Newbie Light question

[shawnandmay]

Good Morning, I currently have a 90 Gal tank (48" x 18" X 22") with corals and a few fishes, I have a few hammerheads and frogspawns and a few SPS corals, long story short been in hobby since all Aug, met a hobbist that told us if we wanted to upgrade from our 38g to a bigger one he had all the equipment would get us all set up for what we needed.....after bringing the tank,other equipment and settting it all up......we were left on our own. We were very lost on how the sump worked...etc Didnt hear back from him. luckily i got someone in the hobby off FB to come help look at things and some reccomendations bc all my sps corals were BLEACHED/DEAD?
SO to my question, he set up with T5 lighting, it has 2 white bulbs 2 blue bulbs no brand just a light fixture that lays on top of tank.....was told we most likely wasnt getting enough light for the SPS... ANY LIGHT RECOMMENDATIONS WOULD BE GREAT ON LIGHTS, i did some research and it was overwhelming. TIA

I also tested the water
ph 8.1
ammonia 0
nitrite 0
nitrate 5ppm
alk 8.5 dkh
calcium test color never changed so im assuming its higher then the test does?
magnesium 1440
phosphate .5ppm
salinity 1.027

 

[LiveWire]

Welcome to the REEF!! (If i have not already said that). Sorry to hear about someone leaving you high and dry after purchasing their system. There are plenty members here that are happy to help you out.

Your lighting will all depend on your lighting budget.


How much are you looking to spend in lighting?
Do you have enough electrical/plugs around the system to support more than one light fixture?
What are you planning on keeping in the system?
Do you want to stay with T5 or go LED?

Just a few things to think of first and then you can start looking at different options.

Your parameters are looking good. I stay at 1.026 salinity myself and try to stay around .03 on PO4

 

[Bfragale]

Good morning.

I have a similar tank size. I’m running 4 t5 (aquatic life hybrid) and 4 ai prime HD fixtures.

The primes were pushing 100-200 par from sand to tip of rocks. With t5 I’m getting about 175-200 at sand and 350 at too of rocks.

So this would lead me to believe your PAR is probably somewhere in the 100-200 range. But the age of the bulbs will make a difference. They loose intensity over time so if they were used then they could be weaker.

You could rent a PAR meter to get an idea of what they are producing in regards to PAR. But in my opinion 4 t5 bulbs should be enough for softies and lps and some maybe lower light sps. But I’m no expert and learning as I go lol.

I was able to get the primes used and the aquatic life fixture used but even with used stuff I’m in lighting about $800 bucks give or take. And the t5 bulbs are about $100 to replace give or take. So lighting is not cheap lol. My set up is cheapest I could get to get close to 350 par for sps. But if you don’t plan on high light sps the t5 should work out I believe.

Hope this helps, take care and happy reefing!

Also:

 

[shawnandmay]

Thanks!
Honestly on the $$ part I'm on a TIGHT budget lol (I made the switch bc the price I was given for new setup was suppose to be good for awhile)

I have enough plugs.

I've only really had t5s....I did have 2 strips of led lighting on my smaller tank that was sold to me I dont know the brand but was able to adjust the amount of color intensity and it had like sun rise sun set full moon half moon etc options. So looking to see if t5, led or combo is better?

Coral wise i would like to have some sps thrive in my tank.... my soft corals are doing ok with what I have....but the sps corals are im sure dead...all white or with a tint of brown I have 2 anemones thats aren't doing too well was told probably not enough light
Here are some pics of all my bleached coral...

Any suggestions on lowering the po4?

 

[shawnandmay]

Good morning.

I have a similar tank size. I’m running 4 t5 (aquatic life hybrid) and 4 ai prime HD fixtures.

The primes were pushing 100-200 par from sand to tip of rocks. With t5 I’m getting about 175-200 at sand and 350 at too of rocks.

So this would lead me to believe your PAR is probably somewhere in the 100-200 range. But the age of the bulbs will make a difference. They loose intensity over time so if they were used then they could be weaker.

You could rent a PAR meter to get an idea of what they are producing in regards to PAR. But in my opinion 4 t5 bulbs should be enough for softies and lps and some maybe lower light sps. But I’m no expert and learning as I go lol.

I was able to get the primes used and the aquatic life fixture used but even with used stuff I’m in lighting about $800 bucks give or take. And the t5 builds are about $100 to replace give or take. So lighting is not cheap lol. My set up is cheapest I could get to get close to 350 par for sps. But if you don’t plan on high light sps the t5 should work out I believe.

Hope this helps, take care and happy reefing!

Also:

I will have to see how to get a hold of a par meter! I bought it used so I have no idea how old the bulbs are.

Do you find doing the combo t5 and led to work better? Thanksss

 

[Bfragale]

I will have to see how to get a hold of a par meter! I bought it used so I have no idea how old the bulbs are.

Do you find doing the combo t5 and led to work better? Thanksss

I personally like it but it’s only been a few weeks. I think it’s only needed if your trying to keep sps and higher light demanding corals. But I think softies and lps you should be ok with the 4 t5 bulbs.

Brs rents the par meters. Also many local fish stores may rent them as well. Some places take a 100% refundable deposit and return it fully when you return the device- so it ends up free. Brs charges but includes two way shipping.

Good luck my friend and happy reefing!

 

[Bfragale]

If you were closer to Los Angeles i would tell you to come borrow my seneye. .. too bad your far, it would be a long drive lol.

