AquaIllumination PAR Measurements

[VegasMike]

I have five units over a 72"x24"x30" tank with all 70 degree optics. I am quite happy with the growth I have seen. For example, I have at least .25" in a month on a Maricultured Formosa and wild Nobilis that are mid tank. Also very happy with color. My light are around 6" above the ware surface. I also have an Undata about 4" from the bottom that is growing well and a clam on the bottom that appears to be doing very well.

[mnml]

VegasMike

What's the highest intensity set to and for how long?

[VegasMike]

I have two tanks with the same lighting set up as follows:

Tank1: Timer 1 w50 b50 rb50 10am 60min ramp
Timer 2 w75 b75 rb75 2pm 30min ramp
Timer 3 w50 b50 rb50 4pm 30min ramp
Timer 4 w0 b2 rb2 10pm 60min ramp lunar mode

Tank2: Same as tank1 except max is 60 across the board.

Tank1 is SPS, some Euphylia and a clam
Tank2 is softie and LPS

Both tanks doing well. Both are 72"x24"x30" with five units with the middle unit turned parallel to front since I have a center overflow.

[mnml]

Thanks for the info.

[kmu]

Originally Posted by VegasMike

I have five units over a 72"x24"x30" tank with all 70 degree optics. I am quite happy with the growth I have seen. For example, I have at least .25" in a month on a Maricultured Formosa and wild Nobilis that are mid tank. Also very happy with color. My light are around 6" above the ware surface. I also have an Undata about 4" from the bottom that is growing well and a clam on the bottom that appears to be doing very well.

Can you please post some pics of your set up... thx

[VegasMike]

I would love to if someone could tell me how to do it from my iPhone. They may not be the best pics in the world, but at least you can see how it is set up.

I might be able to get a pic of the two corals with the easiest noticeable growth.

One small observation though. These are relatively new tanks, each about two months since first water was put in. I added the the maricultured and wild Nobilis about a month ago and three other wild colonies about two/three weeks ago. I also added about 25-30 frags from a couple of reefers here. I have not lost a single frag (knock on wood) and the colors have only improved in my opinion. About three weeks ago, I lowered the light % down to max 50% becasue I was going through the new tank, new rock algae bloom. I noticed that during that time, an extremely bright orange Monti (actually could be a Setosa) that I received locally about the six weeks ago started looking more rust colored. I upped the lighting percentages about a week ago and notice a marked improvement in color.

[VegasMike]

OK, let's give this a try.



Hey, it worked. Pic wasn't the best, but it was just a test with a pic already on my phone. I will take a couple more later, one closer to the front glass that includes some corals and one of the lighting above the tank. If I can get close enough with my iPhone, the growth is very easy to pick out.

Mike

[VegasMike]

Here are a couple of coral pics. The Formosa (second pic) growth is all the light colored tips. They are actually a blueish purple color and the rest of the coral is becoming a deeper purple. The Nobilis tips are actually a bright sky blue. The double tip towards the front top was barely forming when I received it. Notice that one branch is not showing much growth, not really sure why, but there are several more branches just forming. Oh yea, the lighting is at 50% across the spectrum at the time of the pics.






Let me know if you want to see above the tank, but it's nothing more that the rails sitting on "shelves" on each side. I used the adjustable shelving brackets you can find at home depot and cut down the brackets so they did not protrude more than the 2" boards that sit on them. The whole "fixture can slide back and forth on those shelves.

[kmu]

Anyone knows what size are the bolts that screw into the AI rails?

THX in advance

[kmu]

Vegas mike, thx for the pics really helpful... can you please take a pic with the canopy doors open so we can see the modules


THX again

[VegasMike]

Here you go. Not sure the pic is that great, but you can see the Formosa in the middle and the Nobils in the left corner of the picture. You can see the adjustable brackets on the inside of the canopy. The thing you can't see is how the canopy doors come up, not that that has anything to do with the lighting, but the cabinet guy used these awesome industrial piston actuated hinges that make the doors come straight out and up. When they are open, they almost cover the top openning and stay in the same plane as the front of the tank.

[dougc]

The rail end bolts are 6 mm.

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[goofball310]

Has there been a PAR comparison yet of the AI unit and the Maxspect w/ optics?

[CalmSeasQuest]

Originally Posted by goofball310

Has there been a PAR comparison yet of the AI unit and the Maxspect w/ optics?

I have AIs and a G2 with partial optics. I haven't done a complete PAR comparison, but I can say the AI exceeds the PAR output of the G2 (at least with partial optics.)

