Need help/advice for my aqua illumination controller

[tdam]

Hey guys, I was wondering if yall could help/advise me on my lighting schedule and the controller functions. I just got this one sent to me but there were no manuals with it. I looked online and saw the manual, but I could not find a few things. Maybe I'm just not good at reading manuals, but I could not find some answers.

Also, I saw that there is a big thread on the timing schedule on ARC, but I did not want to highjack the thread.

1. What are lunar cycles? Do most of you hit "YES" when it asks if you want a lunar cycle?

2. What is Ramp? what's a good setting for this?

3. Do yall feel that the thunderstorms are good for corals? What do you like to set that at?

I will send my lighting schedule that I set up to see if anyone wants to give me advice on it.

Edit: What do you think? I try to make it start at 1. and slowly get stronger (sunrise). then the max period is for 2 hours, from 5pm to 7pm. then the white starts to fade so that the blue/royal are only on. then i fade it to midnight.


timer 1: 1pm
W: 0, B:10, R:10

timer 2: 2pm
W: 10, B:25, R:25

timer 3: 3pm
W: 50, B:50, R:50

timer 4: 4pm
W: 75, B:75, R:75

timer 5: 5pm
W: 100, B:100, R:100

timer 6: 7pm
W: 50, B:100, R:100

timer 7: 7:30pm
W: 25, B:100, R:100

timer 8: 8pm
W: 0, B:100, R:100

timer 9: 11pm
W: 0, B:50, R:50

timer 10: 12am
W: 0, B:25, R:25

I also have thunderstorms set for 3 times a day, at 60% chance.

I know there is no one right answer for the timing schedules. But any advice would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[budsreef]

1. What are lunar cycles? Do most of you hit "YES" when it asks if you want a lunar cycle?

The Lunar Cycle should only be "Yes" for the overnight/moon light cycle. It will follow a 30 day schedule for that timer with a percentage of what you have it set at from 0% to 100%. So if you have White 0, Blue 5, Royal Blue 5, it may start out a few nights at 0,0,0 then do 1% blue for a few nights, then 2% and so on.

2. What is Ramp? what's a good setting for this?

The ramp time is how long you want the lights to take to get to whatever you set them at. So if you start the morning with T1 8:00AM W0, B10, RB10 the lights will immediately turn on at that level at 8:00AM If you add a 45min ramp time to it then at 8:00AM the lights will come on at maybe W0,B1,RB1 and will slowly increase the lights over the next 45 minutes until it reaches what you had set.

3. Do yall feel that the thunderstorms are good for corals? What do you like to set that at?

I think the thrunderstorms are a cool gimmick that I would never use. Any fish can jump if it gets startled and the immediate bright light flashes fall in that category. Our fish and corals aren't used to that kind of environment and I wouldn't bother with it.

What lighting are you coming from and how high do you have the fixture over the tank? How many fixtures do you have over what size depth of tank. Do you have the 40 degree optics or did you swap them out with the 70 degree ones?

In general I'd say you are starting out with them way too high and will most likely burn your corals. I would start out with a max of 50% at the brightest part of the day until your corals get acclimated. Also the timers don't have an end time so when you do: timer 10: 12am W: 0, B:25, R:25 the lights will stay at that level until 1pm the next day when timer 1 kicks in. If you want a moonlight effect you need another timer, T11, to turn the lights off for however long you want them to be off.


timer 1: 1pm
W: 0, B:10, R:10

timer 2: 2pm
W: 10, B:25, R:25

timer 3: 3pm
W: 50, B:50, R:50

timer 4: 4pm
W: 75, B:75, R:75

timer 5: 5pm
W: 100, B:100, R:100

timer 6: 7pm
W: 50, B:100, R:100

timer 7: 7:30pm
W: 25, B:100, R:100

timer 8: 8pm
W: 0, B:100, R:100

timer 9: 11pm
W: 0, B:50, R:50

timer 10: 12am
W: 0, B:25, R:25

 

[tdam]

Thanks Bud.

I will gladly take your advice since I know you know your stuff!

So from what I have my timers set at, which timers do I need to have the lunar lights set at yes on?

So if i ramp at 240 minutes, but my next timer starts in an hour, is that wrong? Should I ramp at 60 minutes? When one timer starts, i'm assuming that the other timer goes off. right?

