Ai Prime 16 Light advice

[MaxkDaRuler]

I recently purchased an already established saltwater tank, its been established for about 2years. And has a good amount of livestock including. 2 domino clowns, 1 sandsifting star fish, 1 emerald crab, 3-4 hermits and a snail. As well as hard coral, a soft coral some mushrooms, zooanthids, and lastly a favia Coral. The set up is running a prime 16 light and tank looks visibly appealing however its alot dimmer then all these other set ups im seeing. The light settings that i purchased the tank with seem to be doing alright for the tank however i feel like the tank is not “thriving”. Any advice would be helpful im new to saltwater and know small increases to lighting can have huge effects on the tank. Current light settings: Uv 20%, Royal 5%, Blue 30%, Cool white 10%. Everything else is 0. Also going to attach photos of the tank and the light schedule.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

I agree you should turn it up, thats way too low. I have AI Prime on a 15 gallon, 12" depth tank, mostly mushrooms and zoa's with a couple of lps corals, my blues are set at 70% whites at 25% for 10 hours a day.

 

[MaxkDaRuler]

I agree you should turn it up, thats way too low. I have AI Prime on a 15 gallon, 12" depth tank, mostly mushrooms and zoa's with a couple of lps corals, my blues are set at 70% whites at 25% for 10 hours a day.

This is alot more like the settings ive been seeing! However i tried to adjust the royal blue the blue and the uv all up by 5% and starting having a ton of algae growth

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

This is alot more like the settings ive been seeing! However i tried to adjust the royal blue the blue and the uv all up by 5% and starting having a ton of algae growth

If algae can't grow, then corals can't grow, so the corals will suffer by keeping the lights that low. Lights help algae grow, but they are not the cause, the cause is high nutrients in the water without enough nutrient export.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Below is how I keep mine. You can check out the BRS youtube videos, they show you the best ways to get the most out of your lights. You can check the AI website and download any of the "signature" programs. I haven't done any of that though I just played around until my corals were happy,

For your algae, I suggest to let it grow, deal with it. We all had to learn. Come back here and post pictures, and we will help you. Hundreds of people here willing to help you.

Have you ever had an aquarium before?

 

[X-37B]

I ran first 4 at 100% and the rest 50% with great results in my 18" nano cube.

 

[MaxkDaRuler]

Below is how I keep mine. You can check out the BRS youtube videos, they show you the best ways to get the most out of your lights. You can check the AI website and download any of the "signature" programs. I haven't done any of that though I just played around until my corals were happy,

For your algae, I suggest to let it grow, deal with it. We all had to learn. Come back here and post pictures, and we will help you. Hundreds of people here willing to help you.

Have you ever had an aquarium before?

Thanks for the advice and for sending over your light settings, I definitely will raise them but should I do it slowly over time or just change it and let the tank adjust. And no this is my first saltwater aquarium

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Thanks for the advice and for sending over your light settings, I definitely will raise them but should I do it slowly over time or just change it and let the tank adjust. And no this is my first saltwater aquarium

I would probably go about 5% per week myself.

Congrats on the first tank, its a great hobby and you found a good website.

 

[MaxkDaRuler]

I would probably go about 5% per week myself.

Congrats on the first tank, its a great hobby and you found a good website.

5% per color per week? Like for example if i went up right now 5% on just uv or uv and all the others im going to be turning up

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

5% per color per week? Like for example if i went up right now 5% on just uv or uv and all the others im going to be turning up

We mainly talk about the blues for coral growth, which include violet and uv and royal , so increase these 5% per week.

We don’t really use the red and green much because they promote algae growth. So just set them somewhere lower than 10% but higher than zero because corals do need a little. But not much.

White is mainly for our viewing pleasure some like a bluer tank some like a whiter tank. So just put that right where you like it.

So when we talk about intensity or adjusting the intensity, we are mainly talking about the blues.

 

[MaxkDaRuler]

We mainly talk about the blues for coral growth, which include violet and uv and royal , so increase these 5% per week.

We don’t really use the red and green much because they promote algae growth. So just set them somewhere lower than 10% but higher than zero because corals do need a little. But not much.

White is mainly for our viewing pleasure some like a bluer tank some like a whiter tank. So just put that right where you like it.

So when we talk about intensity or adjusting the intensity, we are mainly talking about the blues.

Thank you! Just did my first adjustment this is how my settings are looking now.

 

[Steven Garland]

I run my Hydra 26 & a 2' XHO over at standard 10g 10" above the water with all Zoa's,Acan's,Hammers and Chalices at:

Profile 1:
UV/V- 25%
Royals- 50%
Blues- 15%
Red- 0%
Green- 3%
Whites- 5%

Then on the weekends when I want to look at blues all day its:

Profile 2:
UV/V- 25%
Royals- 50%
Blues-15%

All coral are happy healthy and growing amazingly.