Steves LEDs - Settings Help

[Trinny]

So after waiting and waiting for Australian Customs charge its ransom and clear, my Steves LEDs have arrived and now installed the kit into my RSM 250, a great quality kit and easy to install. Now the system is up and running, I am hoping to get some suggestions on the colour settings that are being used or should be used?

I am currently running with 24% across the board.

Is it right to think that the colour settings stay the same mix and just increases in intensity?

Thanks.

 

[AFrederick]

I have Steve's LEDs in my RSM C-130. Do you have the Typhon controller that Steve's sells?

On that controller, channel one is the whites, channel 2 is the blues, and channels 3 and 4 don't control anything. So if you bump up channels 1 and 2 at the same rate, intensity will increase but the color will stay they same. Turning up channel 1 but not 2 will make it more white (lower Kelvin color). Turning channel 2 up but not 1 will make it more blue (higher Kelvin color).

I started mine at about 25% on both channels and slowly inclreased a couple percent each week or so. Right now I am at 50% whites and 65% blues.

 

[Trinny]

Thanks Afrederick, I have the bluefish controller and have six channels. So for the moment I have set them all the same.

 

[AFrederick]

I bet only 2 channels actually control your lights - a channel for blues and a channel for whites. You can drag them all to zero and then one at a time try each channel to see which controls the blues, the whites, or nothing at all.

24% is probably a good place to start. These things seem pretty powerful and it is better to start too low than too high.

I'll tag @StevesLEDs here since he actually puts these together. I haven't needed lots of customer support but when I have had questions, they have given me excellent service. The lights are awesome too.

Do you have a tank thread?

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

sure Jeff can advise too... @StevesLEDs

 

[Trinny]

Afrederick, thanks. No tank thread for me, this is my first tank and I had my hands full going through all the ups and downs, would have been great to have one to document all the things I have gone through. Here are a couple photos from tonight after dosing Red Sea Reef Energy

 

[NickF]

Great pics I've currently got my Steves on 54% on both channels. I'm slowly getting them up to 60%, I've not decide on what final numbers I'm going to settle at, I think I'll push the blues up a bit and see how that looks, I guess it's just personal preference. I like how the tank looks now so I might even just leave them equal levels.

 

[Trinny]

Thanks NickF, I'm thinking I'll get them to the final intensity then start playing around with the colours from there. Also was thinking of spreading the increase by a percent a day/or two rather than 5% per week, thinking it'll be more gradual?

 

[StevesLEDs]

Hello Trinny!

The RSM130 has two channels (white and blue) and the RSM250 has 4 channels (front white, rear white, front blue, rear blue).

Starting off at ~30% will be ideal. Gradually increasing the intensity about 1% a day for the next 8 weeks will allow your corals to acclimate slowly and more hardily - ensuring they don't get stressed. I recommend following the more detailed acclimation procedure in the RSM250 installation guide for optimal results.

Remember, you'll never get to 100% on all channels. That would output more photosynthetic energy than the sun and bleach your corals to death. Running the LEDs at less than 100% will allow the LEDs to run extremely energy efficient, reduce heat to almost nothing, allow the LEDs to have an incredibly long lifespan, lower water temp several degrees, and have the flexibility to get any color temp (blueness) you desire for your aquarium - with power to spare!

Did I miss any questions?

Jeff

 

[Trinny]

Thanks Jeff, so in the bluefish controller, does the light blue, red, green and purple colours control anything or just white and blue? If it just controls white and blue do I only need to adjust a couple of the colours or all?

I think the acclimation guide is based on the typhoon controller and references settings I can't see in the Bluefish controller.

 

[StevesLEDs]

The RSM130 is two channels, so you'll be able to control the blue and white channels separately.

A while back, we used to have independent color control, and we had a big problem with customers getting these all out of balance, creating an environment that wouldn't grow corals well. We have blended the LEDs in appropriate ratios to meet the photosynthetic requirement of all corals, for amazing growth and aesthetics. We have grouped the other colored LEDs within the white and blue channels so you still have 100% complete control over color temperature, which is equivalent to varying ocean depths. This means you can set your color and not worry at all about if your spectrum settings are conducive to awesome coral growth.

You'll see the screen with the individual channel intensity sliders, this is what you'll adjust during acclimation, bumping it about 1% every day.

Hope that helps?

 

[Trinny]

Thanks Jeff, the Bluefish controller App still shows six colours/channels rather than the blue and white colours/channels. Should I be loading a Steves LEDs profile onto the app or do I adjust all the channels evenly?

This is a shot of the channels in my app.

 

[Pat24601]

While there don't seem to be firm guidelines, I think most of us "top out" in the 60-70% range FWIW.

 

[StevesLEDs]

You can manually choose the color of each of the channels, those aren't set in stone. Just leave CH1 as blue and change CH2 to white. Then disregard all the other channels. You won't need a custom profile either, Steve's LEDs systems are very straight forward on how they are set up.

Does that help?

Jeff

 

[RJones16150]

Does the Bluefish gradually increase the intensity in the morning and decrease in the evening to simulate actual times of day or is it a on or off?

 

[StevesLEDs]

Yes, both the Bluefish and HurricaneX have gradual sunrises and sunsets. You can set this fade duration in the software on both, to whatever you desire, whether you want it to fade up over 10 minutes or two hours or anywhere in between.

-Jeff

 

[RJones16150]

Yes, both the Bluefish and HurricaneX have gradual sunrises and sunsets. You can set this fade duration in the software on both, to whatever you desire, whether you want it to fade up over 10 minutes or two hours or anywhere in between.

-Jeff

Thanks Jeff, I'll be ordering my lights from you all this week, maybe Monday!