ATI Powermodule Hybrid Club

[flamron]

Well - having an issue with my light. One of the T5 channels is flickering and then kicking off randomly. If I tap the side of the fixture, it will come back on (for a random amount of time). I've contact ATI back in December for this issue, but then pulled the light down for the new build and just got around to turning the light on again. I swapped the bulbs from front to back to see if it was the bulbs per ATI, but the issue stayed.

The timing is good, since I'm just cycling the tank. So I'm hoping they can help me out and resolve it. I'm sure they will.

[sahin]

Originally Posted by slap

many thanks for the answer

Glad to be of help.

Originally Posted by slap

should I T5 and LED 100% or less?
my stone building is very low and my tank is 60cm high

That depends on your corals. Your rockwork is set low, and your tank is 60cm high (almost 24inches) therefore I would run the T5's at 100% for at least 6 hours: ie ramp up from 0-100% over 1.5 hours, run T5's full (100%) for around 6 hours and then ramp down (from 100% to 0%) over 1.5 hours.

Start with the above and run like this for a 2 weeks and observe your corals.

IF the corals are fine and dont show any sign of bleaching/becoming pale or colour fading slightly, then all is good. If they start to pale then reduce light hours slightly and see what happens.

IF the corals do well, then next I would try and bring the LED's up as much as your corals can take and as much as needed to balance the overall colour to your liking.

Originally Posted by slap

and, sorry for my bad english

Meh, I understood you just fine, no need to apologise. I find it harder to understand some native English speakers at times.

PS nice to have you on our forum.

[sahin]

Originally Posted by flamron

Well - having an issue with my light. One of the T5 channels is flickering and then kicking off randomly. If I tap the side of the fixture, it will come back on (for a random amount of time). I've contact ATI back in December for this issue, but then pulled the light down for the new build and just got around to turning the light on again. I swapped the bulbs from front to back to see if it was the bulbs per ATI, but the issue stayed.

The timing is good, since I'm just cycling the tank. So I'm hoping they can help me out and resolve it. I'm sure they will.

I highly suspect a loose/bad connection because tapping seems to cause the tubes to light up. The fact it goes off again after a random amount of time further suggests a loose connection as heat could be causing the connection to disengage etc, and tapping brings it back.

Since it is under warranty, get ATI/retailer/dealer/distributor to repair it. ANY attempt to self repair may invalidate the warranty.

I have completely dismantled ATI units, both Sunpowers and Powermodules. The Sunpower is VERY nice to work with, but the PM is a lot tougher, with far less space and organisation in the internals. So I wouldnt advise any self repair, unless ATI specifically ask you to do so.

Contact support ASAP. Meanwhile you have a chance to let your system cycle and let the critters/bugs buildup in the system etc.

[DiscusHeckel]

My tank dimensions are 40" long X 21" (back to front) and 18" high.

I currently use an ATI Sunpower 6 X 39W unit. If I switched to the hybrid unit, I would have to get the 4 X T5 version as 8 X T5 version would be too big.

Would getting a hybrid unit be back step for me?

Thanks in advance

[sahin]

Originally Posted by DiscusHeckel

My tank dimensions are 40" long X 21" (back to front) and 18" high.

I currently use an ATI Sunpower 6 X 39W unit. If I switched to the hybrid unit, I would have to get the 4 X T5 version as 8 X T5 version would be too big.

Would getting a hybrid unit be back step for me?

Thanks in advance

I wouldnt exactly call it a step back. The coverage would be the same IMO, if not better. The 4 tube LED PM is rather like an 8tube standard PM in terms of amount of light and coverage.

Why do you want to change when you have A full T5 unit and some Blue LED's as supplements?

[sahin]

Hey guys and gals, check out this swapover from full LED's to the 60" T5/LED PM. The narrator talks about the LED's not colouring up the Acros to their full potential...something along those lines...forgot the exact words. Watch in HD because the video regardless of the content is pretty cool.

[flamron]

Working with support now.

Their one comment is that the end caps seem to be spaced more than needed.

[sahin]

Originally Posted by flamron

Working with support now.

Their one comment is that the end caps seem to be spaced more than needed.