Bud, if you have time, what would you suggest i set all my timers at? I would like to follow your advice.

info: it's about 12 inches above my tank. 24 x 24 x 18. I did a par meter and i got about 750 par at full strength. it drops to about 400 par half way down. I previously had the ecoxotic panarama LED lights on it. From the par readings, they were not that strong.

 

[mvm]

Coming from that lighting, go VERY slow. I switched out 2 250W halides over a 93 cube and started at 30%. When cranked all the way up, these lights will burn corals that are not used to the intensity, as Bud said.

 

[budsreef]

None of the timers you currently have set would be what I would consider a moonlight setting so none of the current ones would have lunar set to yes.

For timers I have that are only 60 minutes apart, I use a ramp of 45 minutes.

You are welcome to come by and see how I have mine set up, which may help you configure yours. If you can't or don't want to come by you can certainly give me a call and we can go over what you are trying to do.

tdam;650416 wrote: Thanks Bud.

I will gladly take your advice since I know you know your stuff!

So from what I have my timers set at, which timers do I need to have the lunar lights set at yes on?

So if i ramp at 240 minutes, but my next timer starts in an hour, is that wrong? Should I ramp at 60 minutes? When one timer starts, i'm assuming that the other timer goes off. right?

Bud, if you have time, what would you suggest i set all my timers at? I would like to follow your advice.

info: it's about 12 inches above my tank. 24 x 24 x 18. I did a par meter and i got about 750 par at full strength. it drops to about 400 par half way down. I previously had the ecoxotic panarama LED lights on it. From the par readings, they were not that strong.

 

[tdam]

sounds good, bud.

I have heard about burning corals. I will say that i am hesitant to weaken my lights, b/c the whole reason for me upgrading lights was for the purpose of having strong lighting for my sps. but that being said, i don't mind at all listening to your advice and will follow it if you believe i will burn my corals.

I can call you when i get home tonight. Would need your number.

Or if you think you can just tell me what you think each timer should be at right now, i'll be glad to set them when i get home.

My only preference with the timers is to have only the blue light/royal blue on after 8pm'ish, b/c i love the actnic look.

 

[mvm]

Not sure if it's the same with the AI controller, as I'm using the apex and VDM. But if you set your ramp time longer for the blues, they whites will cut off first. I have my whites ramping an hour and my blues 2 hours.

 

[budsreef]

PM sent with phone number.

 

[tdam]

"Do you have the 40 degree optics or did you swap them out with the 70 degree ones?"

Can someone explain this to me? Not sure what optics are. Is the 70 degree optics an upgrade that i can buy and attach? Are they more spread or stronger?

 

[liverock27]

tdam;650442 wrote: "Do you have the 40 degree optics or did you swap them out with the 70 degree ones?"

Can someone explain this to me? Not sure what optics are. Is the 70 degree optics an upgrade that i can buy and attach? Are they more spread or stronger?

I had the same question. I received my 2 AI Sol Blue units yesterday and didn't notice any other optics that came with them.

 

[budsreef]

The optics are what directs the lights downward at either a 40 or 70 degree spread. The modules come with 40 degree optics on the middle four leds and 70 degree optics on the four leds on the ends. You have to contact AI directly to get 4 of the 70 degree optics if you want to swap them out for wider coverage and it cost about $25 for 4 of them.

 

[liverock27]

Budsreef;650450 wrote: The optics are what directs the lights downward at either a 40 or 70 degree spread. The modules come with 40 degree optics on the middle four leds and 70 degree optics on the four leds on the ends. You have to contact AI directly to get 4 of the 70 degree optics if you want to swap them out for wider coverage and it cost about $25 for 4 of them.

Thanks Bud

 

[tdam]

is it easy to replace? just unscrew or something like that?

Budsreef;650450 wrote: The optics are what directs the lights downward at either a 40 or 70 degree spread. The modules come with 40 degree optics on the middle four leds and 70 degree optics on the four leds on the ends. You have to contact AI directly to get 4 of the 70 degree optics if you want to swap them out for wider coverage and it cost about $25 for 4 of them.

 

[mapleredta]

tdam;650509 wrote: is it easy to replace? just unscrew or something like that?

Very easy. I can get you a step by step walk through.