Confounded

[chrisjj625]

Timeline of problems:

Oct 2022 - started fighting dinos with nutrients
Dec 2022 - some STN on stuff, nothing super concern as it was all shaded areas
April 2023 - added second light to combat shading issues (matched par and dealt with some minor issues)
Now - stuff is receding all over and I have what I think in cyan now

My cause for concern is I have something occurring that I have never seen in my reef before (been playing this cruel game for at least 15 years). Everyday at around the same time, 9-10 when the lights hit their peak, everything (SPS, shrooms, Torch, etc.) closes up. Now everything is wide open at night and by about 12-1 everything is open and semi normal again. Lights don't come off peak until 7. As a result, I don't think it's a lighting issue per se. But, I am pretty confused. I have tried changing flow, lowering lights, etc.

Most current nutrient test:
Alk - 8.3
Nitrate - 12.2
Phosphate - .05
Calcium - 420
Salinity - 1.026

I do a water change every Friday morning of 3 gallons in a 30 gallon system.

The system has been running since 2020, however it was moved 2 years ago.

I am confounded and have no idea on what else to do other than let it ride. Current blue picture attached for reference.

 

[Salty_Northerner]

Is it a typo when you said cyan or do you mean cyano?

From what I am gathering from your post it sounds like your corals are not happy with the added light that you just put on a month ago.

 

[twelvefive]

Is it a typo when you said cyan or do you mean cyano?

From what I am gathering from your post it sounds like your corals are not happy with the added light that you just put on a month ago.

That's what I'd think. Closing at high light, open at night seems they're getting too much light.

 

[Salty_Northerner]

Yes I agree we both agree..

Myself I turn just my blue Channel up to 100% with an hour of ramp up time to gently wake the system up. Hour two by sets the royal and cyan to 50% and as it's approaching the third hour everything is at 100% except the cool White I run at 50%. Edit* Royal I only run at 85%*

I only let the red Channel run 100% for 1 hour and then drop it down to 10% for its second hour and then off for the rest of the day. So basically my photo. Full intensity minus the red is 6 hours and I'm somewhat doing the reverse for ramp down. And from 10:00 to 11:00 p.m. I just have the blue Channel set to 5% and it will ramp down to off for 11:00 p.m.

I know for a fact that my lighting is too intense as is and why I place my girls close to the bottom because I'm tired of messing with this light setup. But I do know one thing from taking advice from others in here on the light that I am using did not work for me whatsoever. Pretty much everything would close up in around an hour or so.

 

[chrisjj625]

Is it a typo when you said cyan or do you mean cyano?

From what I am gathering from your post it sounds like your corals are not happy with the added light that you just put on a month ago.

Yes, cyano. While I agree the light seems to have been an issue. Everything opens up within a few hours after being closed up and par is similar to what it was previously with 1 light. Hence the confusion. I would think if light is the issue everything would stay closed all day for the duration of the light cycle. Am I wrong on this?

 

[chrisjj625]

Anyone else have thoughts. I can’t imagine it’s the lighting. Like I said I matched the par to 250-300 nothing crazy to make the tank go crazy.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Seems straightforward to shut off the second light and see what happens.

 

[chrisjj625]

Seems straightforward to shut off the second light and see what happens.

I turned everything down yesterday. How should I give it to see some sort of adjustment in behavior. Corals were still angry today when main cycle was reached.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I turned everything down yesterday. How should I give it to see some sort of adjustment in behavior. Corals were still angry today when main cycle was reached.

A few days and see what happens, IMO.

 

[biom]

Anyone else have thoughts. I can’t imagine it’s the lighting. Like I said I matched the par to 250-300 nothing crazy to make the tank go crazy.

The fact PAR is the same doesn’t mean the amount of the light in the tank is the same after adding additional lights. This was the reason to add more light right? To have this PAR to many places not on few hot spots.
And when you asking for advice or help on light related issues is always helpful to give information on the lights - model, schedule, distance from water.

