Are My Lights Too Bright

[Amoo]

i would put my money on you finding that sweet spot by not touching anything and adding those diffusers. The PAR drop combioned with increase blending will probably put you right in the zone you want to be.

 

[leepink23]

Two MP40s, one on each end. I was previously running the short pulse 100% of the time to create a wave action. I recently switched to Reef Crest on one side to Constant Speed on the other (and this flips ever 4 hours) similar to what was discussed in the Coral Lab paper on flow.

That should be plenty, adding the diffuser helped cut out my hotspots so I think you will see an improvement!

 

[Dana Riddle]

This might be a better question in the SPS forum. Lights do matter and I do not think that Radions are great lights for acropora, but they should at least do OK. I would look to your tank first, and then hit the lights if all of this checks out. First, is your tank old enough to be growing coralline in mass quantity? I do not mean a few spots, but everywhere and growing new spots on the glass every week or two? If not, then it might be hard. A full slate of parameters and routine might be needed. Do you dose Organic Carbon, use GFO or Lan Chloride?

You could double that PAR reading and SPS would be OK.

Just wondering why you think a Radion is not a good light source for Acropora specimens. There's a lot we don't understand about LED lighting. If I didn't respect your opinion, I wouldn't be asking.

 

[jda]

I think that they are OK, but not great. You should be able to get most acropora to live and grow, but the color is always muted in daylight situations (unless you black light). They also shadow pretty badly if the hobbyist is good enough to grow colonies from frags. The best Radion lit tanks that I have seen share the same use pattern... way up high with all channels at 100%... and not many people use them this way.

I have never heard of anybody who added T5s to their Radions that regretted it and nearly all with that they would have done it sooner. Color in the acros gets better, growth takes off a bit more and shadowing is significantly less.

Purely anecdotal here, but you do not really see many efflos, solis, millepora thriving under Radions. There are some, but not in the same proportions as tanks lit with other lights. This could be way off, but with the 200, or so, SPS tanks that I have seen with Radions, this is true. Every time that I post this, I get a few people who want to show me photos of their millepora, or whatever - I get it... I did not say that there were none, only fewer and often the same kinds (ASD Rainbow is the most common). If somebody does feel the need to PM me or post, please show me a nice 8+ inch colony sized one and not a nub or "mini colony" with three branches... I love seeing large colonies of Efflo, Soli and Millepora.

For me, this does not add up to a "great" light for these types of corals alone. I can go with a decent/OK source if you really like the other things that the offer like couch apps, small aesthetic, black light, etc.

I understand that we do not know a lot. For sure. I have seen hundreds and hundreds of tanks both locally and nationally, including all of the high end stores on both coasts that people drool about. I have gotten behind the scene tours at about a dozen aquariums and spoken with their reef keepers. I have formed my opinion on working cases over real reef tanks. This is the best that I can do - spend my time observing, talking and then make judgements for my tanks. I look hard because if they were good enough, or better, I would want to use them.

 

[Dana Riddle]

I think that they are OK, but not great. You should be able to get most acropora to live and grow, but the color is always muted in daylight situations (unless you black light). They also shadow pretty badly if the hobbyist is good enough to grow colonies from frags. The best Radion lit tanks that I have seen share the same use pattern... way up high with all channels at 100%... and not many people use them this way.

I have never heard of anybody who added T5s to their Radions that regretted it and nearly all with that they would have done it sooner. Color in the acros gets better, growth takes off a bit more and shadowing is significantly less.

Purely anecdotal here, but you do not really see many efflos, solis, millepora thriving under Radions. There are some, but not in the same proportions as tanks lit with other lights. This could be way off, but with the 200, or so, SPS tanks that I have seen with Radions, this is true. Every time that I post this, I get a few people who want to show me photos of their millepora, or whatever - I get it... I did not say that there were none, only fewer and often the same kinds (ASD Rainbow is the most common). If somebody does feel the need to PM me or post, please show me a nice 8+ inch colony sized one and not a nub or "mini colony" with three branches... I love seeing large colonies of Efflo, Soli and Millepora.

For me, this does not add up to a "great" light for these types of corals alone. I can go with a decent/OK source if you really like the other things that the offer like couch apps, small aesthetic, black light, etc.

I understand that we do not know a lot. For sure. I have seen hundreds and hundreds of tanks both locally and nationally, including all of the high end stores on both coasts that people drool about. I have gotten behind the scene tours at about a dozen aquariums and spoken with their reef keepers. I have formed my opinion on working cases over real reef tanks. This is the best that I can do - spend my time observing, talking and then make judgements for my tanks. I look hard because if they were good enough, or better, I would want to use them.

Thanks!

 

[leepink23]

I think that they are OK, but not great. You should be able to get most acropora to live and grow, but the color is always muted in daylight situations (unless you black light). They also shadow pretty badly if the hobbyist is good enough to grow colonies from frags. The best Radion lit tanks that I have seen share the same use pattern... way up high with all channels at 100%... and not many people use them this way.