[steevareno2002]

Quick question: Can i use two of the 12" SOL blue's mounted lengthwise over a 4 foot long tank (72 bowfront)? OR is the proper way to hang them with the powercord coming out the back (not lengthwise)? Seems like i would get better spread with them the length of the tank, no? TIA

[steevareno2002]

Got my answer after hours of reading, lol!

[jmchzn123]

Originally Posted by CalmSeasQuest

The AI's use 1-10v dimming controls. I believe the Apex, Profilux and RKE all have 1-10v dimming modules. Take that with a grain of salt as I use only an Apex.

I just got the apex. My prog almost works...I give up....whats wrong with these settings.
The day works but sunset only blues work. at 8pm the whites after being off kick on like at 100%....so manually shut them off. Then the blu ramp down to 0 by 9 am then at like 9:01 the click on to like 100% ***...i'm freaking out. Neptune tried twice to fix it. Obviously the ramp times are not written as part of the prog in outlet set up I added them here.
Fallback OFF
Set OFF
If Moon 000/000 Then ON
If Time 08:00 to 09:00 Then 0-30 SunriseB
If Time 09:00 to 13:00 Then 30-65 DawnB
If Time 13:00 to 17:00 Then 65-100 MidDayB
If Time 17:00 to 21:00 Then 100-0 SunsetB


___________________

Fallback OFF
Set OFF
If Moon 000/000 Then ON
If Time 09:00 to 10:00 Then 0-20 SunriseW
If Time 10:00 to 13:00 Then 20-50 DawnW
If Time 13:00 to 17:00 Then 50-90 MidDayW
If Time 17:00 to 20:00 Then 90-0 SunsetW

[jmchzn123]

Originally Posted by mnml

VegasMike

What's the highest intensity set to and for how long?

can you cut and paste your Apex Outlet settings. I can't get it right. The whole day seems to work but at end of day ...Whts turn up to 100% for no reason I can see and the Blu's shut down perfectly THEN 1 min later they turn up 100% for no reason I can see. I'm missing a programming step. The lunar doesnt work at all. But maybe because there is no moon yet...I don't know. but I give up....I'm ready to order AI controller.

The profile numbers I added here just so you can see them.
Fallback OFF
Set OFF
If Moon 000/000 Then ON
If Time 08:00 to 09:00 Then 0-30 SunriseB
If Time 09:00 to 13:00 Then 30-65 DawnB
If Time 13:00 to 17:00 Then 65-100 MidDayB
If Time 17:00 to 21:00 Then 100-0 SunsetB




Wht...set up w eugene
___________________

Fallback OFF
Set OFF
If Moon 000/000 Then ON
If Time 09:00 to 10:00 Then 0-20 SunriseW
If Time 10:00 to 13:00 Then 20-50 DawnW
If Time 13:00 to 17:00 Then 50-90 MidDayW
If Time 17:00 to 20:00 Then 90-0 SunsetW

[djkms]

Originally Posted by jmchzn123

can you cut and paste your Apex Outlet settings. I can't get it right. The whole day seems to work but at end of day ...Whts turn up to 100% for no reason I can see and the Blu's shut down perfectly THEN 1 min later they turn up 100% for no reason I can see. I'm missing a programming step. The lunar doesnt work at all. But maybe because there is no moon yet...I don't know. but I give up....I'm ready to order AI controller.

The profile numbers I added here just so you can see them.
Fallback OFF
Set OFF
If Moon 000/000 Then ON
If Time 08:00 to 09:00 Then 0-30 SunriseB
If Time 09:00 to 13:00 Then 30-65 DawnB
If Time 13:00 to 17:00 Then 65-100 MidDayB
If Time 17:00 to 21:00 Then 100-0 SunsetB




Wht...set up w eugene
___________________

Fallback OFF
Set OFF
If Moon 000/000 Then ON
If Time 09:00 to 10:00 Then 0-20 SunriseW
If Time 10:00 to 13:00 Then 20-50 DawnW
If Time 13:00 to 17:00 Then 50-90 MidDayW
If Time 17:00 to 20:00 Then 90-0 SunsetW

From the looks of it your numbers after "Then" are not proper code. Not sure what your trying to do but your intensities are set in the profile your calling on, example "SunriseW"

Here is my code:

BLUE_LED
Fallback ON
Set OFF
If Outlet Sunrise = ON Then AI-Blue
If Outlet Daytime = ON Then AI-Storm
If Outlet Sunset = ON Then AI-SunSt

What I did was create virtual outlets because I want my lights to come on earlier on the weekends.