Keep us updated on how it is sorted.

[graham hunt]

hi,been about a week on out of box settings with the help from sahins post on using the control box i think i have a handle on it at last!
out of box settings are,130r-255rb-172b-255w peak.this is a bit pink and would seem to have encouraged a little green algea on sand and rockwork so i have entersd a custom 1 setting of,30r/255rb/210b/200w peak.this has certainly cut down on pink and algea would seem to be backing off.
i am running the lights at 14 inches over water to acclimatise sps colour and growth have both noticeably improved with no damage to date,i am very happy with the change,flexability is quite outstanding!
i would appreciate any input /suggestions about custom settings my tank is predominatly sps with mid height rockwork,24 inches deep and run as close to nsw as i can get it.
many thanks in advance.
regards graham.

[sahin]

Originally Posted by graham hunt

hi,been about a week on out of box settings with the help from sahins post on using the control box i think i have a handle on it at last!
out of box settings are,130r-255rb-172b-255w peak.this is a bit pink and would seem to have encouraged a little green algea on sand and rockwork so i have entersd a custom 1 setting of,30r/255rb/210b/200w peak.this has certainly cut down on pink and algea would seem to be backing off.
i am running the lights at 14 inches over water to acclimatise sps colour and growth have both noticeably improved with no damage to date,i am very happy with the change,flexability is quite outstanding!
i would appreciate any input /suggestions about custom settings my tank is predominatly sps with mid height rockwork,24 inches deep and run as close to nsw as i can get it.
many thanks in advance.
regards graham.

Graham, can you remind me which T5 tubes you are using, and which unit you have exactly?

I can then make a suggestion based on those details.

[graham hunt]

Originally Posted by sahin

Graham, can you remind me which T5 tubes you are using, and which unit you have exactly?

I can then make a suggestion based on those details.

hi sahin i would be very much obliged,
its a five foot four tube unit,tubes are;
blue +
purple +
led
aquablue
blue+
back to front.
tank is 24 inches back to front,presently at peak 650 par at surface,260 par at half depth,this unit replaces chinese leds with similar par but had a much tighter width cover and no t5s.
regards graham.

[sahin]

Originally Posted by graham hunt

hi sahin i would be very much obliged,
its a five foot four tube unit,tubes are;
blue +
purple +
led
aquablue
blue+
back to front.
tank is 24 inches back to front,presently at peak 650 par at surface,260 par at half depth,this unit replaces chinese leds with similar par but had a much tighter width cover and no t5s.
regards graham.

Hi Graham. You have a good choice of T5 tube combo. IMO covers the spectrum very well.

With regards to the peak LED setup (I assume INTENSITY is at 100% and we are adjusting the values of each channel): This is how I would have it:

Red: 30 - You can lower this to 20 if required. IMO you have plenty in the Purple+ and ABS tubes.

Royal Blue: 255 - No change.

Blue: 200

White: 175. (175/255)*100 = 68% The white channel is 24watts, so at 175 and 100% Intensity you're using almost 16.5watts of the White Channel in each cluster. Thats plenty IMO.

Yes that will lower your PAR a little, but you can easily make up for that by having the LED peak cycle on an extra 30-60 mins. There is an Advanced Aquarist article that that talk about Daily Light Integer...If you know the PAR between the two instances, you can easily work out how much longer you need the light hours to match the same DLI.

I dont know where in the UK you live, but if you are ever in the Harlow area near London, check out the display tank at Advanced Aquarium Consultancy. Pauls tank is one of the BEST LFS display in the UK.

And what lights does he run? 4 AI sols flanked by a couple of T5's on each side. The light setup is basically a Hybrid LED/T5, same as yours. As far as I recall he runs Blue+/Purple+ combo for the T5's.

The Blue and Royal Blue are set fairly high, but the White channel is set VERY LOW. Despite that, he has an amazing display. I recall Paul telling me that someone measured the PAR in his tank and it was very low compared to what most people have in their tanks these days.

Most SPS will do quite fine in around 250 PAR. Water quality and nutrition for the corals is far more important. Before T5's were around I ran the old T8's which grew and coloured up SPS just fine, EVEN Acropora.

