Need lighting help

[SaltAddict89]

I have my light about 3 inches above my tank but my frogspawn and RBTA dont fully extend. The RBTA bubbles up nicely but i want the longer tenacles. It used to be 3 inchs around but had a tank crash and it almost died. Any ideas would be helpful

 

[Reefing Madness]

What kind of light are we talking about here?

 

[Masedaddy]

Agreed, need to know what type of lighting your are using. I think from a previous thread you said it was a 2 bulb T5 light but I'm not sure.... I also wanted to ask why is the tank not filled up to the normal level? Do you like it better that way? Also, need to know your parameters. You said you had a tank crash, what happened? RBTA can take a lot of abuse but sometimes it takes a long time for them to go back to normal after problem in the tank.

 

[SaltAddict89]

Its a 2 bulb t5 ho and the take just wasnt taken care of so high phosphates. Ill check my parms later this evening

 

[tigerdragon]

Are you running a sump? Skimmer? What is your filtration sys?

 

[SaltAddict89]

No sump or any filtration. I have a eshopps psk100 but its not a hob

 

[tigerdragon]

You really need to consider filtration upgrade before lighting otherwise params will get out of control unless you are doing daily wc. Get tank balanced and steady then look at lighting.

 

[SaltAddict89]

Im gonna add a sump probably this week

 

[Masedaddy]

I agree, upgrade the filtration system first. I'm sure if your phosphates were high then your nitrates were really high....

 

[SaltAddict89]

Did some water tests today.

1.026 salinity
80 temp
8.0 ph
Nirate 0
Nitrite 0
Ammonia 0
Calc 500

No test for phosphates so im gonna say they are high.and thats the issue.

 

[betelgeuse]

Phosphate test kits are pretty cheap