Acclimation Tips from Radion Users

Reefcowboy

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Just got two G4 Pros for a 36" sps tank. I had a 6xbulb ATI fixture over this tank previously. I ran the T5's for about 4 months and was having a hard time keeping the lights from bleaching some colonies. Some sps are still pale.

I am controlling the radions from a WXM and have copied the SPSAB+ schedule. I would like to slowly transition the tank to leds without shocking the corals even further.

Question is: The spsab+ schedule ramps up/down of 1 hour and stays 7 hours at peak, which I am running at 38% intensity max to acclimate.

I also hung the fixtures 24" above water level. The tank is 20" deep and colonies are mostly on the sandbed . Am I beling too cautious to acclimate the corals to this light?
I cant find Ecotech's acclimation schedule as I dont run the Reeflink. Any tips would be appreciated
 
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saltyfilmfolks

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I think eventually you'll be running those at full power easily. Especially at 24 in.
If a 6 tube was too much you won't be in danger with the leds of hitting that much par.

I do need to know how high the t5 were mounted to be accurate in how much par or was. And I'd guess your nutrints are quite low.

IMO set the schedule the way you like and go up from there.

Starting with 50% is not unreasonable.

For an idea of the full power. Look at the specs. They should list the maximum par power at full at 24 in.
 

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Just got two G4 Pros for a 36" sps tank. I had a 6xbulb ATI fixture over this tank previously. I ran the T5's for about 4 months and was having a hard time keeping the lights from bleaching some colonies. Some sps are still pale.

I am controlling the radions from a WXM and have copied the SPSAB+ schedule. I would like to slowly transition the tank to leds without shocking the corals even further.

Question is: The spsab+ schedule ramps up/down of 1 hour and stays 7 hours at peak, which I am running at 38% intensity max to acclimate.

I also hung the fixtures 24" above water level. The tank is 20" deep and colonies are mostly on the sandbed . Am I beling too cautious to acclimate the corals to this light?
I cant find Ecotech's acclimation schedule as I dont run the Reeflink. Any tips would be appreciated
There is a built in acclimation mode you can set.
Pick a starting point ( par meter reading from the old lights? ), set for 2-3-4-5 weeks, and a end point, and let the software do it's thing.
There are a lot of threads detailing what others have successfully already started beginning intensity and ending intensity.
 
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I think eventually you'll be running those at full power easily. Especially at 24 in.
If a 6 tube was too much you won't be in danger with the leds of hitting that much par.

I do need to know how high the t5 were mounted to be accurate in how much par or was. And I'd guess your nutrints are quite low.

IMO set the schedule the way you like and go up from there.

Starting with 50% is not unreasonable.

For an idea of the full power. Look at the specs. They should list the maximum par power at full at 24 in.

Thank you for the reply. I had the T5 fixture hung 12" above the water. Ran 3x actinic, 2xblue+ and one purple+. The corals were doing fine until I switched two actinic bulbs to two coral+ because I decided wanted more "daylight". I also lowered the fixture 3-4" in a two weeks time and might have increased light period 1-2 hrs(Rookie mistake, changed both at the same time).

Corals were maybe 6" below the water level. Montis, acros bleached on their tops quickly. I measured par when I set the ATI and was getting 344 on the top 6".

I was dosing carbon the and noticed corals were losing colors.

So I reduced carbon dosing by 2/3, raised the ATI another 6" (18")removed the little tank rockwork and placed all sps on sandbed. This tank will be holding my corals until I move to a new house with a large set up, hopefully running Radions.
 
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There is a built in acclimation mode you can set.
Pick a starting point ( par meter reading from the old lights? ), set for 2-3-4-5 weeks, and a end point, and let the software do it's thing.
There are a lot of threads detailing what others have successfully already started beginning intensity and ending intensity.
Thanks,

What I did last night was picked an 8.5 hr total light period, with ramp up and down of blues of 2 hrs and a period of full peak with whites ON for only 4 hrs/day to start.

I will check par with a meter from a LFS today and post so maybe you guys can let me know how this looks. Im assuming with the units at 38% intensity and hung 24", Im getting lower par where the corals are, but let me get this tested to be sure.

Leds scare me a bit, as they can torch corals quick and I have them already stressed from the ATI. These T5 units are little par monsters.
 

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Leds scare me a bit, as they can torch corals quick and I have them already stressed from the ATI. These T5 units are little par monsters.
Lumen to par a t5 has more than led.
You had a lot more par with the t5 fixture. It was just too much too fast.
At 12in with a 6tube the par was likey 800 1000 par.

It can be done but it takes acclimation and higher nutrients to support the metaboloism of the coral.

If your borrowing a par meter look at starting at 4 to 500 par at the top.
And do check what the full power is just to get an idea of the increments you want to work in.
 
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Ok so I checked par, and again fixtures at 2' above the water, par was at 140 right at water level(radions at 38% intensity). 6" below surface par was barely breaking 90's.

So I increased intensity to 60% and checked again with the meter to find the middle level of the tank(10-12" below WL) par at 140ish. Sand level at 100's par.

Im thinking about leaving them this way for maybe 4 weeks? What are your thoughts? Most sps have some faded bleaching signs, so at 100-140 par they should be ok recovering and coloring back up over s few weeks, am I correct?
Tested parameters, PO4 not detectable, NO3 at 10ppm(had stopped carbon, will resume at half previous dose, aiming for 4.0 or 5.0 ppm NO3).
 
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Wanted to update my pleasant experience so far with these G4's... corals have been under these lights for only 3 weeks coming from T5's. Again, I was always skeptical with leds, but am very pleased with the coral reactions so far.

The outter rims of montis have developed excellent deep colors, and most acros have tissues growing over their dead/bleached spots now.

I have another tank with Orphek's V3+ and corals are not close to the ones I see under the radions.

I was never a fanboy of Ecotech, but gotta say these G4's have something going on
 

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Well that's great to hear!
I'm not a fanboy of anything really , so an honest and slightly skeptical review is a really good thing to hear.
 
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