Frag Placement in 75g - Anyone wanna help a newbie?

[skywelker]

Hi everyone! First post, loving this forum so far. Anyone interested in giving me some guidance on how to place my frags? A little tank background:

75 gallon, set up for about 8 months so far. First saltwater tank I've had since a short stint in college (2001-ish). No corals yet, was planning on picking them up directly at WWC in Orlando last month but Hurricane Florence had other ideas (no power for 10 days - somehow only lost a hermit with my neighbors watching the tank). I have 2 Hydor Koralia powerheads (1350 gph each) running 3.5 hours left, 3.5 hours right, then 1 hour both. PAR readings for lighting are in pic, I have a 2nd light if necessary and I think it would add about 50% more PAR. No sump since unfortunately my stand doesn't have space for one, so everything is in the tank.

Anyways, the frags consist of the WWC beginner pack, 2 that I won on ebay, and the WWC coral club (highly recommended). They are:

1 Aussie Slimer Acropora
2 Mayan Moon Favia
3 Grafted Cap
4 Cherry Garcia
5 Kraken Micro
6 Nirvana Zoas
7 Bubblicious Acan
8 Cherry Blastomussa
9 ORA Neon Birdsnest
10 Hollywood Stunner Chalice
11 Green Star Polyps

They also listed a Superman Rhodactis on the packing slip but I'm thinking that was an error as I only got 11 frags (as I was supposed to). I know that I will put the GSP on a small rock in the sand bed, and the Acro probably needs to go in a high spots, but I'm unsure where the others should go. Any have any suggestions? Sorry for the crappy tank shots and thanks in advance!

 

[nautical_nathaniel]

That acro and grafted cap both need more par than what you currently have. What are you using for lighting?

 

[skywelker]

That acro and grafted cap both need more par than what you currently have. What are you using for lighting?

Thanks for the advice! Do you know what PAR ranges would be more appropriate for the cap and acro? I was under the impression that the Slimer Acro was one of the lower demanding SPS, but I could obviously be mistaken.

I have a Current Orbit IC LED for lighting. I do have some room to raise the intensity, and I also have a second one that is not being used yet. The PAR readings that they advertise have been spot on from what I have measured. I also have a black box LED from amazon that I could use if want to target one area.

 

[Billldg]

For sps frags you would need at least 200 to 250 par IMO, even higher is better. If you can raise the intensity of your light you could raise the par of the whole tank and not have any issues with the lps/softies frags.

Welcome to R2R!!! Gonna be a great looking tank. The 2 rock structures is what I have in my tank. Love the look.

 

[Zeal]

My 2cent, GSP could basically go anywhere. I myself have mine on the back of my tank growing on the wall

 

[Ruben's Reef]

!!! Welcome to R2R !!! Nice rock setup for a 75g.

 

[skywelker]

For sps frags you would need at least 200 to 250 par IMO, even higher is better. If you can raise the intensity of your light you could raise the par of the whole tank and not have any issues with the lps/softies frags.

Welcome to R2R!!! Gonna be a great looking tank. The 2 rock structures is what I have in my tank. Love the look.

Thanks! I saw a post on here about negative space and always liked the look of it. Looked up your build, looks great too!

I will slowly begin raising intensity to get into that range near the top of my rocks.

My 2cent, GSP could basically go anywhere. I myself have mine on the back of my tank growing on the wall

Great point! I've heard it can get out of control so trying to keep it isolated. Bet it looks awesome on the back wall though.

!!! Welcome to R2R !!! Nice rock setup for a 75g.

Thanks! Been a great forum to get info from and everyone is so nice!

 

[cvrle1]

Welcome to R2R.

In regards to your lights, Current Orbit IC LED are not going to be anywhere close to good enough for corals that you have there. Looking at their description, they produce max of 21W from 36LED. That means that they use 0.5W LEDs which are way too weak. These are good for fish only tanks, or very very very low light needing corals.

You really have 2 options, the way I see it. Either use the units that you have and completely change your plan on what corals you want to keep, or upgrade to better lights. If you want to go with LED fixture, look for ones using 3W LEDs. Those can grow anything really, and can be quite cheap or quite expensive. They will all grow corals almost the same, you just pay more for all extra features that you get with lights.

 

[skywelker]

Welcome to R2R.

In regards to your lights, Current Orbit IC LED are not going to be anywhere close to good enough for corals that you have there. Looking at their description, they produce max of 21W from 36LED. That means that they use 0.5W LEDs which are way too weak. These are good for fish only tanks, or very very very low light needing corals.

You really have 2 options, the way I see it. Either use the units that you have and completely change your plan on what corals you want to keep, or upgrade to better lights. If you want to go with LED fixture, look for ones using 3W LEDs. Those can grow anything really, and can be quite cheap or quite expensive. They will all grow corals almost the same, you just pay more for all extra features that you get with lights.

Thanks for the tip! I'll check my black box lighting and see what wattage the LEDs are. Newb question though, why does it matter what wattage the LEDs are if they deliver the correct PAR and spectrum?

 

[cvrle1]

Thanks for the tip! I'll check my black box lighting and see what wattage the LEDs are. Newb question though, why does it matter what wattage the LEDs are if they deliver the correct PAR and spectrum?

