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Lighting schedule for my new tank


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Hi guys. Looking for a little feedback here, I’m currently dialing in the lights over my new 6’ 180 which is about 3 weeks into its cycle. The lights consist of a 61” aquatic life t5 hybrid running 2 each of the Ati aqua blue special And blue plus bulbs. Leds are 4 ai prime hds, and their blue channels are currently set to max out at 50%.

My goal here is a mixed reef with an emphasis on the LPS, and and a handful of idiot-proof SPS. Therefore I’m not really looking for par ranges higher than what I’m currently at. 

This is my first time with T5, and I am very accustomed to the smooth ramping of Leds. I’ve tried to set up my schedule to phase the t5s in and out as gently as possible, by staggering their on/off times. I figure this will also give me a longer photoperiod while only running each bulb for so many hours per day, and will sort of simulate the sun arcing overhead from East to west, casting shadows on opposite sides of the rock at different times of day, and only being at full blast right at midday.

I’m going to upload a photo of the sketch I made to represent what’s going on. Hopefully it’s easy to interpret. Par ranges are wide, as they represent different spots at that depth where corals will grow. Most sand bed is to the East and most tall rock structures to the west.

my questions to all of you would be:

-How long is it ideal to sustain your maximum power during a photoperiod? Should my peak power period be longer? Currently full blast is only drawn at 2 hours (but I don’t need those high par ranges for the types of corals I’m envisioning).

-Does my idea of nearly constantly fluctuating Par readings suck, or would it more closely resemble nature?

-If you run similar equipment on similar livestock types, what do you do to avoid light shock and keep the transitions subtle?

Thanks for any expertise!

8A38DDC4-89A5-47A2-B6C5-32336F504B4B.jpeg

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Let me start this with saying I am not an expert whatsoever lol, but I have a similar setup as you. I had an 8 bulb t5 fixture and removed the 4 inner bulbs and replaced with 4 AI primes. I have 2 48” reefbrite blue led strips on the outer edges. I too am focusing on more zoas and some lps and a few sps, but nothing crazy. I am still waiting to get my hands on the PAR meter rental to finally set and forget my values, but I think I’ve come to a pretty good spot on balancing what looks good to my eye and what is good for the corals. 
 

As far as on and off times, I never messed with staggering the t5s. That just seemed extra to me as I’ve seen countless tanks way better looking that what I could ever do that just run straight on and off t5 or metal halide schedules. It makes me think the corals don’t really care about ramping. I do stagger my different light sources to have higher light times during mid day, just not the individual t5 bulbs. My reefbrites kick on at 10:30 and run until 11:30 pm. Then the AI Primes start at 11:30 w/ 1hr ramp until 8:3 w/ 1 hr ramp down. T5s (2 coral plus 2 blue plus) come on at 1:30 and run until 6:30. So I have 5 hours with all light sources on. I run the AB+ setting at roughly 70% intensity in my primes. With corals, I just start them on the bottom and move up if needed. I have some zoas at the top of the tank within a few inches of the waterline that actually touch air when doing water changes and they have adapted well. When in doubt, I just place stuff on the bottom glass (I run bare bottom). Honestly I could probably move them higher I just get lazy and let them start growing down there. My biggest thing with LEDs is fighting my urge to tinker with them. I read so many forums that I constantly am curious on different spectrums or intensities, so I really want to get ahold of a PAR meter to give myself the confirmation that the majority of my tank is in the 100-250 range. 

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