4.8g tank: best light that won't cook my coral

[testuser]

Hi All, I have a 4.8g tank and currently have a Nicrew 30w. It seems fine, but some of my coral appear gray instead of yellow, which I can only assume is because I only have 2 channels of light to adjust, instead of 8 that others have.

What LED lighting do you all recommend for a tank my size? And what settings/intensity would you recommend? Thanks!

 

[dedragon]

noopsyche k7 mini seems to be the go to for tiny tanks. Im gonna be testing out the popbloom rl60 when that finally arrives (havent seen any reviews of it yet). The only reason i went with it was because i got it cheaper

Tank dimensions?

 

[testuser]

noopsyche k7 mini seems to be the go to for tiny tanks. Im gonna be testing out the popbloom rl60 when that finally arrives (havent seen any reviews of it yet). The only reason i went with it was because i got it cheaper

Tank dimensions?

Solid points, and forgot about dimensions. This is what I have: https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/content/post/brstv-product-spotlight-eshopps-deskmate-aquarium-bundle

Dimensions: 11" x 12" x 10"

 

[JoJosReef]

Noopsyche K7 Mini

 

[jhadaway117]

Agree with others on the Noopsyche K7 Mini. Have one on my 13.5G Fluval and it works great.

 

[testuser]

Agree with others on the Noopsyche K7 Mini. Have one on my 13.5G Fluval and it works great.

How many channels can you control for color from the app? Think it will render my yellow torch actually yellow instead of gray?

Also, suggestions on settings for a tank my size? I imagine a bit below 50% across all channels.

 

[dedragon]

only 3 channel control on it. Usually just blasting the blues on any fixture brings out the yellow in a torch. The nicrew should be able to do it as well.
Has it been losing color over time or did it look immediately worse when you saw it in a store?

 

[testuser]

only 3 channel control on it. Usually just blasting the blues on any fixture brings out the yellow in a torch. The nicrew should be able to do it as well.
Has it been losing color over time or did it look immediately worse when you saw it in a store?

Blasting blues basically kept it the same gray as before. I just got it and it looks healthy and all, but it looks more accurate in "natural" (house) lighting, ha.

vs the one on the right (ignore the left circled one, that is also wrong coloring but not the example yellow one).

In another thread, it sounded like having more than just the 2 channels would help me out here.

 

[dedragon]

now i see, you got them from aquasd. They use photo editing and very blue lighting. Looking at the pics from them it should be a green torch with paler tips (sometimes pink or purple depending on lighting) and the other is purple, light colored tips, and a green center. I dont see much yellow at all in the asd pics except maybe the center of the purple torch, but i have never seen a torch THAT bright in the center, which would indicate to me photo editing.

 

[testuser]

now i see, you got them from aquasd. They use photo editing and very blue lighting. Looking at the pics from them it should be a green torch with paler tips (sometimes pink or purple depending on lighting) and the other is purple, light colored tips, and a green center. I dont see much yellow at all in the asd pics except maybe the center of the purple torch, but i have never seen a torch THAT bright in the center, which would indicate to me photo editing.

It looks more yellow with the lights off than in the tank, haha. The picture below is their shopp'd version. I imagine that my circle on the right should look closer to yellow/green than grey though, right?

I'm a bit confused, as the colors seem to be like a photo negative, haha.

 

[testuser]

It looks more yellow with the lights off than in the tank, haha. The picture below is their shopp'd version. I imagine that my circle on the right should look closer to yellow/green than grey though, right?

I'm a bit confused, as the colors seem to be like a photo negative, haha.

Oh, I see. The green one having purple tips instead of white really through me off. Maybe this was due to their editing? So I guess the above picture should be the left and the other grayish purple one is the one on the right?

With that said, should I expect similar coloring with any tank light?

 

[JoJosReef]

How many channels can you control for color from the app? Think it will render my yellow torch actually yellow instead of gray?

Also, suggestions on settings for a tank my size? I imagine a bit below 50% across all channels.

You probably don't want to put the channels at 50% over that small tank. You'll burn up everything. It's a strong light. I would start at 25-30% Violet and Blue to your liking, and maybe 15-20% whites. Adjust to your desired spectrum. Then slowly increase %s. A PAR meter would be best, but I can give you some ideas from a 12" tall tank with ~1" sand and K7 Mini about 8" above the water:

My schedule:

Top of the rocks (~4" from surface of water) at peak intensity: 300-350 PAR
Middle of tank: 200-250 PAR
Sand bed: 150+/-
Corners on sand: 75-100 PAR
* Measurements taken with a PARwise

On a deskmate with my settings (60% violet, 55% blue, 27% white at peak), you'd probably be blasting 400 PAR on your rocks and 250 +/- on your sand, which is quite a lot for torches that haven't been acclimated to high light intensity.

Also, is that red circled torch the one you bought from AquaSD?

 

[Reef Wizard]

Are people buying noopsyche from their site or is there online retailers

 

[testuser]

You probably don't want to put the channels at 50% over that small tank. You'll burn up everything. It's a strong light. I would start at 25-30% Violet and Blue to your liking, and maybe 15-20% whites. Adjust to your desired spectrum. Then slowly increase %s. A PAR meter would be best, but I can give you some ideas from a 12" tall tank with ~1" sand and K7 Mini about 8" above the water:

My schedule:

Top of the rocks (~4" from surface of water) at peak intensity: 300-350 PAR
Middle of tank: 200-250 PAR
Sand bed: 150+/-
Corners on sand: 75-100 PAR
* Measurements taken with a PARwise

On a deskmate with my settings (60% violet, 55% blue, 27% white at peak), you'd probably be blasting 400 PAR on your rocks and 250 +/- on your sand, which is quite a lot for torches that haven't been acclimated to high light intensity.

Also, is that red circled torch the one you bought from AquaSD?

Appreciate the PAR breakdown. Yeah, my expectations for that light would be significantly lower, even than my current setup.

And that's right, those two red circles are the torches that I got from AquaSD. I think that the confusion I got was that the green one has purple tops instead of white, so I kept thinking that the grey/purple one was actually the green/yellowish one.