Radion XR15 G5 Blue - how intense to start with soft corals?

[reeftwincities]

Hi all, I just got back into the hobby after a 6 or 7 year absence. I purchased a Radion XR G5 blue and plan to run the AB+ spectrum to get started. I have been using an old marineland LED light and have a decent number of soft corals -- quality zoas, leathers and neptheas. The corals are 5" below the water surface but it's a 20gallon long so there's not much depth as they reach up. I plan to suspend the lights using the G5 tank mount.

What would you all recommend I start the lights at in terms of intensity and hours? And how would you adjust up? I plan to concentrate on soft corals for the time being so not sure how intense I really need to go. I would appreciate any advice or suggestions.

Thank you in advance!

 

[reefz]

How big is your tank?

 

[blaxsun]

If you're don't have any SPS corals I'd probably opt for the LPS/soft or Radiant template instead. In terms of schedule intensity, I'd probably suggest starting at 40%, take some PAR readings and then go from there.

 

[reeftwincities]

Thank you for the advice. I thought AB+ had more to do with ambient color than specific light ranges for coral. I will look into that. I swear the leaps in LED lights the last few years has been astounding. I was on the fringe of LED lights about a decade ago so have quite a bit to learn. Appreciate the advice on the intensity.

 

[mfinn]

When I first started using Radions back in 2011 there wasn't alot of data around, so there was a long thread on reef central where people were posting what intensity's they were starting at and what they were ending at ( acclimation periods).
I read that many were starting at around 45%-50% and taking 3-4 weeks to raise it up.
Depending on the corals they had, it seemed like softy tanks were stopping at around 65%, LPS were going to around 70%-75% and SPS were going from 70% to 100%.
This also depended on what lighting they had before.