IS THIS TOO MUCH LIGHT???

PeterB113

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Hey guys so I was talking with someone I bought zoas from because the zoa I bought hasn't opened and he asked what intensity is my light at. I sent him my preset and he said it was way too strong and that I was cooking my corals? Do you guys agree? I have a 20g long and 1 AI prime 16HD. All my corals look great and I haven't adjusted my schedule in 5months and the tank is only 7mos old. Please let me know what you guys think. Before he said this I was honestly thinking I didn't have enough light because the edges of my tank are kind of shaded. Was thinking if replacing my 16hd with a hydra 32hd but now I'm not sure . Please help.




20210717_221126.jpg 20210717_221110.jpg Screenshot_20210717-214423_myAI.jpg
 

BamboozleBean

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Your tank looks good, it’s kinda long but if everything is doing well I wouldn’t change it. Especially if that’s what you’ve been running for 2 months. Some Zoas are just weird.
 

ReefRusty

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Over 5 months you would of seen some bleaching if it was to high.. if everything looks happy, as they say "why fix it when it ain't broken" just keep your parameters stable good lighting happy corals. Zoas might be still adjusting to your tank I had a couple zoas take a few weeks to open. Just needed to adjust to the levels I was running.
 
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PeterB113

PeterB113

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Your tank looks good, it’s kinda long but if everything is doing well I wouldn’t change it. Especially if that’s what you’ve been running for 2 months. Some Zoas are just weird.
It's a LSOH zoa do you think I should just move it to a more shaded area of the tank? Also what are your thought on me putting a hydra 32 and running the same schedule just so I get more coverage along the edges of the tank
 

BamboozleBean

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It's a LSOH zoa do you think I should just move it to a more shaded area of the tank? Also what are your thought on me putting a hydra 32 and running the same schedule just so I get more coverage along the edges of the tank
Gotcha those are pricey so I understand your concern. Maybe move it a to a shadier area for now and see how it does. Your AI Prime has plenty of coverage, a hydra on top might actually be overdoing it.
 
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PeterB113

PeterB113

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Not al all. I over powered a tank for years on accident, it did not bleach much out. no growth or receded growth is a better sign.
I have been seeing alot of growth and no bleaching the only reason I'm thinking it's too high is because someone looked at my schedule and said it was way too high. What do you think?
 

outhouse

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its not hard to overlight a tank. I ran my lights at 60% in a 30 inch deep tank and when nothing grew, I turned it up. Bad move. I literally am running my lights now at 1 % for white and blue and everything is growing great again. If you think you might have to much light, you probably do. Trust your gut, underlighting is fixable, overlighting take longer to recover
 

outhouse

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I run 8 hours total light, 8 blue and 6 white so I have an hour sunset or sunrise. used to sell coral to the local shops, started with one nem, rbta now im at 130 had 7 heads of branching hammer and at one time had over 2000 head which outgrew my 210. down to a few hundred now. But fixed my main issue, which was over lighting. you have 2 things intensity and duration, just chose wisely
 
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PeterB113

PeterB113

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I run 8 hours total light, 8 blue and 6 white so I have an hour sunset or sunrise. used to sell coral to the local shops, started with one nem, rbta now im at 130 had 7 heads of branching hammer and at one time had over 2000 head which outgrew my 210. down to a few hundred now. But fixed my main issue, which was over lighting. you have 2 things intensity and duration, just chose wisely
To you does my schedule look like it's too overpowered? My thought was it's only 1 prime and a 3ft long tank so I didn't want shading on the sides
 

LuizW13

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Your corals look great, I don't think I would change it anything. I would probably get a Hydra later down the road to increase the spread throughout the tank, but not necessary apparently! But if you do get a Hydra, you may then want to reduce the intensity- I have a Hydra 26HD at a very similar preset, the AB+, and had to reduce them way down.
 
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PeterB113

PeterB113

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Your corals look great, I don't think I would change it anything. I would probably get a Hydra later down the road to increase the spread throughout the tank, but not necessary apparently! But if you do get a Hydra, you may then want to reduce the intensity- I have a Hydra 26HD at a very similar preset, the AB+, and had to reduce them way down.
Thank you! Do they still sell hydra 26s? Can't find them anywhere
 

rtparty

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If everything else is happy, don't change a thing. Is it worth risking 99% of your corals for 1?

Zoas suck. It's just a fact that most of us eventually learn. They'll be happy as can be for months on end then one day close up, never open again, and die. I dealt with it for years in many different tanks. Stopped keeping them years ago for this reason.

Only with LEDs can you really "over light" a tank. It's not really over lighting as much as it is using laser beams the corals don't care for.

Most of my corals sit at 200+ PAR with many sitting at 350+. I have micromussa lords, blastos, hammers, etc all sitting in over 300 PAR with my halides. With LEDs, they'd be dead.

Just keep doing what you're doing. A lighting change is one of the easiest ways to crash a tank
 

Tcook

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Enough guessing. I assume you are going to be in the hobby for some time and will aquire more pricey corals. Buy or borrow a PAR meter. Remove some of the frustration.
 
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