Help please with this light unit … thank you.

[peterhos]

Evening all. I could do with some help with lighting. I have attached the PAR map for a TMC ilumenaire + 900. It hangs over my new Red Sea G2 250 and the tank is the ‘optimum size’ for the unit according to TMC. The tank is only 4 months old and so I have made the beginner’s mistake of trying to add a few SPS frags half way up and some zoa frags at the bottom of the tank. I have been fiddling with adjusting the 3 channels. The SPS corals have not progressed much. The zoas have started to grow. Late in the evening I now have the white channel set at only 30% and the blue and colours at around 80-86%. The zoas look spectacular with those numbers. So, maybe I should use the evening settings for the daytime?? Do corals really need white light? Does the light unit give out too much white light if dialled up for SPS? Am I bleaching the SPS corals? Any thoughts would be much appreciated. Thank you.

 

[KrisReef]

I am not believing the par map provided, but if it is accurate that light is punching out too much par for many coral down to the lower half of the tank. I bought a par meter to get real answers, and you will want one if you want answers more useful than mine. Lets see if anyone else has experience with TMC ilumenaire + 900?

 

[peterhos]

Thanks Kris. If the numbers turn out to be accurate then their recommendation of 75% on all channels still comes out at around 60o for top/centre if my maths is correct. As you say, far too much? I will give the manufacturer a call today. Oddly I have very little algae …