Pacific Sun Light Programming

[braddo]

Thought I would share my light programming with fellow Pacific Sun owners.

I am currently running 2 Black Python 160's over our 50 gallon tank.

I had been running my light with basic programming, set to 12hrs between sunrise and sunset with a 30min ramp period. Color temp was set to 18K and 50% power.

I like the look of the 18k setting and 50% power seems, at least to my eye, to be approximately as bright our old 2x150 + 4 39w T-5 fixture.

My girlfriend mentioned to me today that she missed the old actinic only look in the mornings and evenings so I came up with this solution.

Using the PAR Table I created a custom light mapping that slowly increases the blue intensity every 5 minutes in the morning until it hits 90%, then the blues begin to decrease and the whites increase until I am at 50/50 power on the white and blue. (50% total at 18k just like before)

I then do the opposite in the evening.

One thing I noticed when setting the PAR table is that the percentages are based on the max power setting. So if you have your max power to 50% and you set 50% in the PAR table the light will actually be set to 25% power. To keep my light at 50% without changing my PAR table I set Max Power to 100%.

I also got rid of, or actually in this pic set the sunrise\sunset time to 1 min to ensure my PAR Table settings were based on the full brightness of the lamp.

One last change I made that you might have noticed is that I set my sunrise time to 3am but in the PAR table the time between 23:06 and 9:29 is set to 0/0.

The reason for this was simply to have the moonlight turn off at 3am but the primary tank lights won't come on until 9:30.

Let me know what you think of this program and please feel free to share the light program you've set.

-Brad

 

[BCT182]

Brad- Good stuff man. Maybe the mods could move this to an equipment forum and make it a sticky for a while. Someday my lights will be here and I'll post things as I get them figured out on my fixture too. Thanks for putting some stuff up here.

 

[BCT182]

Another thing to consider is that once your tank is adjusted to the lighting change, start to slowly adjust the settings so that you can burn the lights for optimal coral growth while you are at work. Then swing the light to the color temp and brightness you enjoy the most.

That's what I intend to do. Once the corals have adjusted to the LED lighting I will start to get jiggy.

I love dark blue halides and I love pink VHOs. My plan is to program the fixture to burn at the setting which is creating the most useable light and do so efficiently. About an hour before I get home I plan to shift it to real blue, real pink, and with the white LEDs brightness turned way down.

My hope is that someone will write a software app for the iPhone. I would like to be able to dim my lights on the fly. My iPhone is glued to my hand and so when I turn on a movie it would be handy to control the brightness remotely.

Rafal and I have were talking the other day and he mentioned that he would like to see the lighting storm come available. He's has spoken directly with the software guys and now that he's established a relationship he hopes they will take kindly to suggestions we may have.

He said that if we compile a list of additional programming features that we would like to see, we could ask that the items be considered for future updates. I already know I would like Apple software to control the light and also I would like to be able to adjust the brightness of the t-5's built into the fixture.












.

 

[DolphinLVR]

Brad- Awesome Info!!!!!

I have yet to play with the PAR table, but will be doing so in the very near future

I love the 18 - 20K look myself and am running that right now to promote the coraline growth in my tank.

 

[Shane and John]

Great Post...Thanks so much...I , as well, have not played with the Par table...I am still working out a few bugs of my own....But hopefully soon I will be situated and able to play!!I have them set at 20k..running at 60%..My corals seem to be adjusting well..

Again...thanks for sharing..This can offer up some ideas for all of us!!

 

[gothunder3022]

great info Brad...I hadn't caught the Max Power affecting the PAR table settings!

So how do you like the fixtures so far? How's your livestock fairing? I saw in the GB thread that Apollothesun is having issues with his corals not liking the lights (I think he has the IO model). I bought 3 of the 160W BP's for my 180 (not set up yet)...I tried out the master and a slave on my 4' 120, and was blown away by how much light they put out. I have to imagine you've got an insane amount of light on a 50gal, even at 50%.

 

[apollothesun]

anybody have any shortcuts in plugging in the numbers in the par table? is there like a cut and paste function?

 

[BCT182]

I haven't played with it much but it seems like alot of number typing.

My wife is kick ass with the ten-key. She doesn't know it yet, but she's gonna help daddy with a special project just for her. LOL.

 

[apollothesun]

great info Brad...I hadn't caught the Max Power affecting the PAR table settings!

