IM 25 lagoon lighting HELP

[POIUY678]

I just downgraded my tank from a 55 gallon tank to a 25 gallon tank (IM 25 gallon lagoon), but my torches, frammer, and bubble coral arent opening up fully and only partially. I'm using my old light from my 55 gallon tank (100W nicrew), but just lowering the intensity of the blue/white light because it's a smaller tank, is this ok? if so what light schedule/intensity should I use? If it's not ok which light and what light schedule do you recommend?

Or is this just because I only moved them recently? 5 days ago

My tank is mostly LPS with some soft corals (xenias/mushroom)

 

[Stang67]

Probable a little bit of stress from the move. I would give them a couple more days. Test the new 25 to make sure your levels are in line. Did you use all new water? Was the 25 established or new?
May also be a flow issue.

 

[POIUY678]

Probable a little bit of stress from the move. I would give them a couple more days. Test the new 25 to make sure your levels are in line. Did you use all new water? Was the 25 established or new?
May also be a flow issue.

The levels are fine, same as my old one with the same salt used as well, it was all new water,
the 25 is new, only a couple of days old now
I think the flow is actually better than my old tank, it's getting moderate flow, not too high or low but it's just not opening up as much as usual.

Should I just wait it out for a couple of more days like you suggested or should I get a new light that's meant for a 25 gallon tank?

Thanks for the advice by the way, moving tanks is a bit harder than I imagined

 

[Tamberav]

Did you move your rock with the downgrade?

 

[POIUY678]

Did you move your rock with the downgrade?

No, I didnt. My old tank got taken over by bubble algae and I couldnt stop it, and it got really bad, so I moved everything to a new tank and used bottled bacteria. I'm checking up with the ammonia/nitrates level of the tank daily to make sure everything is ok though.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

I use a 100 watt nicrew on a 32 gallon tank, so I don't think its outrageous to use it on a 25 gallon, I would put it down to about 50% to start and then adjust from there.

It sounds like the new tank is using new dry rocks and new sand? I would think the corals are adjusting to a completely new tank. Did you move one of your old rocks to help kick start the maturing process? A scoop of sand would help too. It sounds like completely different tank conditions so the corals will take time to acclimate.

 

[ninjamyst]

It's not your light. Your new tank needs to mature again. There isn't much you can do at this point beside keeping things stable to avoid further shock. You will most likely loose a few corals in this process.

For future reference, the most important part of reefing is maturity and stability. It's not something you can measure with a test kit. You can have perfect parameters but without a matured biodome, your corals are in shock.

 

[Tamberav]

No, I didnt. My old tank got taken over by bubble algae and I couldnt stop it, and it got really bad, so I moved everything to a new tank and used bottled bacteria. I'm checking up with the ammonia/nitrates level of the tank daily to make sure everything is ok though.

Mature rock has a MUCH greater affect than which light you use.

Your corals are likely unhappy with the enormous change to their biome. The ammonia/nitrate is just a small, nearly insignificant part of the tank. It is the 100's or thousands of organisms/bacteria that you can't test for. The ocean biome can not be contained in a bottle you buy off a shelf.

I would not chase a light around and spend more $ on one. You would simply be changing yet another thing your corals were used to. All you need to do is dim it down to suit your now smaller/shallower tank since it won't need to penetrate the water nearly as far. IM25 is a very shallow tank!

Next time I would scrape all the bubble algae off and give the rock a tank water + peroxide dip to kill off algae but keep many of the tiny bacteria alive within the rock.

Pests will find their way into the tank, starting over or not. Be sure to deal with them swiftly before they can spread.

 

[POIUY678]

I use a 100 watt nicrew on a 32 gallon tank, so I don't think its outrageous to use it on a 25 gallon, I would put it down to about 50% to start and then adjust from there.

It sounds like the new tank is using new dry rocks and new sand? I would think the corals are adjusting to a completely new tank. Did you move one of your old rocks to help kick start the maturing process? A scoop of sand would help too. It sounds like completely different tank conditions so the corals will take time to acclimate.

yea I didnt move any rock or sand from my old tank cause of algae problems, I'll try and see if I can scrape some algae off one of my smaller rocks and move it in thanks for the advice, and can I ask what is your schedule and % of blue/white light for your tank by any chance?

 

[POIUY678]

It's not your light. Your new tank needs to mature again. There isn't much you can do at this point beside keeping things stable to avoid further shock. You will most likely loose a few corals in this process.

For future reference, the most important part of reefing is maturity and stability. It's not something you can measure with a test kit. You can have perfect parameters but without a matured biodome, your corals are in shock.

Got it thank you, the thing is my other LPS corals like my acans and favites are opening up normally and doing just fine, but it's just my torch/frammer/bubble corals that arent opening up which is why I was worried. I'll try and move rocks from my old tank to my new tank since it's still running at the moment, thank you for the advice

 

[POIUY678]

Mature rock has a MUCH greater affect than which light you use.

Your corals are likely unhappy with the enormous change to their biome. The ammonia/nitrate is just a small, nearly insignificant part of the tank. It is the 100's or thousands of organisms/bacteria that you can't test for. The ocean biome can not be contained in a bottle you buy off a shelf.

I would not chase a light around and spend more $ on one. You would simply be changing yet another thing your corals were used to. All you need to do is dim it down to suit your now smaller/shallower tank since it won't need to penetrate the water nearly as far. IM25 is a very shallow tank!

Next time I would scrape all the bubble algae off and give the rock a tank water + peroxide dip to kill off algae but keep many of the tiny bacteria alive within the rock.

Pests will find their way into the tank, starting over or not. Be sure to deal with them swiftly before they can spread.

Should I just try and scrape off the algae and put it straight in the tank so that the bacteria will stay or will dipping it in peroxide be the more safer choice? thanks for the advice

 

[ninjamyst]

Got it thank you, the thing is my other LPS corals like my acans and favites are opening up normally and doing just fine, but it's just my torch/frammer/bubble corals that arent opening up which is why I was worried. I'll try and move rocks from my old tank to my new tank since it's still running at the moment, thank you for the advice

Acans and favites are harder than euphyillas

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

yea I didnt move any rock or sand from my old tank cause of algae problems, I'll try and see if I can scrape some algae off one of my smaller rocks and move it in thanks for the advice, and can I ask what is your schedule and % of blue/white light for your tank by any chance?

I do t have the controller for the light, so pressing the button changes in 25% intervals. My blues are at 75% and the whites at 50%

 

[POIUY678]

I do t have the controller for the light, so pressing the button changes in 25% intervals. My blues are at 75% and the whites at 50%

Oh ok got it, can I ask how tall your tank is too? I think I've been running my light too low from the looks of it, my peak is at 15% blue and 5% white but my tank is shallower at a 12 inches tall tank

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Oh ok got it, can I ask how tall your tank is too? I think I've been running my light too low from the looks of it, my peak is at 15% blue and 5% white but my tank is shallower at a 12 inches tall tank

Sure, my tank is 18” deep.