How long is light acclimation mode safe?..?

[Zeal]

Title.

Salinity 1.023
pH 7.97
Alk 7.29
Calc 507
Mag 1266
Nitrate 5
Phosphate 0.064

Alright, so I purchased a Waterbox in June and set it up completely. About 3 weeks ago I added some corals from my cube and they were fine up until recently. Right now almost all the corals are ticked or slowly dying. The Mystic Sunset is completely bleached, poker star Monti almost bleached but I still see some green polyps.

The cube is extremely established compared to the Waterbox but I waited 4 months to place anything in the Waterbox, the rocks have tons of colors already.

HG Micromusa also slowly dying I can see some skeletons.

Now all these corals were happy in my cube but when I moved them to the Waterbox I THINK my lights stressed them or are slowly killing them. In the cube I had a single radion Xr15pro G5 in the Waterbox I have 3.

I believe that its the lights causing all this stress in my tank..

I started an acclimation mode for 55 days 5 days ago starting at 20% slowly moving up to 50%.

I fear that 60 days might be too long and I might end up causing more stress...

Im sending out a ICP test tomorrow to rule out anything but I dont know what else to do.

 

[Uzidaisies]

There’s mixed opinions on acclimation modes in general I think. Personally, after I’ve gotten to a point where everything else seems happy, im hesitant to suddenly cut their lights dramatically. That being said, this is all pretty new to me so I’m not basing that off personal experience.

 

[austibella]

I keep my salinity 1.026. ph 8. alk 8.5 mag. 1400. calcium 450-

 

[Zeal]

There’s mixed opinions on acclimation modes in general I think. Personally, after I’ve gotten to a point where everything else seems happy, im hesitant to suddenly cut their lights dramatically. That being said, this is all pretty new to me so I’m not basing that off personal experience.

I’ve ran into this problem before. Everything pointed towards the lights

 

[Zeal]

Shameless self bump

 

[blaxsun]

Are your lights and corals in the new tank roughly the same distance apart as in the old tank? I'm thinking you don't actually have enough light/PAR. I'm not sure what your previous intensity was, but I'd suggest setting it to at least the same intensity that you had for the cube.

My XR15 G5 Blue runs @65% intensity 8" above the water down to a depth of 22.6". PAR is around 500-600 at the surface and 50-75 at the substrate.

 

[Zeal]

Are your lights and corals in the new tank roughly the same distance apart as in the old tank? I'm thinking you don't actually have enough light/PAR. I'm not sure what your previous intensity was, but I'd suggest setting it to at least the same intensity that you had for the cube.

My XR15 G5 Blue runs @65% intensity 8" above the water down to a depth of 22.6". PAR is around 500-600 at the surface and 50-75 at the substrate.

No they are not.

The cube had 1 radion the Waterbox has 3. There's TONS of more light in the Waterbox.

 

[Zeal]

No they are not.

The cube had 1 radion the Waterbox has 3. There's TONS of more light in the Waterbox.

Both lights are attached to the radion mount.

 

[blaxsun]

No they are not.

The cube had 1 radion the Waterbox has 3. There's TONS of more light in the Waterbox.

What's the difference in distance? Yes, I saw that you have three lights as opposed to the original single. Do you know what your PAR levels were on the cube and the new tank?

 

[Zeal]

What's the difference in distance? Yes, I saw that you have three lights as opposed to the original single. Do you know what your PAR levels were on the cube and the new tank?

I do not know the par levels in the cube or the Waterbox. I think im going to PAR test this weekend.

 

[Zeal]

What's the difference in distance? Yes, I saw that you have three lights as opposed to the original single. Do you know what your PAR levels were on the cube and the new tank?

 

[blaxsun]

Your light setup looks fine, but I might suggest moving the outermost XR15s by another 2-4". Your tank height looks to be roughly the same as mine, so I'd change your intensity to at least 40%.

Can you post a screenshot of your current schedule here? (just click edit until you get the screen showing the ramp up/ramp down)

 

[Uzidaisies]

I agree on moving the two outer lights out a little more.

 

[Uzidaisies]

Maybe just the one furthest from the overflow actually.

 

[Zeal]

Your light setup looks fine, but I might suggest moving the outermost XR15s by another 2-4". Your tank height looks to be roughly the same as mine, so I'd change your intensity to at least 40%.

Can you post a screenshot of your current schedule here? (just click edit until you get the screen showing the ramp up/ramp down)

I use the WWC 100g mixed reef schedule.

blue light all day white light 10% from 9:45 to 1:15 then rest is blue all day.

Also… should I up my white light to get better colors out of SPS?

I agree on moving the two outer lights out a little more.

Moved them a bit see picture

 

[Uzidaisies]

Looks like a better spread to me.

 

[Zeal]

Looks like a better spread to me.

Alright I’ll leave it. Now the schedule?

 

[Uzidaisies]

That one I can’t really help with. I’m still kinda figuring mine out and I have a different light. I personally use more white red and green than most people would suggest I think.

 

[blaxsun]

Here's my schedule. Note that this is for the Blue and not the Pro, but you can play around with the colors a bit. The Pro has +6 more cool white, -4 royal blue, -4 blue, +1 photo red, +1 green (instead of lime), -1 violet and no cyan but warm white. Mine is a variation on the Radiant template to make the fish and corals pop.

The first thing you need to do is disable your acclimation, set the schedule intensity to 40% (you have it set to 100%) and then upload a new screenshot of your schedule ramp up/down - because right now it looks like you're maybe getting 15% off your lights (which would be far from enough). If you look at my schedule you can see that I'm getting 40-45% but the maximum potential is around 70% if I were to set the schedule intensity to 100%.

 

[Zeal]

That one I can’t really help with. I’m still kinda figuring mine out and I have a different light. I personally use more white red and green than most people would suggest I think.

I hate too much white. Red and green promotes algae growth