 

[shawnandmay]

If you were closer to Los Angeles i would tell you to come borrow my seneye. .. too bad your far, it would be a long drive lol.

That would be quite a long drive!

 

[vetteguy53081]

Good Morning, I currently have a 90 Gal tank (48" x 18" X 22") with corals and a few fishes, I have a few hammerheads and frogspawns and a few SPS corals, long story short been in hobby since all Aug, met a hobbist that told us if we wanted to upgrade from our 38g to a bigger one he had all the equipment would get us all set up for what we needed.....after bringing the tank,other equipment and settting it all up......we were left on our own. We were very lost on how the sump worked...etc Didnt hear back from him. luckily i got someone in the hobby off FB to come help look at things and some reccomendations bc all my sps corals were BLEACHED/DEAD?
SO to my question, he set up with T5 lighting, it has 2 white bulbs 2 blue bulbs no brand just a light fixture that lays on top of tank.....was told we most likely wasnt getting enough light for the SPS... ANY LIGHT RECOMMENDATIONS WOULD BE GREAT ON LIGHTS, i did some research and it was overwhelming. TIA

I also tested the water
ph 8.1
ammonia 0
nitrite 0
nitrate 5ppm
alk 8.5 dkh
calcium test color never changed so im assuming its higher then the test does?
magnesium 1440
phosphate .5ppm
salinity 1.027

Orphek bars
two hydra 26hd
Kessil AP700

 

[Bfragale]

Also I Re-read my answer lol.

You have t5- you can always add more t5- it doesn’t have to be combo of t5 and led. I think t5, led, MH- it’s all a matter of viewing preference and budget- the important part it to get adequate par rating for the coral you are keeping.

Brs has some good videos regarding par for softies/mixed/and sps dominate - but if you’re going full out sps I believe you should be pushing 350 par at too of rocks. At lease that’s what I was aiming for.

The monti usually can do well with less light in my experience but the acroporas generally need the higher lighting to thrive. But I’m just starting to keep sps- so I’m still a newbie and could be wrong lol

Just wanted to add this- take care

 

[Uncle99]

Phosphate quite high and out of balance with nitrate for a young tank at .5
With nitrate at 5ppm (which is good) phosphate should be more like 0.05pp:.
You need to reduce phosphate, too high inhibits growth and browns out the coral.

 

[Gobi-Wan]

Granular ferric oxide or GFO is popular for controlling phosphate. It is usually used in a reactor and can be a bit tricky to fine tune how much you need, flow rate etc. I use an algae turf scrubber for nitrate and phosphate control, which works very well. I am a DIY guy and built mine but you can also buy pre-made models. They are a bit pricey in my opinion for what they are.

 

[shawnandmay]

Orphek bars
two hydra 26hd
Kessil AP700

Thanks! Are these 3 types to use on its own or a mixture of the 3? (Sorry if dumb question)

 

[shawnandmay]

Also I Re-read my answer lol.

You have t5- you can always add more t5- it doesn’t have to be combo of t5 and led. I think t5, led, MH- it’s all a matter of viewing preference and budget- the important part it to get adequate par rating for the coral you are keeping.

Brs has some good videos regarding par for softies/mixed/and sps dominate - but if you’re going full out sps I believe you should be pushing 350 par at too of rocks. At lease that’s what I was aiming for.

The monti usually can do well with less light in my experience but the acroporas generally need the higher lighting to thrive. But I’m just starting to keep sps- so I’m still a newbie and could be wrong lol

Just wanted to add this- take care

I will def check out those videos!
"if" adding more t5 meaning...add another fixture 4bulb fixture?

Thanks

 

[shawnandmay]

Phosphate quite high and out of balance with nitrate for a young tank at .5
With nitrate at 5ppm (which is good) phosphate should be more like 0.05pp:.
You need to reduce phosphate, too high inhibits growth and browns out the coral.

Any suggestions on how to lower the phosphate?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Thanks! Are these 3 types to use on its own or a mixture of the 3? (Sorry if dumb question)

A, b or c
Three different light recommendations

 

[shawnandmay]

Granular ferric oxide or GFO is popular for controlling phosphate. It is usually used in a reactor and can be a bit tricky to fine tune how much you need, flow rate etc. I use an algae turf scrubber for nitrate and phosphate control, which works very well. I am a DIY guy and built mine but you can also buy pre-made models. They are a bit pricey in my opinion for what they are.

....any suggestions on how to control phosphate without a reactor? (im not even sure what that is)

 

[Gobi-Wan]

The simplest answer is regular water changes. That’s what they’re for. Most other systems for reducing phosphate and nitrate need to be tuned over time to balance nutrient reduction with the amount incoming. A reactor is basically just a chamber that holds media such as GFO and tumbles the media to make maximum surface contact as it forces water to flow through it. An algae turf scrubber is my favorite way to control phosphate, it’s a screen that water flows over like a waterfall, and it’s lit aggressively with grow lights and grows a mat of hair algae on it which stores up your phosphate and nitrate as it grows, then you scrape or “scrub” off the algae and get rid of it and let it grow back. Same basic idea with a refugium, which is a chamber in your sump or otherwise outside of the display where macro algae can grow. You could put GFO in an old pantyhose leg and drop it in a high flow area of the sump. I’ve heard GFO doesn’t work as well though unless it’s tumbled in a reactor. I don’t have a lot of experience with it, I ran it for a short time early on and then switched to a turf scrubber.