity, spread, and PAR value. The Sol's will soon have an upgrade option to basically make them Vegas. I think I have read $250 per Light to upgrade each SOL. IMO if you just buy Vega I would just get Blues unless you have something that you really want to highlight in Red or Green. I have (2) of the Color units and only (1) puck on each unit has Red and Green lights. What it does is shines a Red/Green spot in my tank in (2) places. It does not look good unless you have an animal that requires or looks good in Red/Green Light. I have asked AI about this today. I will report back. Soon though you will be able to customize pucks and then the red/green/cool white/Violet/etc that they are coming out with may be cool if you really know what you are doing and trying to highlight! The LED lighting looks closer to MH than T5 but I am not sure of comparison. I have seen some PAR value charts trying to compare but I think it is hard to get PAR readings with LED.

[Cinder01]

Here is AI's response to Lunar Cycle Question. Much easier to understand now!!

Aquaillumination Support Team

C2 Development, Inc.


Hi John,

Indeed, whereever you may be located, the sun rises/sets the same, just at different times depending on location.

If you are wanting to get the most out of the lunar cycle, you will want to set your Blue intensities to a minimum of 5% and max of 10%. Here is a detailed explanation on how the lunar cycle works, no matter where the location:

1) Lunar Cycle reduces (never increases) intensities of all LED colors for the programmed hours of the day. It is a rough approximation of the 8 phases of the moon that occur throughout the month.
2) Intensities are reduced in 8 steps by multiplying the current intensity by a fractional number. The calculation is done every night at midnight, and one of the 8 multipliers are then applied to the current intensities based on which phase of the moon.

Intensity Reduction
New Moon
.10
Waxing Crescent
.20
First Quarter
.40
Waxing Gibbous
.60
Full Moon
1.0
Waning Gibbous
.60
Third Quarter
.40
Waning Crescent
.20

As you can see, a full moon has no effect of intensities (multiplied by 1.0), so the nighttime intensities need to be set to the brightest, full moon level desired.
Take the example of setting ROYAL as your moonlight with an intensity setting of 5%. You would wind up with the following intensities:

Actual Results
New Moon
5% x .10 0%
Waxing Crescent
5% x .20 1%
First Quarter
5% x .40 2%
Waxing Gibbous
5% x .60 3%
Full Moon
5% x 1.0 5%
Waning Gibbous
5% x .60 3%
Third Quarter
5% x .40 2%
Waning Crescent
5% x .20 1%

Important Notes:

- Results are truncated to whole percent. Be careful when setting the "full moon" intensity less than 5%, or you will have 0% intensity for most of the month. The absolute minimum nighttime intensity to use Lunar Cycle should be no less than 5%.
- A full moon only lasts 4-5 days for the entire month, so the intensity setting of 5% won't be seen for 3 weeks.
- The year, month, and date must be correct for all of this to work.
- There are no intermediate steps or graduations beyond the 8 steps listed. The intensity reduction simply changes 8 times a month at the midnight hour.

Please let me know if you have any further questions and have a great day!

Best,

Justin
AI

[ukguy]

I still havent settled on a final % (especially as last firmware update erased settings)

I'm seeing monti caps bleaching 12inches below lights at 70% white/80% blue

Currently set around 65% white / 70% blue after 3 months.

How do I you visually determine too little light vs bleaching with montis and sps... my lps are expanding well under leds

[Cinder01]

OK so AI just got back to me again.

As I said I set the GBR Region Setting. It is going to Sunrise at 6:30 AM and 6:00 PM right now. The ramp up and down now is 1:45 they say 2-3 is normal? This will change based on season changes in GBR but will always do it based on my EST. Then I will set my Lunar Cycle to 5%-10% on Royal Blue only for now. I will start with 5%. This I will set for 10 PM and have it go until 6 AM. That means from 6:00 PM until 10 PM my Royal only will stay at 5%, at 10 PM it will reduce based on the Lunar Cycle in my previous post.

[Jopalmighty]

Just got my pair of vega colors this weekend, thought I'd share a couple of pics. I have them hung from the ext 18" mounting rail and hanging kit and I'm really happy with the look. First pic is an older FTS with 4 bulb t5, bulbs were ATI 2 blue+, purple+, aqua blue special just as a reference. I currently have the vegas at: White 30%, Red 20%, Green 20%, Blue 35%, Deep blue 35%, Royal blue 35%. Currently at 5" awl.


DSC01859.jpg by Jkpayne1


DSC02042.jpg by Jkpayne1

[Jopalmighty]

Here a couple more pics, I know how much I like seeing pics of this stuff.

[BlakDuc]

Looks nice!