[sahin]

Graham, if you are worried about lowering the PAR, you can also increase the Blue Channel to 235 and retain White Channel at 200; this will offset some of the pinkish tinge.

[graham hunt]

Originally Posted by sahin

Graham, if you are worried about lowering the PAR, you can also increase the Blue Channel to 235 and retain White Channel at 200; this will offset some of the pinkish tinge.

hi sahin,thanks the figures are a big help,hopefully as corals settle i can lower fitting from 14 inches to perhaps twelve if more par looks a help over the next few months.
i did get a three foot four tube unit to replace 400w halide over the adjacent 36x30x30 inch cube housing clams,lps,gonapora and gorgonians the tank looks realy nice now and summer will not be a worry anymore.
i live on the isle of wight,sadly a bit house bound now so dont get round to much so my theory is to get tanks looking realy good so i get more visitors!
again thanks for helping and interest i will try and keep updates going.
regards graham.

[DiscusHeckel]

Originally Posted by sahin

Why do you want to change when you have A full T5 unit and some Blue LED's as supplements?

Thanks.

PAR drops dramatically at each end (leftmost and right most) of my tank. I though LEDs might help boost PAR a little.

[ryanrid]

My unit, one month out of warranty, has failed. The power box shuts down when connected to the light, it's not the bulbs took them all out still fails when connected.

[sahin]

Originally Posted by ryanrid

My unit, one month out of warranty, has failed. The power box shuts down when connected to the light, it's not the bulbs took them all out still fails when connected.

Mate, that sucks big time. Do you have another backup light?

Have you tried to completely factory reset the Controller? Also completely reset and then turn off power for a few hours so the internal clock loses memory?

If all that fails to rectify the controller issue then you are going to have to contact the retailer or even ATI directly. Since your unit has faulted just a month outside the warranty, maybe they can sort something out for you?

Let us know what happens in any event.

[sahin]

Originally Posted by DiscusHeckel

Thanks.

PAR drops dramatically at each end (leftmost and right most) of my tank. I though LEDs might help boost PAR a little.

A 36" 4 tube unit with 2 75w LED Clusters will definitely improve the PAR at the far sides. Each cluster can cover a 24" area, so combine 2 clusters and 4 T5 tubes will definitely help.

[sahin]

Originally Posted by graham hunt

hi sahin,thanks the figures are a big help,hopefully as corals settle i can lower fitting from 14 inches to perhaps twelve if more par looks a help over the next few months.
i did get a three foot four tube unit to replace 400w halide over the adjacent 36x30x30 inch cube housing clams,lps,gonapora and gorgonians the tank looks realy nice now and summer will not be a worry anymore.
i live on the isle of wight,sadly a bit house bound now so dont get round to much so my theory is to get tanks looking realy good so i get more visitors!
again thanks for helping and interest i will try and keep updates going.
regards graham.

I've never been to the Isle of Wight. I would love to visit! Especially if I get to meet another reefkeeper and have a look at their reef tanks

Can you make a build thread on this forum? Would love to see what your tanks look like.

[Lonelyreef]

I'm wondering I'm about to purchase one of these for my 93 gallon cube. The dimensions are 30x30x24. Would a 4 bulb with LEDs be enough to get good coverage and still grow sps. I currently have an 8 bulb fixture over an 80 rimless and it's almost to much light at 100%. I can't find to much info on what the coverage is of the light on ati website. Just want to make sure I can keep a clam and sps and I'm good thanks for any info. I read through the thread and I've seen a few posts going both ways for 4 and 8 bulb but just want to check.

