Getting ready to place corals: PAR and placement thoughts.

[DiscoStuart]

I've had my tank running for a little over six months now. I've gone through battles with dinos, GHA, parameter swings, and all the predictable stuff from a new tank that was predominantly dry rock, with a little bit of live rock added partway through. Fingers crossed and I'm now more stable, though I'm sure there'll be challenges to come.

So far, I've been leaving most of my coral in frag racks on the glass. But now I want to start moving things to a final place.

A few questions (see below for full par maps at my current peak mid-day lighting). This is very much a mixed reef plan. I'll do some SPS at the top, and a mix of LPS and softies as I go down the tank.

Main questions are:
1. Would you increase the lighting further? right now I'm at 200-250 at the top of the rocks, though obviously gets much higher as the coral grows upwards. Max rock height is probably 2/3rds of the water depth. I'm getting 80-100 on the sand bed, lower in shaded areas.
2. Given the rock work layout - where would place /avoid certain corals? I've got GSP on an Island down at the front and have a couple more islands available. I know torches need to be kept away from most everything else. Hammmers should be okay together but can throw out sweepers a few inches.


Current mix of corals:

• Acros (up top, easy enough)
• Stylocoeniellia
• Hammers x 3. Torches x2
• 3x Chalicees
• Mushrooms
• Lobo
• 2x Acan Lords
• Favia
• A few Montis
• some Zoas

 

[FrozenReefer]

First off, your rock work looks awesome, great job. I think your light is probably ok for now, you have enough spread between top of the rock and the sand bed that there really isn't anything you shouldn't be able to put in the tank. In my own tank which has similar lights, the limiting factor has actually been flow not lights. Trying to get the flow rate perfect for both SPS and LPS has been a challenge and a half. My torches are pretty solid but my hammers are struggling. I can't really talk to placement as I'm still struggling there myself so wouldn't want to give you bad advice. I can tell you I've moved things around my tank a few different times to try to find the "right" spot for them and that seems to work. So don't focus too much on the perfect spot as it can change but try things out and see how it goes. I do pay extra close attention to what the coral will look like in 2 years, not just today.

 

[DiscoStuart]

First off, your rock work looks awesome, great job. I think your light is probably ok for now, you have enough spread between top of the rock and the sand bed that there really isn't anything you shouldn't be able to put in the tank. In my own tank which has similar lights, the limiting factor has actually been flow not lights. Trying to get the flow rate perfect for both SPS and LPS has been a challenge and a half. My torches are pretty solid but my hammers are struggling. I can't really talk to placement as I'm still struggling there myself so wouldn't want to give you bad advice. I can tell you I've moved things around my tank a few different times to try to find the "right" spot for them and that seems to work. So don't focus too much on the perfect spot as it can change but try things out and see how it goes. I do pay extra close attention to what the coral will look like in 2 years, not just today.

Thanks - had some fun building it for sure!

What have been your issues with flow? Stuff dying? Slow growth/poor coloration? Not extending?

I've got a gyre running across the top and then a couple of Nero 5s and have a few spares, but haven't given much though to what is 'right' or not. Outside of making sure the torches and hammers aren't completely still or look like they are in a big storm, hard to know what to do!

 

[BryanM]

Looks like a solid plan.

 

[FrozenReefer]

First off, your rock work looks awesome, great job. I think your light is probably ok for now, you have enough spread between top of the rock and the sand bed that there really isn't anything you shouldn't be able to put in the tank. In my own tank which has similar lights, the limiting factor has actually been flow not lights. Trying to get the flow rate perfect for both SPS and LPS has been a challenge and a half. My torches are pretty solid but my hammers are struggling. I can't really talk to placement as I'm still struggling there myself so wouldn't want to give you bad advice. I can tell you I've moved things around my tank a few different times to try to find the "right" spot for them and that seems to work. So don't focus too much on the perfect spot as it can change but try things out and see how it goes. I do pay extra close attention to what the coral will look like in 2 years, not just today.

Thanks - had some fun building it for sure!

What have been your issues with flow? Stuff dying? Slow growth/poor coloration? Not extending?

I've got a gyre running across the top and then a couple of Nero 5s and have a few spares, but haven't given much though to what is 'right' or not. Outside of making sure the torches and hammers aren't completely still or look like they are in a big storm, hard to know what to do!

It is either too much flow for the LPS (hammer corals receding) or not enough flow for the Aeros. It feels like I can never get it just right. Once a quarter it seems I’m changing my power heads to try to fix one issue or another.

So far it seems to be my frogspawn and hammers that are the most problematic. My favia/mushrooms/torch all seem to handle medium flow much better.