Sunrise
Set OFF
If Time 09:30 to 10:30 Then ON
If DoW -MTWTF- Then OFF
If Time 11:30 to 12:30 Then ON

Daytime
Set OFF
If Time 10:30 to 22:30 Then ON
If DoW -MTWTF- Then OFF
If Time 12:30 to 22:30 Then ON

Sunset
Set OFF
If Time 22:30 to 23:30 Then ON



From the looks of it your trying to set ramp intensities in your code, take that out and put those intensities in your profile instead.

Fallback OFF
Set OFF
If Moon 000/000 Then ON
If Time 08:00 to 09:00 Then SunriseB
If Time 09:00 to 13:00 Then DawnB
If Time 13:00 to 17:00 Then MidDayB
If Time 17:00 to 21:00 Then SunsetB

[hazmat319]

Originally Posted by Texasreefer79

Hazmat, thanks for the reply, I raised my lights to 13 above water and I updated the AI controller to newest software and setup the timers to look like this...
1. 7:00am 5% white, 10% blue 10% royal blue 5 minute ramp time
2. 8:00am 15% white 20% blue 20% royal blue 5 minute ramp time
3. 9:00am 25% white 30% blue 30% royal blue 5 minute ramp time
4. 10:00am 35% white 40% blue 40% royal blue 5 minute ramp time
5. 11:00am 45% white 50% blue 50% royal blue 5 minute ramp time
6. 12:00pm 65% white 70% blue 70% royal blue 5 minute ramp time
7. 3:00pm 45% white 50% blue 50% royal blue 5 minute ramp time
8. 4:00pm 35% white 40% blue 40% royal blue 5 minute ramp time
9. 5:00pm 25% white 30% blue 30% royal blue 5 minute ramp time
10. 6:00pm 15% white 20% blue 20% royal blue 5 minute ramp time
11. 7:00pm 5% white 10% blue 10% royal blue 5 minute ramp time
12. 8:00pm 0% white 1% blue 2% royal blue 5 minute ramp time
Thunderstorm 25%

any other suggestions?

again thanks

I'm not the expert on these lights but since nobody else is chiming in
Can you give some more info on your tank? Is the tank really only 3 months old? What kind of corals do you have in there. I think the height is good but you might still have the settings pretty high. Especially if this is the first light on your tank. 2 units should be OK. You can see a lot of us on here are doing well with just 2 units.
I know lower intensity looks really dim but the corals are getting plenty of PAR. Especially if they are under the 40 degree optics. I have my clams and SPS under the 40's and they are doing great. I have a sour apple birdsnest that has great polyp extension. So something must be right! But if you gave some more info on your tank I think people could advise better. But you are on the right track!

[SPotter]

Originally Posted by steevareno2002

Quick question: Can i use two of the 12" SOL blue's mounted lengthwise over a 4 foot long tank (72 bowfront)? OR is the proper way to hang them with the powercord coming out the back (not lengthwise)? Seems like i would get better spread with them the length of the tank, no? TIA

Can you tell me where you found that answer? I have the same question and I know it has been asked a dozen times already in this thread and the answer is in here somewhere, I just dont want to have to read thru them all.

[cassklar]

I would like to know as well since I bought 2 ai already hoping they cover the tank

[moliken]

read some more, lol. really it does depend on yr aquascaping. no, a general 4 foot tank will def'ly have shaded places unless you have the lights mounted about 18 inches above the tank. i have a general sea mount/pillar type in one side a foot in diameter or so that is lit by 1 module, and a longer piece in the other half that takes up almost the middle of the entire other half that is lit by a horiz mounted module.

[djkms]

No offense guys but maybe read the thread? I know reading through 75 pages can be brutal but part of the reason this thread is so big is because of people asking the same questions over and over again which have been answered numerous times.

BUT - let me simply answer this for you. AI recommends 1 unit per 12" - absolute minimum is 1 unit per 24".

OR
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...o_threadsearch

[SPotter]

Originally Posted by djkms

No offense guys but maybe read the thread? I know reading through 75 pages can be brutal but part of the reason this thread is so big is because of people asking the same questions over and over again which have been answered numerous times.

BUT - let me simply answer this for you. AI recommends 1 unit per 12" - absolute minimum is 1 unit per 24".

OR
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...o_threadsearch

I do appreciate the info but can do without the arrogance. Unfortunately I gave up after the 20th page. Maybe this type of information should be posted in a thread at the top of a forum either the diy or if AI has one. This way you won't have to be bothered with questions that have asked before.


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