[graham hunt]

Originally Posted by sahin

I've never been to the Isle of Wight. I would love to visit! Especially if I get to meet another reefkeeper and have a look at their reef tanks

Can you make a build thread on this forum? Would love to see what your tanks look like.

yes iow is a nice if a bit discreate these days virtualy everthing has to be ordered in(nick at coral culture takes most of my money)
take it as read if you ever get over you would be most welcome.
tank has been up for 12 years run on 400w halides with moderate success the change to leds was prompted by running cost and difficulty in matching lamps also heat in summer was becoming a problem.
tried chinese leds as first stop but need to supliment led me down ati route.
numbers succested give a lovely crisp colour fish and coral colour is unmatched,thank you.
droped fitting to twelve inches off surface par at peak with t5 full power is730 surface,330 half depth which i feel is perfect for my needs.
i am afraid a tank thread is beyond me as i am partially sighted i can read posts ok with zoom function but i am very slow,writing is really difficult and takes an age,but if i can get a pal to take a few pics and post them for me i will.
thanks again,regards graham.

[sahin]

Originally Posted by Lonelyreef

I'm wondering I'm about to purchase one of these for my 93 gallon cube. The dimensions are 30x30x24. Would a 4 bulb with LEDs be enough to get good coverage and still grow sps. I currently have an 8 bulb fixture over an 80 rimless and it's almost to much light at 100%. I can't find to much info on what the coverage is of the light on ati website. Just want to make sure I can keep a clam and sps and I'm good thanks for any info. I read through the thread and I've seen a few posts going both ways for 4 and 8 bulb but just want to check.

IMO no.

Most 93G tanks I've seen either run an 8tube 24" units or 8tube 24" LED PM's. Or 250w and 400w halides.

Not only do you have 30" left to right and front to back, you also have 24" depth. Its not only PAR which would be an issue...it would be light coverage problems and shadowing. You will be quite restricted in coral and clam placement.

SPS corals and clams are exactly what I keep. In fact if you look back a few pages or look in my build thread you will see that I bought the 24" with 8tubes LED PM because I want to upgrade to a 93G tank.

I love the 93G "cube" tanks. If you currently have an 8tube 24" unit, I would say keep that and add a couple of Reefbrites (can find cheap used ones) or just build a simple DIY C channel strips for front and back.

I know in some circumstances I have told people a 4 tubes is ok, that is based on tank dimensions etc, the 30x30x24 is not only wide front to back, but also a deep tank in terms of height.

[sahin]

Originally Posted by graham hunt

yes iow is a nice if a bit discreate these days virtualy everthing has to be ordered in(nick at coral culture takes most of my money)

Yeah, I know Nick. I bought a lot of my equipment from Nick years ago (Ecotech MP10's, GHL Doser etc).

Originally Posted by graham hunt

take it as read if you ever get over you would be most welcome.

Thank you. My brother used to visit IOW with his girlfriend a few years back and always talked told me to visit.

Originally Posted by graham hunt

tank has been up for 12 years run on 400w halides with moderate success the change to leds was prompted by running cost and difficulty in matching lamps also heat in summer was becoming a problem.
tried chinese leds as first stop but need to supliment led me down ati route.

All the more reason I would love to see your tank. 12 years is a very long time...I have a buddy called Mark who lives in Faversham, Kent. He has a very established system and I love seeing his corals and setup. There is something different about very established tanks. Corals are usually very healthy and SPS quite colourful too.

Originally Posted by graham hunt

numbers succested give a lovely crisp colour fish and coral colour is unmatched,thank you.

Glad you like the suggested colour setup.

Originally Posted by graham hunt

droped fitting to twelve inches off surface par at peak with t5 full power is730 surface,330 half depth which i feel is perfect for my needs.

Yes, that is plenty.

Originally Posted by graham hunt

i am afraid a tank thread is beyond me as i am partially sighted i can read posts ok with zoom function but i am very slow,writing is really difficult and takes an age,but if i can get a pal to take a few pics and post them for me i will.

thanks again,regards graham.

If you were closer, I would have tried to visit sometime soon. I love photographing tanks and corals. I was the person who did all the photographs for the April TOTM on UltimateReef.

Well, all the best with your light.

[Lonelyreef]

The 8 bulb is over my 4 ft tank im looking for whats availabke for the new cube but thank you seems like 8 bulb it is

[DiscusHeckel]

Originally Posted by sahin

I was the person who did all the photographs for the April TOTM on UltimateReef.

Sahin,

You received no word of acknowledgement in the TOTM article. That must suck!

PS. IOW is a lovely place. My favourite town is Shanklin.