Closed & Stretching for weeks - months?

mcarroll · Oct 21, 2016

140K at the lights might be believable, but that doesn't explain the wicked drop at the water line. You should be somewhere in the 10's of thousands of lux, I'd think. May have to spring for the handheld meter.

Do you have a phone that's really new or unusual in some other way?

Triggreef · Oct 21, 2016

mcarroll said:
Expectations
Zoanthids are IMO one of that hardest corals because of the very behavior you note....most of the time nobody can figure out why they're being moody. I have freinds and relatives if I want moody. ;) :D

I had a batch of gorilla nipple zoanthids as my very first coral. Watching them go through their namby-pamby little moods while all my SPS colonies in the same tank were booming was just comedy. Ultimately they faded away completely for no apparent reason. (I just wish my mushrooms would do the same...unfortunately, mushrooms are invincible. Another terrible "beginner coral".)
(....he says in the zoanthid forum. Doh!)

AGREED! However Zoas are my fascination. Zoas melt for no apparent reason sometimes but its usually one type or another and you still have all the others. With sps when things go upside down, you lose it ALL!

mcarroll · Oct 21, 2016

BTW, converting those PAR numbers with a generic conversion factor...

It seems like you should get a reading of about 20,000-30,000 lux on the frag tank.

The dual may only be yielding around 15,000-20,000 lux

(Both are good ranges.....the dual is on the low side of good. It's possible your corals were acclimated to, or otherwise need, more than that.)

If that's all they will do at 100% intensity, you might have to consider a beefier fixture.

You can also double the intensity by lowering the fixture height by half.

I would mediate this change with a functional light meter and don't raise the light intensity over the tank very fast....no more than a couple thousand lux or so in one shot. I would space out the changes by a week or two at least....and keep at it until you have a mirror of the intensity over the frag tank.

You might eventually choose to go brighter – or you might see results before you get all the way there – so obviously pay attention along the way.

Brighter lights will definitely help support the higher nutrient levels you were shooting for too.

mcarroll · Oct 21, 2016

Triggreef said:
AGREED! However Zoas are my fascination. Zoas melt for no apparent reason sometimes but its usually one type or another and you still have all the others. With sps when things go upside down, you lose it ALL!

That has not been my experience with stony corals and my tank has been through the ringer....more than once.

The switch to LED's was the worst event by far – you can look up the posts here on R2R if curious – it was before I (or anyone else on here I knew of) used a lux meter. :mad: I had one but was still unaware that it could be used. :mad::mad: Even at that terrible extent I only lost one coral in its entirety....grape Montipora cap. (All of them but two got a lot smaller though.)

Thanks (once again) go to Dana Riddle's great articles where he mentions lux meter usage and PAR-lux conversion factors.

All that said, I won't deny that's been the experience of some others with stonies....but even then at least it's not a mystery why things are goobered up. ;)

I never could tell what made my zonathids happy or sad. And they definitely had happy times...almost kicked some stony corals off a rock at one point.....but always a mystery.

Jonathan Presseau · Oct 21, 2016

I am using an iPhone 7 Plus so the cameras should be the latest.

A few months ago I raised the light about 6" higher above the water than I had it because the owner, who was at my house visiting, of Nanobox and I felt the zoas were bleaching. Well, today I feel that the issue was not the light, but the nutrients. A month or 2 later is when I started the massive dosing scheme using several products. I think I just had bad timing.

I want to again thank you for your amazing help. The time you are spending to help me is greatly appreciated.

I will pick up a meter so when I return from my conference it will be at our apt. That will be Tuesday evening next week.

Would you advise to first lower the light to 6" above the water line? Then, a week later start to increase intensity?

mcarroll · Oct 21, 2016

Right....I'd make the change to the mounting height, but make intensity equivalent (as possible) for at least a week. Then start making incremental changes like I described.

Can you tell if there's been an update to the apps you've tried since your phone came out? The new camera may be significantly different or just use a different light meter – either would be likely to require a recalibration of the app for the new equipment.

(You will like the dedicated meter better anyway.) :)

Jonathan Presseau · Nov 2, 2016

Hi,

I picked up a LUX meter of Amazon (Dr Meter LX1330B). It can read from 0-200,000 LUX with 4 ranges. I had to go out of town so it took longer than I would have liked to do the below tests!

Frag tank:

8k around edges / 22k in center w/ 75% Blue & 55% White.
6k around edges / 18k in center w/ 100% Blue & 0% White.
8k around edges / 27k in center w/ 100% Blue & 100% White.

Display tank:

8k around edges / 11.5k in center w/ 75% Blue & 25% White.
9k around edges / 13k in center w/ 100% Blue & 0% White.
16k around edges / 23k in center w/ 100% Blue & 100% White.