Steve's LEDS-Typhoon Controller Help

[noon6]

I just installed my retrofit kit for my 130D today...whew, what a job! (glad it's done and I made it through it) however i have questions regarding programming the Typhoon. I am looking for someone that can assist me with this?
The first questions I have are as follows:

1. Do I program settings for all 4 channels or just 2 channels?
2. Which channel controls which set of LED'S? (whites, blues, etc)
3. How do I set the dimmers along with the percentages on the controller?
4. How long should my fade in/fade out be at the start and how long should my total duration of lighting be each day?
5. Should i start out with max intensity at 35% or 45% or is that to high?
6. How long should my acclimation time last before I am at my final settings?

I apologize in advance for all the rudimentary questions however I just want to be sure I am doing the right things for my fish and corals.

Thanks,
Steve

 

[Pat24601]

Congrats on the installation! I love my LEDs and I hope you will too. I know it feels great to get the install done.

As to your questions, I have the RSM 250, so I'm not 100% sure of my answers. Perhaps Jeff from Steves will chime in.

1) I think, but don't know, with the 130 you would only use 2 channels. However, what I would do is test this. Try setting channels 3 and 4 with 100 intensity and with 0. If it looks exactly the same, that would confirm. Or if Jeff or someone with a 130 could confirm, they would know more than I do. This might be easier if channels 1 and 2 are set to 0% so you can see easier if anything is going off and on.

2) simiar to (1), I don't know for sure with your set up, so I'd just set 1 to 100% and 2 to 0%, then flip it and do 2 at 100% and 1 at 0%, and see which looks bluer. . If you get better advice, take it. This is actually what I did to figure it out, though. EDIT: to be clear you only have control over whites and blues. So, if one looks bluer, that's the blue one and the other one is whites.

3) I keep the dimmers at max power (turned all the way up) and only control intensity with the controller. The only time I really use the dimmers is very briefly to turn my blues down when taking pictures with my iPhone because otherwise the pics turn out to blue. However, I immediately turn the dimmers back up to full power after that.

4). This is personal preference to some extent. I think most people do a 1 hour fade in and out with about 8 hours of full light. Plus or minus an hour or two here and there. I actually do it a bit different and I follow a pattern Diana is using (mostly). I start at 10:30 with a 2.5 hour fade in. I then do until 10 pm at night with a 2.5 hour fade out. A little unconventional, but it seems to work. You may want to start more conventional. So, that's 6.5 hours of full lights and 5 hours of fading in and out lights. I may play with this more in the future, though.

5) I started with 40% and went up 5% per week, but I'm actually stalled at either 55 or 60% at the moment. I can't remember. My tank seems to be doing well and I'm debating how much higher I'm going to go. I think most people seem to end up around 70 - 75%. Some have different intensities set for whites than blues depending on what is visually appealing to them. I have a mixed tank with corals with very different lighting requirements. So, that feels like a factor I'm trying to balance out as well.

6). I did a 5% increase per week and that seemed to work fine. I'd monitor your tank and see how it's reacting, but my experience was good.

On the intensity questions, I do not consider myself an expert at all. So get all the opinions you can before you just take my advice for it. Has worked ok for me, though.

These are not rudimentary questions. They are very good questions. I haven't seen a playbook for intensity of LEDs. So, it's the right questions to be asking. I may well learn something from this thread.

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

Cheers for the great post Pat !

 

[noon6]

Pat, thanks for the great advice! Currently I have all channels on at 9:00am with a 1.5 hour fade in and then off at 7:00pm with another 1.5 hour fade out....we will see how it goes.

I have the max intensity set at 35% with both dimmers at max, the tank is definitely not as bright at this setting as it was with my bulbs however I am assuming this will change as my intensity ramps up.

 

[Crazyeyes]

If it's just white and royal blue 2 channels are fine, I really hope you used Meanwell LDD drivers and not Steve's drivers. You can run multiple drivers per channel on the typhon controller. To set it up you just literally go to the channel and set the max %, that's you dim them up and down. And then set each channel at 0% for the minimum, unless you wanted moon lights, then just set the blues at 5,10% etc depending on how many blues you have vs how bright you want the moonlights. You can also pickup a USB to FTDI cable and download the updated program which gives you a a few cool other features , 256 dim points instead of 100, bell curve dimming etc.

 

[Pat24601]

@noon6, sounds good! If 35% feels light to you compared to what you are used to, I think you could move it to 40 or so sooner than a week. I think I remember that happened to me and I popped it to 40 after a day or 2. No reason to give your corals less light than they are used to I'm aware of.

By the way, on channels on my RSM 250 I basically have 2 LED fixtures in my hood. Channel 1 controls blues on the back fixture. Channel 2 controls whites on the back fixture. Channel 3 controls blues on the front fixture. Channel 4 controls whites on the front fixture.

So, my reason for saying I think maybe you only have channels 1 and 2 (where one of them is white and one of them is blue) is because I assumed in the 130 there is one fixture. I don't know that for sure, though. Maybe someone with a 130 can tell me.

By the way, I just set my channel 1 and 3 (my blues) to 10% minimum based on crazys post. I'm going to see how I like it for moonlights. Great tip. I have no idea why I didn't think of that earlier...

I'll post a pic of my lights later in case you don't know what I mean by two fixtures (that certainly isn't the right term).

@Crazyeyes, I'm going to look into downloading the upgrade. I dint know that I need it, but it might be fun. Thanks for the tip.

 

[Pat24601]

Oh, and I forgot, my LEDs seem to wig out when I set max to 0. So, everywhere I said in this thread to set them to 0 to test what does what, really set max to 1. Seems to work better.

