Mimicking Nature - Apex LED dimming

[jimsflies]

The Apex has a seasonal data table built in that provides daily sunrise, sunset, moon rise/set/intensity, and temperature for the region circled in the map above. Although this table was present my previous controller {Neptune AC3), I never used it. Having recently gone with LEDs, I have recently spent some time working with my Apex controller to have control better control over the light cycle. Whether mimicking seasonal/regional data is a gimmick or something that will be beneficial, I have no idea. But it is cool none the less. :)

I'm also using the built in "weather profile" to help acclimate the corals to the higher intensity LED lighting. My program currently maxes the LED intensity at 25% but also provides cloudy periods where the whites dim down to 12% during the main photo period these last for 15 minutes and occur approximately 40% of the time. I will continue to vary the maximum intensity of the LEDs and amount of cloud cover until I feel things are stable and receiving enough light. At 25% intensity, corals receive the same light as my previous 150 halide bulb produced when it was a few months old.

The program uses 3 virtual outlets (variables) to establish whether it is sunrise (2 hours), sunset (2 hours) or midday. These variables are used to determine which profile to use on the white and blue variable (dimming) ports. I have it set so I can get a higher amount of blue in the morning and some all blue time in the evening before the moon takes over.

This is what the light program currently looks like (I also included the heater program at the bottom because it is also using the Regional Data Table):



VARIABLE PORTS (V1/V2)

Whites-Dim [0]
Program Type: Advanced
Display Icon: Light A
Program:
Set OFF
If Outlet Sunrise = ON Then White++
If Outlet Midday = ON Then White-On
If Outlet Sunset = ON Then White--

Blues-Dim [1]
Program Type: Advanced
Display Icon: Light B
Program:
Set OFF
If Moon 000/000 Then MoonInt
If Outlet Sunrise = ON Then Blue++
If Outlet Midday = ON Then Blue-On
If Outlet Sunset = ON Then Blue--


VIRTUAL OUTLETS

Sunrise [17]
Program Type: Advanced
Display Icon: Sun
Program:
Set OFF
If Sun 000/-120 Then ON
If Outlet Midday = ON Then OFF

Midday [18]
Program Type: Advanced
Display Icon: Sun
Program:
Set OFF
If Sun 120/-120 Then ON

Sunset [19]
Program Type: Advanced
Display Icon: Sun
Program:
Set OFF
If Sun 120/000 Then ON
If Outlet Midday = ON Then OFF


PROFILES

White++ [PF1]
Type: Ramp
RampTime: 120
StartIntensity: 0
EndIntensity: 25

White-- [PF2]
Type: Ramp
RampTime: 45
StartIntensity: 25
EndIntensity: 0

Blue++ [PF3]
Type: Ramp
RampTime: 45
StartIntensity: 0
EndIntensity: 25

Blue-- [PF4]
Type: Ramp
RampTime: 150
StartIntensity: 25
EndIntensity: 0

Blue-On [PF5]
Type: Weather
MinIntensity: 20
MaxIntensity: 25
Cloud Light Intensity: 0
Cloudy Percent: 0
Probability of Lightning (%): 0
Lighting Intensity (%): 0

White-On [PF6]
Type: Weather
MinIntensity: 12
MaxIntensity: 25
Cloud Light Intensity: 15
Cloudy Percent: 40
Probability of Lightning (%): 0
Lighting Intensity (%): 0

MoonInt [PF7]
Type: Ramp
RampTime: 5
StartIntensity: 0
EndIntensity: 6

REAL OUTLETS

WhiteLEDs [7]
Program Type: Light
Display Icon: Light A
Program:
Fallback OFF
Set OFF
If Time 06:30 to 20:00 Then ON //turns off white LEDs during the night when not in use at all
If Temp > 82.0 Then OFF //serves as a visual alarm if the temp is too high & minimizes heat
Min Time 030:00 Then OFF

Heater [14]
Program Type: Advanced
Display Icon: Left/Right Arrows
Program:
Fallback OFF
Set OFF
If Outlet Maint = ON Then OFF
If Temp < RT+0.0 Then ON
If Temp > RT+0.5 Then OFF

[estanoche]

curiosity question.... do the blue and white LEDs put out the same par? What is the rationale behind just dimming the whites? (other than, well it looks good, and seems logical, haha) ;)

[jimsflies]

curiosity question.... do the blue and white LEDs put out the same par? What is the rationale behind just dimming the whites? (other than, well it looks good, and seems logical, haha) ;)

Good question...I'll have to do some measuring and report back.

I decided to dim the whites so I could actually be able to see when it is in "cloud" mode. It is very hard to tell the difference between 12% and 20% with the naked eye (at least for me). The PAR meter definitely shows the difference...clouds with that amount of change would be almost unnoticeable if they were both dimmed the same amount.

[jimsflies]

The new light period is taking me some time to get used to...I used to have the actinics on for hours a day. I'm not sure if I like not being able to see the tank as much.

I did change the tank time so it is offset by 4 hours. That way the lights are on till 11-ish. Turning off at ~7 pm was no good.

So maybe I'm not mimicking nature as much as I was originally planning. It will be interesting to see if the reduced photo period makes any difference with the corals.

[XSiVE]

The blues put out more par than the whites could ever hope to fyi :)

[jimsflies]

Interesting...I'll definitely measure them this weekend then.

[Tom@HaslettMI]

The new light period is taking me some time to get used to...I used to have the actinics on for hours a day. I'm not sure if I like not being able to see the tank as much.

I did change the tank time so it is offset by 4 hours. That way the lights are on till 11-ish. Turning off at ~7 pm was no good.

So maybe I'm not mimicking nature as much as I was originally planning. It will be interesting to see if the reduced photo period makes any difference with the corals.

I'm confused. How is the photoperiod reduced?

Tom

[RussM]

I did change the tank time so it is offset by 4 hours. That way the lights are on till 11-ish. Turning off at ~7 pm was no good. No need to bias the Apex clock, Jim. It is much easier to let the Apex run at your local time You can offset the If Sun (and If Moon) statements by as much as 10 hours (600 Minutes) before or after the time in the season table.

If Sun 600/600 Then ON/OFF/Profile
If Sun -600/-600 Then ON/OFF/Profile

[RussM]

BTW, I think the Sun thing is almost as gimmicky as lightning with the AI SOLs :big_grin: But I agree that they are cool to play with!

[jimsflies]

I'm confused. How is the photoperiod reduced?

Tom

I used to have actinics come on at 6:30 am and go until midnight...so I could see my tank before and after work. By following actual sunrise and sunset times, the tank was getting dark at ~7:20 pm.