Photon V2+ 24" Lighting Schedule

Andrewrckt · Feb 17, 2020

Hello Everyone,

I have the Photon V2+ 24" lights and LOVE them. I have them over a 40 gallon breeder tank at about 12 inches above water surface. I just installed an egg create top to the tank to try and avoid jumping fish. This got me thinking about my lighting schedule as I read the egg crate may drop light intensity by about 5%. From there, I started second guessing my entire schedule as I think my maximum peak is probably low and resulting in slow coral growth. I have in the tank a: Toadstool Leather, Zoa, Torch Coral, Lobo (in the substrate), and some clove polyps. My schedule is attached. I would greatly appreciate any tweaking and input. I do realize, any change will need to be made slowly at about !0% per week to avoid stressing the corals.

Thanks!

Ron Reefman · Feb 17, 2020

Lets start with 'Welcome to Reef2Reef!"

Am I reading your chart correctly. Your peak on channel 3 (royal blue) is only 30%?

Your tank is 16" tall. My 90g tank is 20" tall. Your fixture is 12" off the water, mine are 10" and I have both a 24" and a 32" Photon V2+. But my tank is 30" front to back and yours is 18". I have corals on the top rock that is only 4" below the water surface. That's all for comparison. Most of my tank is made up of zoas and RFAs.

I run channels 3 & 5 at 100% for 8 hours and channel 4 between 30 and 50% for 4 hours on the 24" fixture and even lower on the 32" fixture.

Andrewrckt · Feb 17, 2020

Ron Reefman said:
Lets start with 'Welcome to Reef2Reef!"

Am I reading your chart correctly. Your peak on channel 3 (royal blue) is only 30%?

Your tank is 16" tall. My 90g tank is 20" tall. Your fixture is 12" off the water, mine are 10" and I have both a 24" and a 32" Photon V2+. But my tank is 30" front to back and yours is 18". I have corals on the top rock that is only 4" below the water surface. That's all for comparison. Most of my tank is made up of zoas and RFAs.

I run channels 3 & 5 at 100% for 8 hours and channel 4 between 30 and 50% for 4 hours on the 24" fixture and even lower on the 32" fixture.

Yes, I am a new reefer (1 year in), so I will be the first to say...I have no idea what I am doing, so I am looking for advice. I will definitely push my lights harder then. Do you have your schedule in an excel table or written down? Would be great to see what you are doing! I see your post from Feb 28, 2019 about your 20" cube lighting schedule. Do you still use this?

Thanks for the reply!

Ron Reefman · Feb 17, 2020

I need to get my numbers into a spreadsheet. So I'll get that done and send it to you.

I run my 24" up front and run it more white, while the 32" is behind it and runs more blue. With 2 fixtures and the back being more blue, it makes the 30" tank look more like 5 feet than 30 inches!

BTW, do not jump up to my levels. Work your way up slowly over the next 4 to 6 weeks.

And this is what my 40g, 2 foot cube looked like with just the 24" Photon V2+.

Andrewrckt · Feb 17, 2020

Ron Reefman said:
I need to get my numbers into a spreadsheet. So I'll get that done and send it to you.

I run my 24" up front and run it more white, while the 32" is behind it and runs more blue. With 2 fixtures and the back being more blue, it makes the 30" tank look more like 5 feet than 30 inches!

BTW, do not jump up to my levels. Work your way up slowly over the next 4 to 6 weeks.

And this is what my 40g, 2 foot cube looked like with just the 24" Photon V2+.

Thanks!!! This is a huge help to me. Seems like I have been running mine too low for awhile now. This would also explain the slow coral growth in my tank, so this is great news to hear. Also, I am glad to hear other experienced reefers use this light. I did a TON of research before purchasing the reef breeder lights, and very happy with the purchase.

will25u · Feb 17, 2020

I am excited to get these lights soon. I had to check out this thread bc those are the lights I’m upgrading to; specifically the 32”.

Welcome to R2R, Andrew. Glad you posted this.

Ron Reefman · Feb 18, 2020

I've been using Reef Breeder Photon fixtures for many years. I still have and use an older Photon (not even a V2 let alone and V2+). And these are made in China by EverGrow. I used EverGrow fixtures before there even was a Reef Breeders.

EverGrow is a very forward looking, user friendly company. I worked for a different company that also had fixtures made by EverGrow. And Reef Breeders is a top notch customer service distributor.

IMHO the Photon V2+ is the best value fixture for anybody looking to have sunrise/sunset control as well as 6 channel color control.