I have never heard of anybody who added T5s to their Radions that regretted it and nearly all with that they would have done it sooner. Color in the acros gets better, growth takes off a bit more and shadowing is significantly less.

Purely anecdotal here, but you do not really see many efflos, solis, millepora thriving under Radions. There are some, but not in the same proportions as tanks lit with other lights. This could be way off, but with the 200, or so, SPS tanks that I have seen with Radions, this is true. Every time that I post this, I get a few people who want to show me photos of their millepora, or whatever - I get it... I did not say that there were none, only fewer and often the same kinds (ASD Rainbow is the most common). If somebody does feel the need to PM me or post, please show me a nice 8+ inch colony sized one and not a nub or "mini colony" with three branches... I love seeing large colonies of Efflo, Soli and Millepora.

For me, this does not add up to a "great" light for these types of corals alone. I can go with a decent/OK source if you really like the other things that the offer like couch apps, small aesthetic, black light, etc.

I understand that we do not know a lot. For sure. I have seen hundreds and hundreds of tanks both locally and nationally, including all of the high end stores on both coasts that people drool about. I have gotten behind the scene tours at about a dozen aquariums and spoken with their reef keepers. I have formed my opinion on working cases over real reef tanks. This is the best that I can do - spend my time observing, talking and then make judgements for my tanks. I look hard because if they were good enough, or better, I would want to use them.

I agree with this, adding T5 and diffuser make dramatic difference, otherwise they need to be mounted very high. With T5 and diffuser I have for 3 months been able to get great growth for milli, Acro, montipora. Before when just using radions I had trouble with bleaching.

 

[Amoo]

I think that they are OK, but not great. You should be able to get most acropora to live and grow, but the color is always muted in daylight situations (unless you black light). They also shadow pretty badly if the hobbyist is good enough to grow colonies from frags. The best Radion lit tanks that I have seen share the same use pattern... way up high with all channels at 100%... and not many people use them this way.

I have never heard of anybody who added T5s to their Radions that regretted it and nearly all with that they would have done it sooner. Color in the acros gets better, growth takes off a bit more and shadowing is significantly less.

Purely anecdotal here, but you do not really see many efflos, solis, millepora thriving under Radions. There are some, but not in the same proportions as tanks lit with other lights. This could be way off, but with the 200, or so, SPS tanks that I have seen with Radions, this is true. Every time that I post this, I get a few people who want to show me photos of their millepora, or whatever - I get it... I did not say that there were none, only fewer and often the same kinds (ASD Rainbow is the most common). If somebody does feel the need to PM me or post, please show me a nice 8+ inch colony sized one and not a nub or "mini colony" with three branches... I love seeing large colonies of Efflo, Soli and Millepora.

For me, this does not add up to a "great" light for these types of corals alone. I can go with a decent/OK source if you really like the other things that the offer like couch apps, small aesthetic, black light, etc.

I understand that we do not know a lot. For sure. I have seen hundreds and hundreds of tanks both locally and nationally, including all of the high end stores on both coasts that people drool about. I have gotten behind the scene tours at about a dozen aquariums and spoken with their reef keepers. I have formed my opinion on working cases over real reef tanks. This is the best that I can do - spend my time observing, talking and then make judgements for my tanks. I look hard because if they were good enough, or better, I would want to use them.

Thanks!

I'm not sure this is a Radion specific issue as much as it simply is an LED issue. As far as I'm aware Dave Turner was one of the first and still only guys to come at his tank from literally all different angles.

 

[TexasReefer82]

aarbutina, did you ever get your problems with lighting and acropora resolved? I came across this thread while looking for something else. Here's a thought - you didn't mention what your nitrate and phosphate levels were. When I've allowed them to zero out - especially phosphates! - my acropora won't exactly bleach but they'll lose color and become pale and sickly looking and then they STN/RTN. It often starts as a pale spot(s) in the crotch between branches especially in the older parts of the colony. I run lighting that I suspect is quite high PAR (although I admit I've never measured it). I have a 40G breeder and I run 4x T5's and 2x Hydra 26 HD's. My T5 bulbs are a 50/50 mix of Blue+ and True Actinic. My hydras top out at 40% or so during the midday. I've learned this the hard way a couple of times over and now I regularly test both nitrates and phosphates. I run a stump killer solution of potassium nitrate on my dosing pump and a manually add a planted tank phosphate product as needed. I have observed a complete turnaround in my acros more than once simple by adding phosphate alone when it had gone to zero (ULR Hanna checker). I suspect the corals require phosphate/phosphorus to deal with the high light levels.

 

[infinite0180]

Hey guys,

I was reading along here and have a quick question for radion users. I have a gen 4 XR15 running the AB+ setting. When you guys talk about brightness your talking about the slider on the far left of the graph right? And when you talk about overall intensity your talking about the percentage displayed when you mouse over a bullet point at peak intensity during your schedule. For example, my brightness slider is at 80% but when i mouse over a bullet point at a peak hour during the day i only see 55%. Im assuming this is due to the fact that certain channels are turned down in the AB+ settings right?