Help with Red Planet

goody · Jan 19, 2011

Some of you may have read my thread about my LEDs and wondering if it could cause browning. My RP started showing some green in the base, but the majority of it remains brown. It is now taking a turn for the worse. Now, those long white stringy polyps you see at feedings are showing most of the day but it appears to be something else because the coral looks dead/bleached in these areas. I cannot figure out what is going on. Could this be tissue loss?
Water parameters:
Ca 420
Alk 9dkh
Mg 1350
N03 0
p04 .06
ph 8.08
temp. 79.2
This is really the only piece that is having problems in my tank. It is about a 5"x5" piece and I'm wondering if I should frag it or see what happens. It sits mid way down tank about 30" from mp40 under 2 120w LED fixtures and 2 t5. And 2 days ago I did a CoralRx dip just to make sure there weren't any pests. Not a great pic., but hopefully you can see the white "stuff" and places where the coral is now bleached/dead, which is mostly on the undersides of the branches.

goody · Jan 21, 2011

Nobody? Maybe another pic. might help with some responses.

hwntunda · Jan 21, 2011

is it in the center of one of your LEDS? or off to the side?

redhanded · Jan 21, 2011

my red planets are doing awesome under leds. i wish i could chime in and give you some advice. for what its worth. ive had random sps species go south for no apparent reason, while others have done awesome.

Murfman · Jan 21, 2011

I have the 120 watt LEDs and my RP is 8-10 inches from the surface with the light 5 1/2 inches above the water line. It was browning so I had to move it up. Now it is nice and green with red toward the top.

Dan Rigle · Jan 21, 2011

Was the coral under different lighting recently and then put under LEDs?
If so I would think it is photo inhibition or light shock.
If you could borrow a par meter and get a measurement you could fine tune where the fixture height and coral location shall be .I have a feeling the par would be low(100 to 200 range) with the fixture being up where you had it which would not be enough to make a RP happy.
Mine is under in pretty high light (par 600)and strong random flow.Not much green except at the pld growth at the base but grows like a weed.GL

goody · Jan 21, 2011

Dan Rigle said:
Was the coral under different lighting recently and then put under LEDs?
If so I would think it is photo inhibition or light shock.
If you could borrow a par meter and get a measurement you could fine tune where the fixture height and coral location shall be .I have a feeling the par would be low(100 to 200 range) with the fixture being up where you had it which would not be enough to make a RP happy.
Mine is under in pretty high light (par 600)and strong random flow.Not much green except at the pld growth at the base but grows like a weed.GL

I had it under 6xt5 about 4 months ago. It was really high up in my tank, so I moved it down midway to try and get more green in the coral (I've heard less light leads to more green). It is at the same level in my tank now with the LEDs. I have it about 4" from center of one of the fixtures. PAR readings were taken by the member who led the group buy. According to his readings, I am getting PAR 237. If I want to get the same PAR readings as you (600), then again, according to his readings, I would need to have it about 7" from the lights.

Maybe I have been overly cautious from fear of bleaching them from too much light. Here is the PAR values he took. Sold - Led Purchase - San Diego Reef Forums

goody · Jan 21, 2011

Murfman said:
I have the 120 watt LEDs and my RP is 8-10 inches from the surface with the light 5 1/2 inches above the water line. It was browning so I had to move it up. Now it is nice and green with red toward the top.

Very similar measurements to my placement. Looks like I will be moving mine up.

Dan Rigle · Jan 21, 2011

goody said:
I had it under 6xt5 about 4 months ago. It was really high up in my tank, so I moved it down midway to try and get more green in the coral (I've heard less light leads to more green). It is at the same level in my tank now with the LEDs. I have it about 4" from center of one of the fixtures. PAR readings were taken by the member who led the group buy. According to his readings, I am getting PAR 237. If I want to get the same PAR readings as you (600), then again, according to his readings, I would need to have it about 7" from the lights.

Maybe I have been overly cautious from fear of bleaching them from too much light. Here is the PAR values he took. Sold - Led Purchase - San Diego Reef Forums

I think more importantly them par in general would be the difference in type,color spectrum amount of uv etc... and its effects on a coral.(Coral looks really stressed)Colonies don't take well to change and something as subtle as changing spectrum on halides can stunt a acropora and send it into dormancy for a long while.So going from T5 to LED is drastic.My suggestion is watch the coral closely.It will tell you what it wants.I slowly give them more and more light over a few month period and see how it reacts.If it reacts positively from more light in the first gradual move then you know you are doing the right thing.If it starts bleeching then you need to lower and let it acclimate to your new type of lighting