Andrewrckt · Feb 20, 2020

Ron Reefman said:
I've been using Reef Breeder Photon fixtures for many years. I still have and use an older Photon (not even a V2 let alone and V2+). And these are made in China by EverGrow. I used EverGrow fixtures before there even was a Reef Breeders.

EverGrow is a very forward looking, user friendly company. I worked for a different company that also had fixtures made by EverGrow. And Reef Breeders is a top notch customer service distributor.

IMHO the Photon V2+ is the best value fixture for anybody looking to have sunrise/sunset control as well as 6 channel color control.

Just made my first adjustment (10% on each channel) based on your older lighting set up. I reduced my CH1 and CH2 to 0%. It was interesting that I was reading that the red and yellow channels may result in algae growth, so pushing CH1 to 0 might yield some interesting results. I am only going to adjust by 10% each iteration until I reach the intended targets.

Dj City · Mar 10, 2020

Ron Reefman said:
I need to get my numbers into a spreadsheet. So I'll get that done and send it to you.

I run my 24" up front and run it more white, while the 32" is behind it and runs more blue. With 2 fixtures and the back being more blue, it makes the 30" tank look more like 5 feet than 30 inches!

BTW, do not jump up to my levels. Work your way up slowly over the next 4 to 6 weeks.

And this is what my 40g, 2 foot cube looked like with just the 24" Photon V2+.

Good morning.
Do you mind posting your schedule or sending it to me as well?
I have a 180g and 1 Photon 50 V2+ with 1 lumenbar (Hi octane UV) to supplement.

I could use the help, guidance, starting point.

Ron Reefman · Mar 10, 2020

@Dj City, this isn't my current schedule, but the one I used over my 40g when I only ran one Photon. Now I have a 90g tank and it's 30" front to back, so I have 2 Photons for coverage and a trick look. The front one is very much like the schedule below and the one in back is much more blue. It makes the tank look like it's even more than 30" thick. BTW, my front fixture now runs some red and green (10% to 20% and back to 10%) during peak hours from 11am to 3 pm. But I really don't know that it makes any difference.

ELL23 · May 26, 2020

Hi. Just purchased the 24 v2+. Do you have any acclimate schedule that I can follow?

ShellSea · May 26, 2020

ELL23 said:
Hi. Just purchased the 24 v2+. Do you have any acclimate schedule that I can follow?

I also recently changed to the V2. I had v1 on the tank for the last 5 years and loved it. I went with the schedule in the manual reefbreeders sent. The one right after the default schedule. It puts blues at max 30%. Then I intend to increase by 10% once a week until I get to about 70% on blues.

ELL23 · May 27, 2020

ShellSea said:
I also recently changed to the V2. I had v1 on the tank for the last 5 years and loved it. I went with the schedule in the manual reefbreeders sent. The one right after the default schedule. It puts blues at max 30%. Then I intend to increase by 10% once a week until I get to about 70% on blues.

Do you have your Green and Red at 0?

ShellSea · May 28, 2020

ELL23 said:
Do you have your Green and Red at 0?

No I do not. Like I said I am using the schedule from manual. It has some low numbers for green and red.

SoAg Reefer · May 28, 2020

This is what I run my V2+ at. I also use a lumenbar from Reefbreeders on the back side of the fixture

Heabel7 · May 29, 2020

This might help you a bit. My fixture is 10” off the water line. Using the make shift AB+ spectrum. 100% everything blue and 24% everything white. 6” 12” 18” and front back center.
I have a standard 90 so Front is 7” off set from directly under light. Same with back. But I have a painted black glass so I thought the numbers would be way different, and they were just a bit. The bottom was a perfect blanket of light. Wish I could raise my lights to 12”s. To reduce hot spot.

Heabel7 · May 29, 2020

In addition. If you like a whiter tank or want more par you can up the white channel. Avg of 15-20 par increase across the board each 10% you go up on whites.

Nepenthes88 · May 30, 2020

This might help you a bit. My fixture is 10” off the water line. Using the make shift AB+ spectrum. 100% everything blue and 24% everything white. 6” 12” 18” and front back center.
I have a standard 90 so Front is 7” off set from directly under light. Same with back. But I have a painted black glass so I thought the numbers would be way different, and they were just a bit. The bottom was a perfect blanket of light. Wish I could raise my lights to 12”s. To reduce hot spot.

I'm not OP but this is extremely helpful! Thank you for posting this. I'm running a 24in V2 over a 20L which is only 12in deep and I've been struggling to determine correct settings. I intuitively ended up with all blues at 60%, white at 15% which seems to be just right considering my light is 12in off the water surface.

If you had to guess, how much would PAR drop if you were to raise your light up 2in to the 12in mark?