 

[chrisjj625]

The fact PAR is the same doesn’t mean the amount of the light in the tank is the same after adding additional lights. This was the reason to add more light right? To have this PAR to many places not on few hot spots.
And when you asking for advice or help on light related issues is always helpful to give information on the lights - model, schedule, distance from water.

Can you expound on that? I have 2 Kessil ap9x. Now they are dialed back to 30% and are about 10.5 inches off the water.

 

[biom]

It is related to the way we are measuring PAR and shading. When you have only one light source the coral surface that is exposed to this 300 PAR is relatively small. If you have another light coming from different direction you still have 300 PAR, but much bigger part of the coral surface is exposed to the same 300 PAR light (because of the less shading).

I have 2 Kessil ap9x. Now they are dialed back to 30% and are about 10.5 inches off the water.

2 Kessil AP9X over 30 gal system? I am not familiar with these lights but they are quite powerful - up to 185 Watts each. Even at 30% I think they can give very strong light especially if this 30% are focused in the blue/violet/UV spectrum.

 

[chrisjj625]

It is related to the way we are measuring PAR and shading. When you have only one light source the coral surface that is exposed to this 300 PAR is relatively small. If you have another light coming from different direction you still have 300 PAR, but much bigger part of the coral surface is exposed to the same 300 PAR light (because of the less shading).



2 Kessil AP9X over 30 gal system? I am not familiar with these lights but they are quite powerful - up to 185 Watts each. Even at 30% I think they can give very strong light especially if this 30% are focused in the blue/violet/UV spectrum.

Yes, it is 100% overkill. I was just hoping to combat shading. That’s why I turned them way down. I was running 1 at 40%.

 

[Dburr1014]

Par and quality of light of different should be ramped up.

IMO, if I were to add an additional light to what I have currently, I would probably drop my current lights by 10 or 20% depending on how low I could turn down the new light. Then only ramp up all the light by 5 maybe 10% weekly.

 

[chrisjj625]

Par and quality of light of different should be ramped up.

IMO, if I were to add an additional light to what I have currently, I would probably drop my current lights by 10 or 20% depending on how low I could turn down the new light. Then only ramp up all the light by 5 maybe 10% weekly.

I did this. I dropped my lights to from 40% to 30%, which is over 20% drop. Stuff started to turn green so I thought it was lack of light and I ramped them back up and now I am having all these issues. I guess I just messed it all up

 

[Dburr1014]

I did this. I dropped my lights to from 40% to 30%, which is over 20% drop. Stuff started to turn green so I thought it was lack of light and I ramped them back up and now I am having all these issues. I guess I just messed it all up

What light do you run and what light was added?
As randy said, maybe shut off the new one again and turn up the old back or close to what it was and see if the problem good away.
You can always try again.
I'm thinking that maybe the spectrum could be way different. (not knowing what lights are in play)

 

[chrisjj625]

What light do you run and what light was added?
As randy said, maybe shut off the new one again and turn up the old back or close to what it was and see if the problem good away.
You can always try again.
I'm thinking that maybe the spectrum could be way different. (not knowing what lights are in play)

Can you expound on that? I have 2 Kessil ap9x. Now they are dialed back to 30% and are about 10.5 inches off the water.

 

[Dburr1014]

So one kessil and added another?

How is the flow in this tank?

 

[GARRIGA]

Added light to reduce shading what is do too but were the other lights reduced to not overcompensate due to the new light added? PAR letter easiest but I’d think knowing how much additional wattage added vs running prior might help. I have a wattage meter and can test different light options and see the amount of wattage being used. Can’t afford a PAR meter at the moment but it’s interesting to see how off my eyes are estimating how much more juice pulled as I play with various channels at different intensities on my XR15.

 

[chrisjj625]

So one kessil and added another?

How is the flow in this tank?

Yes, MP10 rolling at about 85% and return is wide open.