Please help lighting

jnj97 · Mar 2, 2017

We upgraded our tank from a 55 to a 125. We had 2 mars aqua lights. When we upgraded we added a light. Since we've upgraded all of corals look like poop. Wgat percentage on whites and blues should I be using. Any help would be great

Anirban · Mar 2, 2017

What kind of corals do you have? Mars aqua is good for basic SPS an LPS. Slowly crank up the blue to 90% and white to 50%. But its not always the fault of light. Your upgraded system will take time to stabilise as well as you corals. So, go slow and try to stabilise the system.

jnj97 · Mar 2, 2017

We upgraded about 6 months ago .
In the tank there's
Nepthea (that's now white
Chalice
Brain coral
Favia (I got that about 3 weeks ago and he's dieing
Flower rock anemone
Toadstool

badd · Mar 2, 2017

mine ramp.. royal start at 5am off at 2am.. Blues start at 5:30am off at 10pm.. Whites start at 6:30am off at 6pm... but whites max out at 40%, Blues at 80%, Royal at 100% ... 10 inches above water line. I know that dont help you much.. LOL .. but it might

Anirban · Mar 2, 2017

You will be good just slowly ramp up the blues and white.

jnj97 · Mar 2, 2017

Thanks guys

hart24601 · Mar 2, 2017

How exactly do they look bad? Softies and LPS are a bit easier to judge intensity as they physically expand or contract if there isn't enough light or too much light respectively. There might be other issues that are not light related.

cowboy · Mar 2, 2017

With the Mars aqua I run my blues at 100 percent and the whites at about 20 percent

MaiReef · Mar 2, 2017

I don't think the lights are the problem. There may be an issue with your parameters.

jsker · Mar 2, 2017

MaiReef said:
I don't think the lights are the problem. There may be an issue with your parameters.

+1
Moving the corals into the new system could have put a strain on them, as the new system parameters adjusts.

cowboy · Mar 2, 2017

You have to excuse me I tend to skip through alot when reading. I would definitely agree switching from a 55 to a 125 does add alot of new that needs to cycle. So if we could let's get some of your parameters and see what your working with.

jnj97 · Mar 2, 2017

hart24601 said:
How exactly do they look bad? Softies and LPS are a bit easier to judge intensity as they physically expand or contract if there isn't enough light or too much light respectively. There might be other issues that are not light related.

My Nepthea is no longer green it's white.

MaiReef · Mar 2, 2017

Green Nepthea do not need much light and it may be other issues.

"They do not have a calcified skeleton structure making them a little more tolerant of some water parameters like calcium. However, they will not be very tolerance to swings in pH, Temp, or salinity which is no different than any other coral or fish." - Cliff

hart24601 · Mar 2, 2017

jnj97 said:
My Nepthea is no longer green it's white.

I saw that and is why I thought there might be other issues as normally before bleaching sofites will shrink up to almost nothing from too much light and I have not heard of them losing color if not enough. I was just curious if any other the others looked bad or different. You said one way dying, how is it dying? As in tissue recession or what exactly?

saltyfilmfolks · Mar 2, 2017

Based on your layout, you probably want to have your PAR set to about 200 , maybe a bit less, at the the level the candy canes are at, to keep around 100 to 150 on the sandbed.

I recommend lux meters to folks as a basic guide. For led take lux and divide by 60 as an estimate. IE 20,000 lux = 333Par.
If you test the level on the top of the tank I would probably estimate on that tank you want about 25,000 lux. (about 400 par)
You could almost definitely increase that slowly over time as the Nutrients and alk allow.

Keep in mind it is still trial and error to a small extent weather using a par OR lux meter to see what your tank(and individual corals) prefers the given light levels.

Were it my tank

Acclimation is pretty darn important, and as you can see many folks keep the same coals at different par levels. IMO, when acclimating corals its two things, allowing the animal to get used to the alk Ph and nutrints in the water etc and also the light levels. One the coral has been in the tank for a time it much easier to move them up and down for light. (i have xenia at the same level as acros).

Another reason I REALLY recommend an inexpensive meter is A mars aqua at 12in will give you more than 1000 par.

You can get a lux meter from amazon for $14 or water proof milwaukee one for $75. If you want you can put the $14 meter in a ziplock bag.