Cut LED down with t5’s or leave on?

[TreyC2010]

Obviously, the question is in the title. I had my LED’s maxed out around 70% at 1-4 and my t5’s on at that time. Should I cut my leds down or leave them on while t5’s are running? My tank is mostly lps with a few sps and soft coral. I see good growth, except for some euphyllia retracting, which I believe I have narrowed to light.

Lights are kessil a360x and Aquatic Life T5 Hybrid. I’m showing an average of 150 par on the sand bed, which is what I believe some of my euphyllia don’t like.

Feel free to share your schedule, tank dimensions, and height off of the water!

 

[Spare time]

150 should not be an issue for euphyllia in my opinion. However, you can see what works best. I'd imagine cutting the LED's down would be easier

 

[TreyC2010]

150 should not be an issue for euphyllia in my opinion. However, you can see what works best. I'd imagine cutting the LED's down would be easier

I wasn’t 100% sure if it was top limit or not.

 

[Spare time]

I wasn’t 100% sure if it was top limit or not.

I have kept a frogspawn at 350. I wouldn't recommend it as it tremendously slows the growth but it was alive. Now it is at something like 120 or 150 (I can't remember) and it is doing amazingly well.

 

[TreyC2010]

Maybe I should leave well enough alone… it’s not everything, just those two or three euphyllia.

 

[jda]

Euphyllia get over 500 PAR in my frag systems and thrive. Some are in lagoons at low tide with water barely covering them in the wild. They can handle more light than you think. They don't need a ton, but they do fine with it. I will say that they get MH light in my frag tank, so it could be a spectrum thing.

In any case, I would run the T5s for the bulk of the day and turn the LEDs on when you want to view the stuff and blue it up to your liking. You won't be giving the coral anything from the LEDs that they don't get from the T5s unless there are just too few of them. I would run the T5s for 9-10 hours and bring the LEDs in during your home time viewing period.

 

[TreyC2010]

Euphyllia get over 500 PAR in my frag systems and thrive. Some are in lagoons at low tide with water barely covering them in the wild. They can handle more light than you think. They don't need a ton, but they do fine with it. I will say that they get MH light in my frag tank, so it could be a spectrum thing.

In any case, I would run the T5s for the bulk of the day and turn the LEDs on when you want to view the stuff and blue it up to your liking. You won't be giving the coral anything from the LEDs that they don't get from the T5s unless there are just too few of them. I would run the T5s for 9-10 hours and bring the LEDs in during your home time viewing period.

Is there a benefit to having the LED’s ramping up to the t5 par levels, or is it just as good to have the jump from whatever the LED’s are pushing to the T5 level?

 

[jda]

I am not the right person to ask here. I am a firm believer in using the best performing lights possible, so I use MH and a few T5s. I don't run the T5s when the MH are running since they are step below, IMO, and they add nothing so I save the power/wattage and the bulb time. If I used LED, I would never run them when the T5s or MH were running and maybe bring them on later in the day for viewing some trick light nems or mushrooms or something. There is just nothing that the LEDs can add to the actual corals if you have sufficient amount of other lighting at work, so I would lean heavy on the best spectrum, but they could add something for you.

You can use them for nice colors, enjoy the aesthetic, etc. and there are plenty of other reasons that you might love your LED, but I am talking about pure performance only.

...so, probably better if somebody else chimes in.

 

[TreyC2010]

I am not the right person to ask here. I am a firm believer in using the best performing lights possible, so I use MH and a few T5s. I don't run the T5s when the MH are running since they are step below, IMO, and they add nothing so I save the power/wattage and the bulb time. If I used LED, I would never run them when the T5s or MH were running and maybe bring them on later in the day for viewing some trick light nems or mushrooms or something. There is just nothing that the LEDs can add to the actual corals if you have sufficient amount of other lighting at work, so I would lean heavy on the best spectrum, but they could add something for you.

You can use them for nice colors, enjoy the aesthetic, etc. and there are plenty of other reasons that you might love your LED, but I am talking about pure performance only.

...so, probably better if somebody else chimes in.

I appreciate that! I’m honestly not using them for the viewing colors. It’s cool to show people those pops, but I care more about making it healthy. That’s why I was questioning the lights coming straight on with t5’s vs ramping up. I’m not new to this hobby, but I need to learn more about this part to give my tank the proper light source. I’m not against any advice or type of light. Thank you for your input!