Par numbers-coral Growth

Signalhead · May 11, 2025

Good morning, and happy mothers day,

I'm having issues with coral growth, I know, I know, never chase the numbers. Lately I have been lucky with them. I have try to keep my numbers with-in range and all tested using Hanna testers. test parameters once a month. PH is always below 8 the average is 7.75. I have some the fake corals (my wife purchased, she wanted color now!) I'm interested in adding several Zoas and by previous experience on a different set up ZOAs tend to melt fast. At this time I have some acans, BTA, mushrooms.

Tank is 60" x 24" x 24"
Salt: Instant Ocean in the box. Rock has been in the tank for two years.
3 Noo-Psyche K7 @ 13 inches from the water
Over time, I have try different settings and at this time, I'm running the settings from the Noo-Psyche (probeananimal). The numbers in the attachment are the numbers taken at the height of the lights using a VABIRA par meter.
Should increase them the intensity? Are these numbers even possible to keep coral? I know they are low.

What I'm doing wrong?

Thank you for your time.

Rawsreef · May 11, 2025

That par is perfectly fine for most corals, except high light demanding ones. Whatever is melting your zoas it definitely isn’t the lack of light. Maybe they weren’t healthy to begin with? Maybe some parameter isn’t exactly where they liked it? Could be a number of things. If your mushrooms and anemones are doing well take that as a win. Mushrooms come in all sorts of amazing and beautiful colors. IMO some even nicer than the nicest zoas. Maybe add a couple different types of shrooms to add more color to the tank. After a while maybe you can try some zoas again

Mr. Mojo Rising · May 11, 2025

Did you take the par numbers with or without the lid? How long ago did you tests? leds degrade over time, and those numbers are already low, I don't see anything growing on the bottom half of the tank. Perhaps try lowering the lights or removing the top lid?

I don't see many strong powerheads in that big tank either. Corals need light, flow and nutrients to thrive. The light is low, the flow seems low, and if nutrients are low then its a triple whammy. But IMO seems primarily a light issue....