New to Reefing, need help with lighting

[angsess]

I have the hello reef 15 gallon cube 15"x15"x15". It came with a 12 inch AI Blade Coral Grow. I just added 2 small zoa frags last night and want to get the lighting right. I do not have a par meter. Anyone have suggestions on where to start with settings? I currently have it on the coral growth preset for 10 hours a day and dialed the intensity back to 50%. I turned acclimation mode on. Polyps are open, so I think that is good sign?

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

The 12" light is 20 watts, just to give you some perspective, I use AI Prime on my 15 gallon softie tank (10" deep), mostly mushrooms and zoa's, and AI Prime is 55 watts, I have it set at 85%. Unfortunately the 20 watt light is a little underpowered, personally I would use it at full strength and look for an upgrade in the future, you want to be somewhere about 50-60 watts, and at that wattage, IMO 75% or higher. However, in general corals don't any need light acclimation.

 

[Ron Reefman]

You are probably OK with what you have set it at. I assume it's more blue than white if it's a coral setting. A 50% setting should be a good starting point. You could ramp it up 10-15% a week. Corals adapt to light pretty quickly... until it gets too bright (too high a PAR level).

You might take one cheap zoa frag and mount it up higher in the tank. As the PAR goes up, it should be the first one to show signs of stress, if your light is even capable of getting to a high enough PAR to cause stress.

One of my 2 tanks is a 17g AIO tank I made from scratch and it has mostly lps and sps corals and a few zoas. I don't keep any fish as that makes it much easier to keep the tank and water cleaner.

 

[angsess]

The 12" light is 20 watts, just to give you some perspective, I use AI Prime on my 15 gallon softie tank (10" deep), mostly mushrooms and zoa's, and AI Prime is 55 watts, I have it set at 85%. Unfortunately the 20 watt light is a little underpowered, personally I would use it at full strength and look for an upgrade in the future, you want to be somewhere about 50-60 watts, and at that wattage, IMO 75% or higher. However, in general corals don't any need light acclimation.

Thank you for the advice. I will look at my options. Would adding a second 12 inch blade be any help, or should I just opt for a stronger single light?

 

[Ron Reefman]

A second fixture like the first will help some, but you'd probably be better off with a stronger one. Your zoas will be fine for now. You don't need to rush out and buy something.