Photo period

[nitro069]

Hey all, I was just talking with ATI customer care about the dimming feature on my fixture and during the conversation they suggested that i drop my photo period from 12 hrs to 10 hrs on channel one(blues) and from 10 hours to 8 hours on channel 2(daylight). I believe that this may be because my corals would get tired with all that light.

What kind of schedule do you guys run with your lights and have. What would some of the signs that I would be looking for in my corals.

Right now I keep softies and lps corals

Thanks,
Mike

 

[Krazykarl]

Blues on at 11 am - 9 pm
Rest of LEDs on from 12 - 8

 

[Reef Hero]

What kind of ati fixture do you have? Is it the dimmable sunpower?
I have the ati dimmable sunpower and I run this setup....
3 ati actinic, 3 ati blue plus 4pm to 1am
2 ati coral plus 6pm to 11pm

I don't using the dimming feature, always 100%....wish I got the regular sunpower and then my profilux would control it instead of the built in controller on fixture.....




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[Seggsy]

I have a mixed reef - run T5's for 7 hours.  Get decent growth, and have a huge variety.

 

[nitro069]

What kind of ati fixture do you have? Is it the dimmable sunpower?
I have the ati dimmable sunpower and I run this setup....
3 ati actinic, 3 ati blue plus 4pm to 1pm
2 ati coral plus 6pm to 11pm

I don't using the dimming feature, always 100%....wish I got the regular sunpower and then my profilux would control it instead of the built in controller on fixture.....
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Yeah its the dimmable. I dont have a controller so it works great for me. your times confuse me a little though.

 

[Poseidon]

giesmann t5 atinics - 11am-11pm
2- 250w hqi mh's - 4pm- 10 pm

 

[Reef Hero]

What part is confusing??? Do you not have separate ballasts so that two of the t5s can be run separate?

The built in controller does work good.....did ati tech show you how to get into the hidden menu to change fan speed and temp and such?


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[nitro069]

What part is confusing??? Do you not have separate ballasts so that two of the t5s can be run separate?

The built in controller does work good.....did ati tech show you how to get into the hidden menu to change fan speed and temp and such?


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No he never did. would be sweet to know though.

Yeah it has 2 ballasts. 6 bulbs- 2 on channel 1 and 4 on channel 2

3 ati actinic, 3 ati blue plus 4pm to 1pm 21 hrs lights on?????

??maybe supposed to be 1 am??

2 ati coral plus 6pm to 11pm 5 hrs light on

 

[unibob]

I have lights on from 8am to 9pm, all on.

Needed...no. Should I buy timers, yes.

I think I will do that this weekend. Haha

 

[Reef Hero]

Sorry I fixed it.....lol

Pm me your email and I will forward the email I have from ati.....it has the info on how to access the menu as well as what the settings should be.....mine had to be changed....maybe now they don't.....but if you want it I can email it out.


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[teebone110]

Currently I run all bulbs on my ATI Sunpower for 6 hours from 3pm - 9pm. Things haven't looked better!

 

[nitro069]

Sorry I fixed it.....lol

Pm me your email and I will forward the email I have from ati.....it has the info on how to access the menu as well as what the settings should be.....mine had to be changed....maybe now they don't.....but if you want it I can email it out.


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Pm sent

 

[Reef Hero]

Pm replied......did your settings match or did you have to change?
I had to change mine a little.....



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[Hayes]

I like my lights to come on later in the day and be on when I get home from work later in the evenings

ATI Powermodule

6 bulbs on from 11am to 7pm
2 blue bulbs on from 2pm to 11:59pm
I run my LED blue strip from 5pm to 11:59pm as well

This is a lot of light, more than enough, I have been thinking about decreasing it 2hrs for a month and see what the changes are

 

[spyd]

I run my 8 x 80w Sunpower as follows:

2 - ATI Blue Plus from 5pm - 3am
All 8 lamps from 7pm - 11pm.

I find if I run any longer than 4 hours on full that my corals start bleaching a little. Trying to bump it up to 5 hours.

 

[nitro069]

Pm replied......did your settings match or did you have to change?
I had to change mine a little.....



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My settings matched except the temp. dropped from 42 to 40 and will see what happens. so far so good.

I find if I run any longer than 4 hours on full that my corals start bleaching a little. Trying to bump it up to 5 hours.

dropped down all lights 2 hours, 1hour later in am and 1 hour earlier in pm.
I got some hammers from another local reefer and noticed the brown zooxanthellae in the polyps receding and turning almost translucent. hopefully the colour comes back. we will see, maybe i will have to drop more. 

 

[Reef Hero]

Ok yes I had to change the temp to 40 as well and I also changed something else.....can't remember....ati recommends running at 40 if possible.....higher if needed but I have always been fine with 40.
Can I ask you another questions.....when setting up your times in the ati controller do you have to set the on time at say 16:00 and then 100% for 16:01? So that no matter what the lights will never come on at 100%, but will rather have to always ramp up over that one minute span? I must do this with my ati dimm sunpower otherwise lights are on all the time and never shut off.....ati says there is no other way. This is why when I first burn in the new lights I always turn them on manually so they come at at 100% for the first 50 hours and then I let them ramp up over the one min using the controller. Just curious if this is something ati has fixed in their controller now?


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[nitro069]

the manual said 4:00 on 4:01 100%  never actually checked. I will check now though

 

[nitro069]

Ok yes I had to change the temp to 40 as well and I also changed something else.....can't remember....ati recommends running at 40 if possible.....higher if needed but I have always been fine with 40.
Can I ask you another questions.....when setting up your times in the ati controller do you have to set the on time at say 16:00 and then 100% for 16:01? So that no matter what the lights will never come on at 100%, but will rather have to always ramp up over that one minute span? I must do this with my ati dimm sunpower otherwise lights are on all the time and never shut off.....ati says there is no other way. This is why when I first burn in the new lights I always turn them on manually so they come at at 100% for the first 50 hours and then I let them ramp up over the one min using the controller. Just curious if this is something ati has fixed in their controller now?


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Nope, not fixed. tried this at 5:30(clock time on fixture)
1-5:45 on
2-5:45 100%
lights stayed on

1-5:45 on
2-5:46 100%
lights went off

Still must have 1 min time difference.

 

[Reef Hero]

Yes this must still be an issue for the sunpower..... My instructions did not say to set one minute apart.....my instructions say you can set both the same but then lights stay on all the time like ours do.....
My clock on my sunpower always gets way ahead too.....I would recommend the regular sunpower over the dimmable one to anyone looking......I don't even use the dimming feature....


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