So how do you like the fixtures so far? How's your livestock fairing? I saw in the GB thread that Apollothesun is having issues with his corals not liking the lights (I think he has the IO model). I bought 3 of the 160W BP's for my 180 (not set up yet)...I tried out the master and a slave on my 4' 120, and was blown away by how much light they put out. I have to imagine you've got an insane amount of light on a 50gal, even at 50%.

the only issues i have are that 2 milli mini colonies out of 5 and 1 out of 2 humilus colonies are not having polyp extention as when i had them on halides.
i know i didnt change anything as far as water chemistry.
i wish a had a par meter on my halides before i put my leds so i know where to set my power at. im kinda like guessing if its too much light or to little. i started at 50% power and now at 65%. i noticed my sps radiant at 65% and will hold steady for a week with it.

My 3 clams are loving the light as well as my monti caps with new outer edge growth. my acans and chalices are enjoying it too. zoas and mushrooms are liking too. some of my sps are enjoying too but some a have lost alot of polyp extention. the polyps are there but not as fluffy.
anyone else experiencing this?
i'll probably wait a couple more weeks before i start with the par table, maybe my sps still need adjusting.
dont get me wrong, its a great unit, but kinda bum not to see instant satisfactional results from the beginning.
im been meaning to get some pics to guys but im always caught up with the kids. i'll see if i can take some tonight

 

[gothunder3022]

I've got a meter...we could check out what you've got going with the LED's if you want.

Do you still have the halides?

 

[braddo]

So how do you like the fixtures so far?

Overall at this point I am happy the light does everything I want it to do and I've already noticed the reduction in heat output. On Saturday when it was warm out my tank stayed a constant 78 degrees. I feel like with my old setup my halides would have shut off mid day when the tank reached 80.5 degrees.

There are a few negatives that had me second guessing my decision the first few days. I've also been told I tend to focus on the negatives so take the following with a grain of salt.

* The fixtures came very poorly packed, only wimpy plain white boxes with a little bubble wrap to fill the gaps.

* The hanging kits seem very, uh, minimal, for such an expensive fixture and can’t really be hung from the ceiling without additional hardware. Rafal says they are designed for "European ceilings" and can be hung using expanding screws or anchors. I disagree but whatever, I got my lights hung.

* The documentation is lacking and a lot of the programming is left to trial and error. I still have no idea how to use the power button on the back of my lights. I know if I press it a few times the light goes into "Override" mode.

* The software is very buggy and not very user friendly. As a note to the rest of you, the software also seems to have a memory leak. If you leave the software running too long your PC will slow to a crawl.

How's your livestock fairing?

So far so good, everything seems to be happy. I have one acro at the very top of my tank only a few inches from the light that may be showing some bleaching. I am not surprised by this and had a hunch I might have to move a few corals lower. I never liked that particular coral anyway, it’s been brown since the day we got it.

I have to imagine you've got an insane amount of light on a 50gal,

Yeah, I am sure we have plenty of light now. It always bugs me when corals change color between the store and our tank. I always blamed this on the fact that most LFS keep the corals under 400w bulbs and I only had 150's, though it could be our water quality as well.

I went with dual BP 160's over such a small tank for two reasons. First I wanted the option to run all blue and not worry about lack of light. Second I wanted a fixture I could reuse if we upgraded to a larger tank. I was originally planning to get a Phobos fixture because I really wanted pink t-5 supplement but a 3' fixture doesn't leave many options for tank upgrades.

My hope is that someone will write a software app for the iPhone.

I feel you, I want to control the lights with my phone as well. Breaking out the laptop to adjust the lights isn't a big deal but it would be nice if I could just whip out my phone and hit a few buttons.

I've considered contacting Prezmek to see what source code or documentation he could provide so I could write my own app for my Palm Pre. Unfortunately I have been working 60 - 80hr weeks for the past few months and have 0 time to write any code.

Hopefully one day I will actually get around to writing an app for the Pre. If Prezmek made it worth my while I might consider doing it for iPhone as well but I've never looked at the iPhone SDK or the requirements for getting an app into the app store.

I should also note that I am not a strong programmer so it would probably take me twice as long as most software developers.

Anybody have any shortcuts in plugging in the numbers in the par table?

Not that I have found, there does not seem to be any locally stored config files containing the lamp settings. Everything seems to be stored either in the lamp or temporarily in the controller program memory.

