Reef breeders Photon V2 + help!! Settings

[77pm77]

I installed a new Reef breeders V2+ a couple months ago. We are having issues with finding the correct settings.
I started out with the blues at 65% white at 25% and green and red at 15%. That setting caused issues! Bleaching!
After several changes each time we lower the Light %. Now at max power the blues are at35% white is at 15%
Green and red are at 12%. The light ramp up starting at 9am with very low blues then increase slow to the max
% at 12pm noon. They stay at the 35% blue 15% white and 12% green and red until 6pm. Then our light ramps down
and shuts off at 9pm. The last hour is mostly low levels of blue lights. can anyone help us with our new
reef breeders light? We used to have Kessil deep blue 150s and our coral did great!! Hoping to get back to
that stage of coral growth!! Thank you for any help given.. Happy New Year...

 

[77pm77]

Sorry I forgot to put in some important info! 48 inch 120gal tank with my Reef Breeder 9 to 10 inches
above the water inside a hood. No way to raise the light.. THX

 

[Michael-JT]

I believe the white leds are 5 watt CREE diodes. Way over powered for the rest of the setup. Starting them off at 25% probably shocked your system at first.
It's not uncommon to have users report all three blues set to around 80-85% while white maxes out at 15.
So you were right to turn the white way down. Now slowly increase your blues to a pretty high number.
I ran V2+s for several years



And controlled them through VDM modules


Personally I used around 75% on all three blues, 18% on the whites, 10-15% on the green and reds
When I took the whites to 30+% things went very bad very quickly.

Logan, the owner of Reef Breeders, lurks on here when he has time. Very friendly guy with lots of knowledge on his products. Give him a shout.
@Reef Breeders

 

[Bpb]

It would be helpful if you used a par meter to see what kind of neighborhood you’re in. These lights are run full strength on every channel by some big sps guys and they do just fine.

Arbitrary percentages mean very little if you don’t know what intensity you’re at. So long as your white red and green don’t EXCEED what your 3 blue channels are doing, the spectrum isn’t the problem. You’re likely providing too high intensity.

If you aren’t able to get them higher off the water than the provided legs will allow, you’ll likely not exceed 50-60% on your blue channels, and max out around 20% on your white channel. That’ll put 150-200 par on the sandbed of a 24” tall tank. So go lower than that unless you’re focusing primarily on acropora and clams

 

[Cell]

You really need a par meter to optimize. You can "rent" one from BRS by purchasing an open box one and returning it within 60 days for a $70 restocking fee. A small price to pay to properly dial in your expensive light.

Absent that, start very low and slowly ramp up. I'd dial down green and red under 10% if not 5% or less.

 

[vjl501tech]

Hi all, Ive had the reef breeders v2 24 light since last Nov, I like it, but I’m all over the place when it comes to the schedule. I have a 30 gal breeder 12 inches high with the light about 9 inches above water. Right now I have green, red and white set at 0%, both blues at 60% and violet at 30%. When I try to raise them I notice corals dont look the same. Is my schedule OK? I was wondering what opinions/suggestions others on this forum have. Thx you for yr help.

 

[Bpb]

Cut those numbers in half. On my 24” deep tank with the lights 12” off the water I’m getting about 150 par on the sandbed with blues and violets are 50%. The optics on these lights are very tight. One of the few drawbacks to them

 

[pomoev]

Just 2 cents, Reef Breeders suggest some schedules on their website: https://reefbreeders.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Photon-V2-Program-Recommendations.pdf

 

[vjl501tech]

Thanks, this helps a lot. I had a current usa marine which I assume isn’t as powerful as reef breeders and the corals did well. I’ll cut back the lights.
thx.

 

[Bpb]

The suggested templates are fine and pretty simple to follow. But take care with them. They’re more a recommendation of relative percentages. You will likely need to run lower absolute channel strengths. Is there a local reef club or fish store you can rent a par meter from? The difference among the reef breeders and the current brand leds is substantial. The reef breeders uses 3 and 5 watt diodes with 90 degree optics. The current uses 1/4 watt diodes and no optics

 

[Dburr1014]

Cut those numbers in half. On my 24” deep tank with the lights 12” off the water I’m getting about 150 par on the sandbed with blues and violets are 50%. The optics on these lights are very tight. One of the few drawbacks to them

You can get 120 optics.

 

[Porpoise Hork]

@77pm77

Here are my settings for the 48 V2+ upgraded to Pro on a 75G.

Blues 55%
Red/Green 9%
White 18%

Light is 13" off the water and get 320 PAR at 7-8" depth with a relatively flat 100-120 PAR across the bed. You can use this and back off a little due to it being closer to the water. If you like it a little less blue simply increase the white to 20-22%.

I have shared my schedule and if you have the ReefNexus look for Porpoise Hork's mixed reef (or code x19jS1) .