Thats precisely the problem. Weak LEDs cannot deliver proper PAR needed for coral growth and health in general for majority of corals. For example, you are getting 87 PAR at one location with 0.5W LEDs. 3W LED would produce 200 or even 250 PAR at the similar location.

See this pic for PAR reading that 3W can give. This is for Reefbreaders Photon V2, but all 3W LEDs would give similar PAR.

 

[Billldg]

Or you can look at getting a t5 set up, maybe an Aquatic Life t5/led hybrid set up, add the t5 bulbs which will give you enough par to start and add a good set of led's later, I'm in the process of switching from led to a t5/led hybrid set up with 2 ecotech xr15 g4 pros and I will have enough par to grow anything x5. The t5 and bulb fixture isn't much at all and its a solid light.

 

[Coralreefer1]

When ever you purchase a coral, inspect it first to ensure it is healthy. Also, make a mental note in the back of your mind where you plan on placing the coral or if it is even a good fit at all. Remember that some corals have long sweeper tentacles ex. Euphyllia and Galaxea sp., while other produce a toxin(allelopathy) like certain Paly’s, Xenia, Sinularia sp. etc. that will kill neighboring corals if too close.
Having said this, be aware of the placement, lighting parameters and type of lights at the pet store. This way you can try to mimic as closely with your lights to those which the coral was living under at the pet shop. It is best to acclimate corals slow and under subdued lighting so that bleaching is minimized. Start corals off in the lower part of your tank and then gradually, adjust and raise them or position them in different part of your tank based on other coral placement, water flow and light for optimum growth and health.

 

[skywelker]

Thats precisely the problem. Weak LEDs cannot deliver proper PAR needed for coral growth and health in general for majority of corals. For example, you are getting 87 PAR at one location with 0.5W LEDs. 3W LED would produce 200 or even 250 PAR at the similar location.

See this pic for PAR reading that 3W can give. This is for Reefbreaders Photon V2, but all 3W LEDs would give similar PAR.

Gotcha! Totally read your original post as 100 PAR from a .5 watt LED =/= 100 PAR from a 3 watt LED. Also, I did check my black box LED fixture and it has 3 watt LEDs so I should be able to raise the PAR considerably. I will do some readings and get back here with results.

Or you can look at getting a t5 set up, maybe an Aquatic Life t5/led hybrid set up, add the t5 bulbs which will give you enough par to start and add a good set of led's later, I'm in the process of switching from led to a t5/led hybrid set up with 2 ecotech xr15 g4 pros and I will have enough par to grow anything x5. The t5 and bulb fixture isn't much at all and its a solid light.

I looked at this setup, it was very highly recommended! Reason I stayed away is unfortunately I have to set the fixture on top of my tank, I cannot hang it, so I'm not sure how good the results would be. Thank you for the tip though!

 

[cvrle1]

Gotcha! Totally read your original post as 100 PAR from a .5 watt LED =/= 100 PAR from a 3 watt LED. Also, I did check my black box LED fixture and it has 3 watt LEDs so I should be able to raise the PAR considerably. I will do some readings and get back here with results.

I could be wrong, but I thought I saw that you have Current Orbit IC LED fixture. If that is the case, from what I found on their site, they look to be 0.5W LEDs. Easiest way to figure it out is take total W that fixture produces, and divide by # of LEDs in the fixture. For example, if you take their 36"-48" fixture, it produces 36W from 72 LEDs. 36/72 = 0.5

https://current-usa.com/orbit-marine-ic-led/#tab_product-specs

Like I said, I could be wrong fixture wise, so please do correct me if I am wrong.

 

[skywelker]

I could be wrong, but I thought I saw that you have Current Orbit IC LED fixture. If that is the case, from what I found on their site, they look to be 0.5W LEDs. Easiest way to figure it out is take total W that fixture produces, and divide by # of LEDs in the fixture. For example, if you take their 36"-48" fixture, it produces 36W from 72 LEDs. 36/72 = 0.5

https://current-usa.com/orbit-marine-ic-led/#tab_product-specs

Like I said, I could be wrong fixture wise, so please do correct me if I am wrong.

I own multiple fixtures, (2) Current Orbit IC LEDs and (1) blackbox from amazon with 3 watt LEDs. The PAR readings in my original post were with a single one of the Current orbits installed, so hopefully I should be able to raise the PAR considerably as necessary. Sorry for the confusion.

 

[Princess Hockey]

If there's one thing I've learned with my new tank (<3 months) is not to get your heart set on any placement of anything! Of all of my corals...maybe 25 frags worth, only about 5 are in the spot where I initially placed them. A third of that was adjusting for coral preferences (lighting or flow), another third of that was just insecure placements or I couldn't get the glue to hold or something kept knocking them over. And a little bit of rearranging just because I changed my mind

 

[skywelker]

If there's one thing I've learned with my new tank (<3 months) is not to get your heart set on any placement of anything! Of all of my corals...maybe 25 frags worth, only about 5 are in the spot where I initially placed them. A third of that was adjusting for coral preferences (lighting or flow), another third of that was just insecure placements or I couldn't get the glue to hold or something kept knocking them over. And a little bit of rearranging just because I changed my mind

Thanks, that actually helps a lot! I'm just going to superglue them where I think they should go and adjust accordingly. I know it's not the most secure way, but like you said I'll probably end up needing to move a bunch of them anyways.