Nicrew 150 watt light settings

[Reef-_-Noob]

I have 2 of these lights.. looking at your picture the light is very bright . These lights are strong. 100% recommend you by the controller for these so you can preset it and it also ramps up and down. The presets are horrendous. My aux cable went bad last night to the controller so I had to use the presets this morning. I would recommend all blues on the lower 2 settings. The others are really high par and will cook your tank.

 

[Crystal08]

I have 2 of these lights.. looking at your picture the light is very bright . These lights are strong. 100% recommend you by the controller for these so you can preset it and it also ramps up and down. The presets are horrendous. My aux cable went bad last night to the controller so I had to use the presets this morning. I would recommend all blues on the lower 2 settings. The others are really high par and will cook your tank.

I did buy the controller and yeah setting is hard. I have it on 15 white and 65 blue right now. Do you think that is too high?

 

[Reef-_-Noob]

That's a good zone. I found best for my tank 50 55 blue and about the same white. Definitely hit a ceiling higher than that. I was running peak for about hours with 3 hours ramp down time

 

[Crystal08]

That's a good zone. I found best for my tank 50 55 blue and about the same white. Definitely hit a ceiling higher than that. I was running peak for about hours with 3 hours ramp down time

I have it on manual right now so it is the same setting all day. I tried setting the quick set schedule and something kept going wrong because it would switch to a almost a hundred percent on both in the middle of the day. It wasn’t set to. Not sure what I did wrong

 

[Reef-_-Noob]

Something like that happened to me.. if I remember the last setting needs to be at 0
And / or the first setting

 

[Reef-_-Noob]

That's a good zone. I found best for my tank 50 55 blue and about the same white. Definitely hit a ceiling higher than that. I was running peak for about hours with 3 hours ramp down time

By same white I mean what u have 15 or less

 

[DIYreefer]

I have 2 of these lights.. looking at your picture the light is very bright . These lights are strong. 100% recommend you by the controller for these so you can preset it and it also ramps up and down. The presets are horrendous. My aux cable went bad last night to the controller so I had to use the presets this morning. I would recommend all blues on the lower 2 settings. The others are really high par and will cook your tank.

Agreed. These lights pack a punch. With the stock mount the 150w tested at 700+ PAR (don't recall the exact value) just under the surface of the water. That was with both channels at 100%.

I tested some of mine (I have 16 nicrews, total) and got a little over 200 PAR on my frag tank at peak settings. However, I don't recall what I have them maxed out at. I can check tomorrow and post here if anyone is interested. This was 10 x 50w nicrews that are suspended roughly 2' above the water line over my frag tank.

 

[Reef-_-Noob]

Sweet setup! Do you daisy chain them together?

 

[Crystal08]

Something like that happened to me.. if I remember the last setting needs to be at 0
And / or the first setting

Oh so the first and last setting should be zero and then the second setting is what you want it to start at? There’s 6 time settings on the quick set I think

 

[Crystal08]

Agreed. These lights pack a punch. With the stock mount the 150w tested at 700+ PAR (don't recall the exact value) just under the surface of the water. That was with both channels at 100%.

I tested some of mine (I have 16 nicrews, total) and got a little over 200 PAR on my frag tank at peak settings. However, I don't recall what I have them maxed out at. I can check tomorrow and post here if anyone is interested. This was 10 x 50w nicrews that are suspended roughly 2' above the water line over my frag tank.

My light is on the arm so it doesn’t go that high. I don’t think we put it all the way up either. Maybe I should move it higher

 

[ElementReefer]

I have these lights on a 55 gallon, two 100W versions. (They are pretty straightforward - each circle is 50W.) Definitely get the Nicrew timer. The lights are about 8” above the water surface, and the sand bed is about 26” below the lights. Here are my reference PAR readings directly under each light:

100% Blue / 100% White
Surface: 1000
Middle: 400
Sand: 250

100% Blue / No White
Surface: 700
Middle: 250
Sand: 150

50% Blue / No White
Surface: 350
Middle: 150
Sand: 100

Safe beginner settings for these lights is 40% Blue and the lowest White setting for 8 hours a day, and only go up from there if you have a compelling reason to.

 

[ElementReefer]

For the 150W, you will have higher PAR readings below each light, so perhaps start at even lower setting.

 

[Reef-_-Noob]

Any body with these lights know if controlling each light individually?? I've done it manually and the tank looks nice with offsetting illuminance

 

[kdxracer]

I think BRS rents PAR meters.

 

[kdxracer]

I'm glad to see this thread, I had asked how to determine which wattage light to choose. I was looking at the Nicrew 150 vs 100 because everyone i see talk8ng about them say they have to limit the output so much. If thats the case id rather save the $100 difference to put somewhere else and run them at a higher output.
It seems like every question i ask gets the same response...it depends lol

 

[Reef-_-Noob]

I cannot run these lights at 100% highest I have gone is 65% blue 15% white. After a few weeks I brought them back down to 55% blues.i have a 100 gallon 4ft long and about 24 " tall. The corals are growing and compared to price of radions to start out I would like to upgrade one day tho.

I have had these running for a year and just the other day my 4 pin aux cable to the controller burned out. Replaced it and all is working but wondering about long term affects. Also, I don't believe I have a power brick connected to the second light I think the power is shared through the daisy chain aux cable. Not sure if anybody has knowledge of this

 

[Crystal08]

I have these lights on a 55 gallon, two 100W versions. (They are pretty straightforward - each circle is 50W.) Definitely get the Nicrew timer. The lights are about 8” above the water surface, and the sand bed is about 26” below the lights. Here are my reference PAR readings directly under each light:

100% Blue / 100% White
Surface: 1000
Middle: 400
Sand: 250

100% Blue / No White
Surface: 700
Middle: 250
Sand: 150

50% Blue / No White
Surface: 350
Middle: 150
Sand: 100

Safe beginner settings for these lights is 40% Blue and the lowest White setting for 8 hours a day, and only go up from there if you have a compelling reason to.

Thank you this was helpful

 

[Crystal08]

I think BRS rents PAR meters.

Oh really I’ll look into that thanks!

 

[ElementReefer]

I'm glad to see this thread, I had asked how to determine which wattage light to choose. I was looking at the Nicrew 150 vs 100 because everyone i see talk8ng about them say they have to limit the output so much. If thats the case id rather save the $100 difference to put somewhere else and run them at a higher output.
It seems like every question i ask gets the same response...it depends lol

Since these lights are so powerful I would say spread is more important than wattage. For a 4’ tank I would rather get 3 or 4 of the 50W versus a couple of the bigger lights.