Vega Lighting Schedule

[sparty059]

Hey everyone,
Some I'm starting to get some algae outbreak. Very minor but some none the less. It's been a while since I've had an outbreak and I am trying to think of things I may have done differently. I've been keeping up with my water changes (about 10% every two weeks) and haven't been overfeeding. I then thought about the lighting schedule I set up. About two weeks ago I received my Aqua Illumination Director unit and have set up my lighting schedule. I have a 60 gallon hex tank which is about 28" tall. I have been tweaking my lighting schedule but I think in the excitement of getting it I may have overdone the lighting which might be causing this outbreak.
My current schedule is:
5:30am - 7:45am my lights begin to dial up from 0% > 15%.
7:45am - 9:30am - 15% > 35%
9:30am - 11:15am - 35% > 60%
11:15am - 1:00pm - 60% > 80%
1:00pm - 4:00pm my light begin to dial down from 80% > 65%
4:00pm - 7:00pm - 65% > 30%
7:00pm - 10:00pm - 30% > 5%
10:00pm - 11:59pm - 5% > 0%
12am - 5:30am - 0% (Except for deep blue that sits at 1% all night long).
So I started to think back to the days when I had my 150 gallon. I had my T5HO's on from around 11:00am - 6:00pm. Then my LED actinic lights on from that point (comparable to my 1% right now). Which makes me realize I'm doubling my light time that I had on my 150 gallon.
I currently have a green birdsnest, lunar zoa, favia brain coral, (will have shortly recordia, and leather tongue).
I'm still getting used to caring for coral so I may have overdone it with the light. My new proposed setting is:
9:30am-10:30am - 0% > 25%
10:30am - 11:45am - 25% > 65%
11:45am - 1:00pm - 65% > 80%
1:00pm - 2:45pm - 80% <> 80%
2:45pm - 4:00pm - 80% > 65%
4:00pm - 5:00pm - 65% > 25%
5:00pm - 6:00pm - 25% > 10%
6:00pm - 7:00pm - 10% > 0%
7:00pm - 9:30am - 0% (Except for the deep blue that sits at 1% all night long).
That's still around 10 hours of light but not as extreme as my previous. What does everyone think? Should I make any other modifications? Maybe even kill the deep blues at some point in the night and kick them back on a few hours prior to turning the lights back on?
Also, would the alternative schedule be suitable for the coral or will they be missing a chunk of light they'd require?

 

[edat]

I have very simple settings but I have also noticed algae growth that I never had with metal halides. I still don't have a light over the frag tank and I just have the 6500k bulb in the fuge and neither have algae like in the display. Looked like diatoms at first but now looks like brown hair algae..
I tested last night and everything is in line.

I never thought about the Vegas being the reason for the outbreak
White maxed out at 50% and blues at 70%
Royal blue for moonlights at 5% on Lunar Mode from 8:30pm to 4am
Thinking about leaving the lights out for a few days to see if there is a difference. I only have a few softies in the tank so it shouldn't hurt....
Have you figured out anything that may help??

 

[sparty059]

Just about the same results as what you mentioned. When I purchased my Vega I purchased the new controller so I could get preset time settings. It seemed to work fairly well (although at that time I didn't have much in the tank maybe a 15 pounds of rock). I then heard about the Director and sold my controller and in between the time of getting the director and selling the old I had to use just the basic function of clicking the button in the back and setting it at 1%,10,20,40,60,80,100%. I have the tank placed in my office so I would usually turn the lights on when I start my work day (9am) and would then shut them off a little while after dinner (8pm). I would also typically keep it at 40% and my corals would do just fine. However, once I received the director, I was a bit too excited about the thought of programming again that I went a little crazy and had a start up of around 7 and turn off around 10. Which is well over the amount they need.
I have been noticing since the adjustment that the algae is dying down. I have all my lights on the same time setting except as I mentioned in the past my dark blues that are of and on throughout the night at 1%. I feel I still might be exceeding the amount of time needed for the tank but since it doesn't seem to be doing much harm anymore I figure this will be my solution.

Like I mentioned I have the dark blues on at night when I still walk in and out of my office and leave them on at 1% up until around 1 in the morning. I then have them shut off for total darkness from 1-5 and then kick back on at 1% from 5 -9:30. From there it just starts to dial up fairly quickly and then after peak dial down just as fast. It's been working out very well for the past few days so far. Corals actually look like they prefer this lighting schedule versus the last.

 

[sparty059]

Also, personally... I think 5% is overkill for moonlights. 1% should do the job. From my understanding moonlights should produce minimal visibility into the tank. Just enough to be able to see a bit going on but not light up the whole tank. Otherwise, you're leaving your lights on for a very very long period of time.

 

[edat]

I've been testing out the Lunar Mode. I have royal blue set at 5% as AI suggested but so far they have only actually been up to 2%. From what I understand they will only be at 5% for a couple of days at the most. I'm hoping that AI will update the Lunar Mode to allow for a lower initial setting..... But the Lunar Mode does have a bug that needs to be worked out. Sometimes even though the lunar mode is set to turn of at 4:30am it will run all day dimming all my lights to 1% all day......

 

[sparty059]

Ah I didn't even know it worked at all yet. The cloud and lightning doesn't seem to work yet either. I'll have to play with the lunar feature and check it out. I don't want to get too involved with the features since I go out of town and rely on my director to provide the light when I have it set up.