Glowrium light settings for softies but not algae

[MNscoe]

Still a newbie here, dealing with ich in my 55gal tank. Put my 4 fish in a 29gal QT hospital tank for copper treatment but lost 3 of them. Fish #4 (a wrasse) is doing great -- it's been 3 weeks. Ramping down copper now.

Meanwhile in my DT, I'm doing the 72 day fallow period. As the ich set it, my tank was also starting its ugly phase. Without the fish, I've got four soft mushroom corals, one banded coral shrimp, and 60-70 various snails and crabs. I left the lights on for the softies, but the algae is going gangbusters. So... I turned the lights off for 3 days. Algae was knocked way down (yay!), so I turned lights back on and found I may have killed the softies. Oops! They are shriveled. We'll see if they recover?

My question: got a 48" Glowrium LED light, 96Watt, on 55 gallon tank (4ft x 1ft x 20inch high). Softies are mid-to-lower half of tank. Had light power peak around 30% for 8 hours. See pic of daily light cycle settings. What power settings should I use at the different spectra to support my softies but discourage algae?

PS I don't have a PAR meter, and I see the mfr's PAR estimates for my light. I will measure that someday, but for now I'm trying to simply get directionally correct on reasonable power levels by spectra as a starting point.

Thanks!

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

I'm sure your corals will recover. Algae and corals need the same thing, you can't dim the lights in a way that encourage coral growth but discourage algae.

Understand that algae growth is a normal process in a reef tank, embrace it don't fight it. What I see in your pic is diatoms, which is very normal, it goes away by itself after a week or two. After that your rocks will start turning green as biofilm and micro algae's grow, its a normal part of the process, you shouldn't discourage it. Its part of the ecosystem maturing.

EDIT: a 95 watt light on 55 gallon tank should be somewhere 80%-100% IMO. I have a 100 watt light on a 32 gallon set to 75% for 8 hours a day

 

[MNscoe]

I'm sure your corals will recover. Algae and corals need the same thing, you can't dim the lights in a way that encourage coral growth but discourage algae.

Understand that algae growth is a normal process in a reef tank, embrace it don't fight it. What I see in your pic is diatoms, which is very normal, it goes away by itself after a week or two. After that your rocks will start turning green as biofilm and micro algae's grow, its a normal part of the process, you shouldn't discourage it. Its part of the ecosystem maturing.

EDIT: a 95 watt light on 55 gallon tank should be somewhere 80%-100% IMO. I have a 100 watt light on a 32 gallon set to 75% for 8 hours a day

Ok. Deep breath. I'm embracing algae as unavoidable and normal. (As a newbie, I had dreams of a pristine tank. I'm learning.)

My corals did recover from the 3 days of lights off. Yay. They seem to be doing well, but I'm not experienced enough to know if they're "thriving". My Zoanthid has had 2 babies so far... I presume that's good.

I'm going to take your advice and start turning up my lights higher. Thanks!

 

[enlighten]

Keep it up! Would love to see your progress. Feel free to post in my glowrium thread. We are showing what these lights can do!