 

[noon6]

Pat, I look forward to seeing the pics. I have one heat sink with two rows of LED arrays so still unsure about the number of channels. When you get more info on the upgrade for the Typhoon I would love to hear more about how it works, the process to upgrade and is it worth it.

P.S. I still have the moonlights connected in my hood so I use those, wonder if there is a benefit to turning those off and setting the blues to min at 5% or 10%?

 

[Pat24601]

BTW, this is what I mean by two "fixtures" in my rsm 250. I guess the technical term is two heat sinks. At any rate, channels 1 and 2 control one of them (1 for blues and 2 for whites) and 3 and 4 the other.

 

[Pat24601]

Pat, I look forward to seeing the pics. I have one heat sink with two rows of LED arrays so still unsure about the number of channels. When you get more info on the upgrade for the Typhoon I would love to hear more about how it works, the process to upgrade and is it worth it.

P.S. I still have the moonlights connected in my hood so I use those, wonder if there is a benefit to turning those off and setting the blues to min at 5% or 10%?

I ripped my moonlights out when I did my install. If you are happy with your current moonlights, I'm sure it's fine. I'll tell you what I think of this once I know myself.

I don't think you need to be in any rush to do an upgrade. Mine works well as is. I'd just roll with it for now. But, it's fun to know its out there for later.

 

[Pat24601]

Just for posterity, I'm going to note that I turned the minimum on my blues all the way down to 1 to act as moonlights. I'll play with it here and there, but 10 was pretty bright...at least compared to what I'm used to. It did look neat, though. So, maybe I'll go back to it. We will see.

 

[StevesLEDs]

Hey guys! I'm glad to help out where ever I can. I do have extensive experience with the Steve's LEDs systems and Typhon/Typhoon.

Anybody have a link to the latest Typhon firmware?

The Red Sea Max 250 LED systems have 4 arrays total.

PS: Steve's LEDs drivers are actually pretty good. The have Samsung capacitors and Panasonic resistors in them, Meanwells have the cheapest of the cheap chinese components. Steve's drivers also regulate at about 1% tolerance, where the Meanwells regulate ~10-15%.

Thanks!
Jeff

 

[Pat24601]

Hey guys! I'm glad to help out where ever I can. I do have extensive experience with the Steve's LEDs systems and Typhon/Typhoon.

Anybody have a link to the latest Typhon firmware?

The Red Sea Max 250 LED systems have 4 arrays total.

PS: Steve's LEDs drivers are actually pretty good. The have Samsung capacitors and Panasonic resistors in them, Meanwells have the cheapest of the cheap chinese components. Steve's drivers also regulate at about 1% tolerance, where the Meanwells regulate ~10-15%.

Thanks!
Jeff

Thanks, Jeff!

How many channels does the C-130 use?

 

[StevesLEDs]

The C-130 uses 2 channels. We've experimented with a 4 channel version, however there is negligible difference in performance and functionality. Granted, the 4 channel looks better on paper, however, once you set the right intensity levels of the blue and white LEDs, it typically isn't adjusted after the first 5 minutes of ownership.

Due to that, It isn't worth the added expense.

Thanks Pat24061!

 

[noon6]

I know it's probably a lot personal preference but at what level do you set your blues vs whites? What should I be looking for as I want to do what's best for the corals and at the same time have the tank be aesthetically pleasing..


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[StevesLEDs]

You are correct, it has a lot to do with personal preference. The reason you have an aquarium in the first place is for your own enjoyment. With that in heavy consideration, be aware that for corals and inverts to thrive, they do need blue light for proper photosynthesis. I recommend you keep the blues as high as your eyeballs are comfortable with, and chances are, that is enough for most corals.

After a couple weeks, just look at your coral polyp size and see if you need to reassess the light settings. Here's my personal procedure when putting new lights over an aquarium:

1) If the polyps are completely white/bleached = too much intensity, not necessarily a bad color setting, just turn both colors down evenly, and give the corals more time to acclimate.

2) If the polyps are small and dense and don't seem to want to fully extend = too much intensity, not necessarily a bad color setting, just turn both colors down evenly, and give the corals more time to acclimate. (same as above)

3) If the polyps are huge (balloon like), relatively clear and washed out color = Not enough light intensity, and likely not enough blue spectrum.

4) If polyps are out, but deflated = this is a water quality issue, not a lighting issue. Perform a thorough water test and at the very least, regardless of the test results, perform a water change.

5) If the polyps are just right, not too big, not too small and look pretty = Sounds like you have the intensity right, and you can slowly (over the course of several days) make small adjustments at a time to better suit your own preference. I never recommend simply turning down your blues and leaving it as is. Instead, turn down your blues AND turn up your whites - or vice versa. This will allow you to maintain your current light intensity while modifying the color. The Steve's LEDs systems use full spectrum white LEDs, so regardless of how blue/white the aquarium looks, they are very likely getting the right wavelengths of light.

6) Coral polyps seem happy, but not growing = increase the photo period during the day (leave lights on longer, ex, 13 hours instead of 10 hours)

Based on my procedure above, you can see that proper intensity plays a larger role than exact color. Think of coral polyps as little solar collectors. If they are trying to get away from the light, they will try to shrink to be tiny and avoid the light (so help them out and turn down the intensity of both colors). If they are big and balloon like, they are trying to collect more light (need to turn up the intensity of both colors).

Hope that was thorough enough for you

Jeff

 

[noon6]

Awesome explanation and a lot to try going forward.......thanks Jeff!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Pat24601]

Amazing post, Jeff, @StevesLEDs . Thanks!

 

[StevesLEDs]

Glad to help. I have experience with acclimating some very tricky coral, so if you have any questions about acclimating a specific species, or need circadian cycles for a particular species of coral, I'll be glad to share about what has worked out for me in the past.

Jeff