Is this enough light for SPS?

[RobertK]

Hey there, I would like to ask for some feedback on my lighting. My tank is 4' long, 70 gallons with 3 Kessil A360s. It is LPS dominant but I'd like to add a few SPS to grow into the spaces between the larger LPS colonies. Lights are on 11 hours/day with a 2 hour ramp up and ramp down, so 7 hours at peak. The PAR readings in the photo were taken with an Apogee MQ-510 at midday. Was thinking of stylophora, seriatopora and maybe one or two acros that don't need super intense light in the middle. I could crank up the lights higher but the LPS seem to like this amount of light and I don't want to give them too much. What do you think? Thank you!

 

[Doctor Derp]

You can get away with most of the easier stuff in the majority of the mid to upper levels of your tank. Montipora, Stylo, Anacropora etc.. there are some gorgeous varieties out there.

 

[CBonito]

Yes. That looks legit. Your tank should be pretty happy with that as shown.

 

[Pistondog]

Hey there, I would like to ask for some feedback on my lighting. My tank is 4' long, 70 gallons with 3 Kessil A360s. It is LPS dominant but I'd like to add a few SPS to grow into the spaces between the larger LPS colonies. Lights are on 11 hours/day with a 2 hour ramp up and ramp down, so 7 hours at peak. The PAR readings in the photo were taken with an Apogee MQ-510 at midday. Was thinking of stylophora, seriatopora and maybe one or two acros that don't need super intense light in the middle. I could crank up the lights higher but the LPS seem to like this amount of light and I don't want to give them too much. What do you think? Thank you!

Id agree your lighting is sufficient. Might have to up your flow game for best sps growth.

 

[CBonito]

Confidence Booster:

This is @Reefer Matt 's tank and he is also using Kessil. I have two of them with an ATI Straton Pro in between and I love them too. There's a lot of negativity about them that floats around, but it's all "blah blah blah".

And this is my own tank which is not as mature, but doing just as well.

 

[rtparty]

The most open spaces in there look to be 160-180 PAR. I would only put the lowest light SPS there. 200 is usually the bare minimum for SPS with 300-400 being much better

 

[rtparty]

Confidence Booster:

This is @Reefer Matt 's tank and he is also using Kessil. I have two of them with an ATI Straton Pro in between and I love them too. There's a lot of negativity about them that floats around, but it's all "blah blah blah".

And this is my own tank which is not as mature, but doing just as well.

Not really "blah blah blah"...Matt has 4 over a 4 foot tank. You have a Straton in between them. Neither is being used how they are marketed and promoted. They do not cover the 2x2 they claim. One per foot is necessary for SPS tanks.

There is also the high failure rate around the 2 year mark but companies like to pretend that doesn't happen

 

[RobertK]

The most open spaces in there look to be 160-180 PAR. I would only put the lowest light SPS there. 200 is usually the bare minimum for SPS with 300-400 being much better

Thanks everyone. The Kessils are not turned up all the way and I could increase the PAR, but would higher PAR be too much for the LPS? I could do some rearranging but I don't think I have room for some of the larger colonies lower down.

 

[bubbgee]

torches, hammers and frogspawns can take a lot of light. Acans, scolys and other similar types do not like higher par or flow. You can just increase the light in the middle and then make that the SPS area and move affected and unhappy LPS to the side afterwards.

 

[RobertK]

torches, hammers and frogspawns can take a lot of light. Acans, scolys and other similar types do not like higher par or flow. You can just increase the light in the middle and then make that the SPS area and move affected and unhappy LPS to the side afterwards.

What about favias? The big baby's breath favia in the middle is in the highest PAR area of the tank, and that one would be hard for me to move. Can it do well under higher PAR? I have all 3 Kessils connected in series and controlled together by a single Spectral Controller X, so I can't really adjust the lamps separately. There is more light in the center due to overlap and also because the center lamp is a newer A360XE, which is 15% brighter than the older A360X's on the left and right.

 

[bubbgee]

Favia could probably get 250 par tops. i would get another spectral controller and configure the one in the middle on it's own controller.

 

[RobertK]

Favia could probably get 250 par tops. i would get another spectral controller and configure the one in the middle on it's own controller.

Good idea, hadn't thought of that!

The most open spaces in there look to be 160-180 PAR. I would only put the lowest light SPS there. 200 is usually the bare minimum for SPS with 300-400 being much better

The 160-180 readings near the top of the photo are close to the back glass. The tank is eurobraced so there is less light at the back glass than there is a few inches forward of that. I'd probably put the SPS in the spots labeled 195, 320, 220.

 

[TCK Corals]

Should be enough light to grow everything but certain light demanding acropora. That said, being point source lights, shading (undersides of branches etc) could become an issue as they grow out.

 

[Reefer Matt]

Confidence Booster:

This is @Reefer Matt 's tank and he is also using Kessil. I have two of them with an ATI Straton Pro in between and I love them too. There's a lot of negativity about them that floats around, but it's all "blah blah blah".

And this is my own tank which is not as mature, but doing just as well.

That was my tank in 2022-23. This is it in 2025…

 

[CBonito]

That was my tank in 2022-23. This is it in 2025…

Yeah, see, it even made his Damsel Fish grow into a fish sandwich!

 

[bubbgee]

That was my tank in 2022-23. This is it in 2025…

Never waste an opportunity to show off, lol

When are you going to release that WD progress video? I am struggling with my WD here..

 

[CBonito]

I dont think you need to do that. You can set up two of them in a group and then the other separately on one spectral controller, no? I think you can do that.

 

[RobertK]

That was my tank in 2022-23. This is it in 2025…

Looks like you' ve changed your lighting since then? Looks fantastic BTW!

I dont think you need to do that. You can set up two of them in a group and then the other separately on one spectral controller, no? I think you can do that.

Not sure what you mean here. You mean that you don't think I need to buy a second spectral controller? i.e. use the spectral controller for the center lamp and control the left and right manually with the dials on the lamp?

 

[CBonito]

Looks like you' ve changed your lighting since then?


Not sure what you mean here. You mean that you don't think I need to buy a second spectral controller? i.e. use the spectral controller for the center lamp and control the left and right manually with the dials on the lamp?

No, I think you can set up groups and control the groups separately with the one controller.
They are all addressable in the controller by their serial number. I'm going to have to play with this.

 

[CBonito]

https://www.kessil.com/downloads/accessories/5870124%20A3%20User%20Manual%20for%20Spectral%20Controller%20X.pdf