Sorry missed previous post.
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Anyone know what is up with my softies?
- Thread starter Dre619
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Sorry missed previous post.
outhouse
Valuable Member
Just the opposite, those are 3w led chips and they can have to much intensity on a small tank. you would only need more lighting if you dont have enough coverage.
You might try turning them down to 20% B and 2% W for a few weeks just to see if they perk up. Mine did at a similar intensity with 3w chips
well it can only be to high intensity or bad water conditions causing them to close up.
When in doubt. Large water changes never hurt. In case you have some sort of imbalance. My bet is on lighting
fish farmer
2500 Club Member
I would work on getting the calcium up over 400 and the alk over 8.
MaxTremors
2500 Club Member
And to just further confuse you, I’ll give you a third opinion, lol. I don’t think your water is too clean or too dirty, 10ppm nitrates is just about perfect, for the phosphates you need a higher resolution test (based on the numbers you gave, I’m guessing you’re using API? If so, you need to replace them all, not trying to be elitist, they just aren’t accurate and have horrible resolution). Assuming your phosphates are between 0.03 and 0.1, your nutrients aren’t the issue. Your Alk being at 7 is a little concerning, it’s right on the edge at the low end, which is okay so long as it’s stable, if it’s not, you don’t have a lot of wiggle room before you’re out of range (also with API, a 7 could be 6.5-7.5, assuming it accurate in the first place). Stability is what is key.
As far as your lighting, I don’t think 50watts of lighting is too much (50% of 100watts), the issue is the spectrum, if you’re running all channels at 50%, that could be the issue. I generally recommend to run the white channel at 10-25% of the blue channel(s) based on the look you prefer (so if your blues are at 50%, the whites would be 5-12.5%), red and green at around 5% of the blue channel(s), and violet/‘UV’ at 60-80% of the blue channel(s). I can’t comment on the overall quality of this specific light, but in general a lot of these Amazon lights aren’t the best quality, they have some power but the spectrum leaves a lot to be desired.
I also worry that your flow is inadequate, I don’t know what kind of wave maker you have, but just one plus a skimmer output for a 40 breeder is likely inadequate. As a general rule, for a mixed reef you want 40-60 times tank turnover per hour so 1600-2400 gallons per hour of flow. So add up the gph rating of all of your pumps that are creating flow in the tank. I also think that in smaller tanks you need to go for the higher end of this, as an example my current tank is a 28g mixed reef and my turnover is around 75x and I still don’t think it’s quite enough. The goal is to get somewhat random or pulsing indirect turbulent flow, so you don’t want your corals directly in front of a pump, you want the output of your pumps to either intersect or bounce off the glass/rocks to create random, turbulent flow. Good flow can be tricky to achieve, but it’s important, I would do a deep dive both here and on YouTube (avoid the hype channels).
So to summarize, get better test kits so you know with more certainty where exactly your levels are, look at the channels/spectrum on your light and maybe thing about replacing it (can give you recommendations if you’d like), and ensure that you have adequate flow.
Also, as far as your lobo is concerned, I don’t know that it’ll eat in that state, but it’s worth giving it a shot.
As far as your lighting, I don’t think 50watts of lighting is too much (50% of 100watts), the issue is the spectrum, if you’re running all channels at 50%, that could be the issue. I generally recommend to run the white channel at 10-25% of the blue channel(s) based on the look you prefer (so if your blues are at 50%, the whites would be 5-12.5%), red and green at around 5% of the blue channel(s), and violet/‘UV’ at 60-80% of the blue channel(s). I can’t comment on the overall quality of this specific light, but in general a lot of these Amazon lights aren’t the best quality, they have some power but the spectrum leaves a lot to be desired.
I also worry that your flow is inadequate, I don’t know what kind of wave maker you have, but just one plus a skimmer output for a 40 breeder is likely inadequate. As a general rule, for a mixed reef you want 40-60 times tank turnover per hour so 1600-2400 gallons per hour of flow. So add up the gph rating of all of your pumps that are creating flow in the tank. I also think that in smaller tanks you need to go for the higher end of this, as an example my current tank is a 28g mixed reef and my turnover is around 75x and I still don’t think it’s quite enough. The goal is to get somewhat random or pulsing indirect turbulent flow, so you don’t want your corals directly in front of a pump, you want the output of your pumps to either intersect or bounce off the glass/rocks to create random, turbulent flow. Good flow can be tricky to achieve, but it’s important, I would do a deep dive both here and on YouTube (avoid the hype channels).
So to summarize, get better test kits so you know with more certainty where exactly your levels are, look at the channels/spectrum on your light and maybe thing about replacing it (can give you recommendations if you’d like), and ensure that you have adequate flow.
Also, as far as your lobo is concerned, I don’t know that it’ll eat in that state, but it’s worth giving it a shot.
Dre619
Community Member
Thanks for confusing me even more! Yes I would love some recommendations on new lights? I cant hang anything above so that should narrow it down. As far as my test kits i am in the mdidle of swapping them out. Just got some of the Hanna checkers and switching away from API or whatever it is. I have a second powerhead in just not turned so I will try and angle it so it can add some extra flow and not mess with my mushrooms. lol Will give all this a shot and check out some new lights
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