It would be nice if you could import light settings written by others.

It would also have been much easier if I had set my PAR table based on 100% power and then dimmed it to 50% in the Max Power setting tab. I don't look forward to updating my PAR table when I am ready to increase the light intensity. Entering all those PAR settings manually took some time.

 

[apollothesun]

pictures

well, im still learning my camera but here a few for practice. this is under 20k lighting at 65% power
here's an example of one of my milli's with little polyp extention
View attachment 39667
clam loving light
View attachment 39663
LPS enjoying the LED
View attachment 39664
one of my birdies
View attachment 39665
full tank shot front only
View attachment 39666

anybody know a good setting for a nikon camera? i spent hours trying to get some photos. any help appreciated.
anyways,
is this something to worry about or is it a lighting acclimation issue? i dont know but would like to see if anybody else is noticing anything different about your sps in your tank with led lighting. thanks

 

[apollothesun]

here's a pic of an sps that's enjoying LED
View attachment 39668

 

[apollothesun]

I've got a meter...we could check out what you've got going with the LED's if you want.

Do you still have the halides?

unfortunately no, i sold it and am kinda regretting. thanks for the sincere offer gothunder3022. one upside is that my chiller doesnt kick on anymore. hopefully its an acclimation issue and all is well.
maybe its a sign to spend less time and money on sps and stick to lps.

 

[Shane and John]

Wow...your corals look great..I have noticed a HUGE difference in evap..I went from about 2 gallons a day to about 1 quart daily....I have not gotton above 78 degres..which was my coolest point with the halides...I too,sold my old fixture,would have been nice to compare readings...lol Now..If I could just get compatibility issues corrected I would be fine!!Hopefully soon!!

 

[apollothesun]

Wow...your corals look great..I have noticed a HUGE difference in evap..I went from about 2 gallons a day to about 1 quart daily....I have not gotton above 78 degres..which was my coolest point with the halides...I too,sold my old fixture,would have been nice to compare readings...lol Now..If I could just get compatibility issues corrected I would be fine!!Hopefully soon!!

what kind of compatibility issues are you having?

 

[Shane and John]

The problems are in running 2 IO units together...It seems to me there is a compatibility problem...Both units work very well as seperate units..But when both are working together,side by side,One lamp..My left lamp..will power down..all of the blues turn off...I can then open bluetooth...restart the lamp...probe it to my previous settings and get it running right....Just as soon as,or very shortly there after closing bluetooth...the left lamp powers down....I have tried numerous things...Un-installing and re-installing....I thought it was my actual bluetooth itself...so after talking to Rafal...he suggested a unit that he runs..IO GEAR...I then purchased that,and had the exact same problem...I have gone as far as to unplug the right lamp...clear memmory on the left lamp....reset all settings...probe it and let it run....then I unplugged that lamp and went thru the same routine with the right lamp...Both work very well as seperate units...just as soon as both are plugged in..the left lamp goes thru its course of working correctly,then powering down....Its always the blues that dim...then shut down...I have been working with this for the last 10 days or so....I have spoken to Rafal numerous time....He has been nothing but Great. Quality customer service...i mean...even at 10:00 at night his time....I then sent an e-mail to Pac sun...describing my issues...This went out today...hopefully I can get it resolved soon...Its irritating to keep constantly have to re-probe the settings...Unfortunatly i sold my old fixture....prolly not the smartest thing for me to do!!!!

 

[Shane and John]

I should say that I am MORE THAN HAPPY with the fixtures themselves,and the quality service I have recieved.....Its just getting the to run correctly in tandem.......

 

[apollothesun]

im just putting this in the air, but could it be the draw in amps on your outlet? or what other equipment is running with the lights on the outlet?
have you tried using another power source or one light on one outlet socket and the other light on another outlet socket?
do you have any other bluetooth devices around your home?
like a blutooth printer or a bluetooth dvd player or what not, try turning off those devices when programming.

when you program one light source, you difinately need the other light to be completely off. once you program one light go ahead and exit all the way out of your bluetooth. turn off the one you just programmed and go ahead and turn on the other lamp to program; with the one you just programmed make sure its still unpluged. once you program the second light go ahead leave this light on and log off your bluetooth. go ahead and turn on the first light you programmed. is this the way how you provision your lights?

 

[Shane and John]

Yes...thats exactly how its done..These two units are the only thing that I run bluetooth!