LEDS, cloud cover, lightning and ect..

Just wondering for the people that have LEDS that can do storm mode and cloud cover and ramping up and down....how much do you actually use these functions?

Im in the building phase right now on a new tank and looking into lights. ive never had the upperscale leds that offer these functions so im thinking ohh that would be cool....for what? 2 times? and then never use it again. which if thats the case ill get cheaper leds that dont have these funtions but still grow coral, like the ones i have used before.

so guys with AI, Ecotech, Any controllable led.....how often do you use these functions?

 

Ramps up and down are important to me, but lightning and clouds, not so much. Lightning because it could cause stress in fish. clounds because well. less light = less growth maybe? but I do like the gradual ramp up and down cycle. my fish seem to like ti as well as my clowns have been laying regularly as well as my chromis.

that said when the Solaris lights came out and offered a rolling cloud that went across the tank it was pretty darn slick. that is something I would like, but it requires a very complex system.

 

yeah the ramping up and down is a cool feature that i could use everyday. In my opinion its still just a cool factor and not a must have. i mean for years tanks have been doing great without it. but as for the other additional features i just dont see myself using them unless someone comes over and i say "hey look what this can do" which doesnt seem like something to pay extra money for.
but maybe once you have these options you use them alot...?

 

Hey. look! I can see my tank params on my phone. and turn the lights on and off.. and stuffs...

yea, I do that. Oh lookie.. Webcam.

 

I have AI Hydra 52s with the director and it has all of these features. I couldn't go back to lights with just an on and off function. I love how I can slowly ramp my lights up and down automatically. The fish seem more comfortable with it as it allows them to get into a schedule; especially my wrasses who wake up and go to bed at the same time each day.

I never use the lighting and it's more of a gimmick feature. I go back and forth on using clouds, I don't think it serves a useful purpose but I use it minimally.

 

Pretty much, except for the sunrise/sunset, as already stated. Wouldn't bother with that either if it wasn't programmable.

One thing I noticed when using the lightning feature is that my fish really freak out, so I guess it's mostly something for the aquarist to play with.

 

So I actually switched back. Turns out, contrary to my expectations, it makes no difference at all. Even with a ramp up, there's still a time they come on. I don't sit there trying to see the lights go up for the next hour. I look at my corals.

 

I use the AI Hydra storm and lighting function about every week. One of the best features of this light is the ability to really play with the lights. I was on Caribbean for 1 month, with the lunar cycle, now Figi and no moon light. If I want to take an image I can play with the different colors and intensities.

So basically the storm feature is for me, my clams and corals could probably care less.

 

My ramp up time comes while I'm still in bed. When I wake up it's not fully on but I can see everything and my fish have been woken up.

 

I agree with the others on the ramp cycle...it's defiantly less stressful to the tank and it took the fish week or so to get used to it... as it ramps down the corals slowly retract...the clouds are OK for show if you have visitors ..but the lightning sends the fish into their caves...so I don't use it..