Acclimating corals to LEDS help

KLR · May 28, 2011

Ive had my led pendant for a few months now and really like the results,for the most part.

I seem to havea problem acclimating certain species to the lighting tho, even when I put them in the shade they still die,but it is not the water parameters because(example)
I just got 1 millipora,1 deepwater acropora, a favia, and a deepwater misc. coral.(didnt know it was deepwater when I bought it).

I put all of them in the same spot and the misc coral bleached within the first hour and the others looked fine. The next day the deepwater acro was solid tan(suppose to have bright purple tips) and the millipora started morphing from pink and green to tan, the favia still remained colorful.

My question is how exactly to you led users go about acclimating coral that were under t5's or mh to leds???

I have a 120w reefevo led pendant that hangs about 1.3 ft from the top of the water. My tank is 16 in deep, 48 long, and 13 wide.

Here is my plan to try to fix this for corals or would this be over kill?

Get 2 mh pendants and hang them on the left and right side of the tank about 1.3-1.6 ft from the water and put my led pendant in the center and hang it about 1/2 ft or 3/4 ft higher than the mh's,so my tank would still have that "shimmer"

I know these are not the best but would they work?
250W HQI Coralife Aqualight Professional Series Pendant on eBay!

My lfs has 2 of them and i can get each of them,including the ballasts, for $200.($100 each)

Here is a sketch of my idea(rockwork resembles actualy rockwork in tank)

Mr. Tang · May 28, 2011

I think I would play with the height more before I bought more lights. I'm having the same problem. I got the 60 watt evolution led fixture. Red planet, rise milli both RTN'ed. Highlighter and birdsnest doing ok.
I got my fixture 10" from top of water. The tank is 10" deep.

KLR · May 28, 2011

Ok I will move it up a little bit more.

I know some sponsors on here have leds powering almost all of their tanks and have success,maybe they will chime in...

dknuckles · May 28, 2011

If it is an adjustable output then turn it way down and slowly increase to strength. If fixed output then lift A LOT!!!!! A par meter will do wonders in helping you. (measure output of existing MH and raise LED until a little less par than MH)
Keep in mind these are a direct beam of light w/o much spread, if not careful it is like a magnifying glass an an ant!
I have a similar problem w/ my AIs. I use 1 controller, the output is good for the SPS side the LPS side is taking a beating b/c way to much light.
A friend recommended a black mesh screen to decrease intensity on the LPS side until the other control arrives. It seems to be working well for the interim.

KLR · May 28, 2011

I think it is fixed output but im not 100% sure.

Didnt think about that,lol. What is the best PAR meter for the price???

Yea my chalices,zoas, and encrusting montis(not monti caps,they hate it) LOVE leds but the acros are not the biggest fans in my tank...

nixer · May 28, 2011

where are you placing them in the tank?
i have killed some too, but im getting better at it.
i turn off the whites atleast for the first day.
i cant find my tapemeasure, but my lights are maybe 7" off the water and in a 24" deep tank i start my sps off to the sides of the tank (not directly under them) maybe 2-4" from the bottom of the tank.
i have still lost a few like this. normally the ones i tend to loose are lighter acros. i dont think there is a sure fire way of doing it yet, but i too would be interested on seeing what others do.

nixer · May 28, 2011

just to throw this out there heres a pic of when i first setup my tank some frags are in there on the left side, but ive never lost one that i have started on the lowest rock to the right.

KLR · May 28, 2011

I put them in the shade off to the right of my tank,under a frag rack..

nixer · May 28, 2011

how many led fixtures do you have?
on that pic i have 3 of them (its a 180g)

you also might want to post how your acclimating them to your water to rule out anything else

KLR · May 28, 2011

I have 1 fixture.

I acclimate by

Floating for 10-15mintues
Putting the coral in hang on "dip" tank(dont know how else to describe it), and mix 1/2 the bag water with 1/2 of the tank water. Let the coral sit in that for 8-15 minutes and then in the tank.

dknuckles · May 28, 2011

The 1 I used was Apogie I believe
The most important is use same meter and location throughout all testing.
IMO, the amount of change is the important factor when switching.

My problem is I like mixed reef 75% SPS

Mr. Tang · May 28, 2011

What height are most people placing them? With the evolution fixtures (1watt LEDs) I'm sure you put them lower than the 3 watt LEDs

Right?

snoopie · May 28, 2011

This is where dimmable LED become a wounder... I started at 40% then went up per week.

For non dimming fixture I heard you can make a screen top. Like the black screen they use on windows. And you start off with a couple of layers like 5 layers and each week you take off one layer. this helps cut the light and bring it up slowly.

nixer · May 28, 2011

KLR said:
I have 1 fixture.

I acclimate by

Floating for 10-15mintues
Putting the coral in hang on "dip" tank(dont know how else to describe it), and mix 1/2 the bag water with 1/2 of the tank water. Let the coral sit in that for 8-15 minutes and then in the tank.

i believe your talking a bagger aka dip n pour.
i drip acclimate every coral i get. i would suggest looking into it especially with sps as many do not like fast water changes.

dknuckles said:
The 1 I used was Apogie I believe
The most important is use same meter and location throughout all testing.
IMO, the amount of change is the important factor when switching.

My problem is I like mixed reef 75% SPS

i have yet to get one of those, but its on my list. the problem is that unless you know the par where it was placed in the vendors tank knowing the par in your tank only give you a vague guess.

Mr. Tang said:
What height are most people placing them? With the evolution fixtures (1watt LEDs) I'm sure you put them lower than the 3 watt LEDs

Right?

mine on my 180 are 5" off the water.
on my 75 they are 12" off the water.
i could put them higher, but from the par readings i have seen posted i got what i was looking for.

snoopie said:
This is where dimmable LED become a wounder... I started at 40% then went up per week.

For non dimming fixture I heard you can make a screen top. Like the black screen they use on windows. And you start off with a couple of layers like 5 layers and each week you take off one layer. this helps cut the light and bring it up slowly.

perhaps, but its not really a need and ads to the cost. i have seen that mesh trick it supposedly works pretty well, but the only thing i dont like is that your changing the light for every coral and not just the few your acclimating. also if i remember correctly i think the window screen blocks like 25% of the light.

swannyson7 · May 28, 2011

I'm running three of the reef filtration 150w fixtures on my 180 along with 12x39w T5s, so I've experienced problems with bleaching as well. What I've found works best is that I put all new additions in my frag tank to get a bit of acclimation time before the move to the DT. My frag tank is 16x16x8 and it's lit by 12 Cree XR-Es with 70 degree optics which gives me some lower light areas on the edges of the tank. I put my frags there for a couple days, then move them toward the center of the frag tank. I keep them there for a week or two to get used to the brighter light and then I move them into the DT on the sandbed and gradually move them up. The several baby steps seem to make a world of difference for acclimating corals to the LEDs.

Aquaph8 · May 28, 2011

Use window screen. Start with two layers and remove one every like 5 to 7 days. Ive done this multiple times on tanks and it works great every time. This also works great for acclimating anemone's to new lighting also.

Troylee · May 28, 2011

Doesn't sound like bleaching kelby.... If it turned white in a hour it's prolly dead... Can you post some pics? I switched from radiums to LEDs and every acro held it's own and I didn't move anything around... My chalices on the other hand are having problems in the sand...