Setting up ATI Powermodule

[Redsprint]

Hello All,

I now have an ATI power module 6x54 T5 hanging over my 57 g reef tank and it certainly is very bright. I had 7 cheaper t5 tubes under the hood I had over the tank before but this set up is certainly much brighter.:D

I have it 4 inches over the water at the moment but was thinking of raising this to five. Is that ok? It is a 2 foot high tank. Is there an ideal hight or maximum height?

The lights seem very strong and in fact the algae develops on the glass in less than 48 hours. It took 4 days before with the same timer setup. Is that normal?

A purple plus and a blue seem to work well as dawn and dusk lights.

I thought I would buy some of moonlight LED's too. Any suggestions?

Thanks

Paolo

 

[Oscarsdad608]

I have my 8 bulb pm 10" over the water and I am growing sps on the bottom of my 120 gallon tank. I would start out a lot higher and lower over time. I am only running full power of 6 hours a day.

 

[Redsprint]

Hello,

Thanks for that. I will raise the pm then. I was concerned it would get wet anyway. So do you think I can at least keep sps alive if not grow with the pm t5? O have never really tries sps.

Also what tube mix are you using?

Cheers

Paul

?

 

[Oscarsdad608]

Right now I have 5 ATI blue+, 2 ATI purple plus, and a aqua blue special. So far I am happy with them but I see a lot of people are changing out the aqua blue special for an actinic bulb. You should have no problem with that light growing sps.

 

[Redsprint]

Thanks for that. I have two purple plus a blue plus anodyne an aqua blue special in ATI and one 10000k cheaper tube. Maybe I will change that one for an actinic.

 

[Redsprint]

Hello,

Just wondering if I have too much light?

To rehash, I have jet set up a 6x54 ATI power module. And it is very, very bright. The fish look like they are hiding most of the time. Corals look good.

I am now taking a thin coat of algae of the glass every day whereas this used to happen every 4 days. I have only raised it another inch, but only because the instructions arte in German and I can't figure out how you lower the unit once you've raised it. The wire goes through what seems like a one way ratchet which obviously stops it sliding back down. But how do you get it down if you want to lower it.

I have a purple plus and blue+ on the first circuit. they stay lit for seven hours and the other four come on for five hours. Is that too much? The tank also gets some afternoon sunlight (always has for ten years - can't move it).

Those tubes are much brighter than the seven cheaper T5's I have been using.

cheers