So lets talk LFS lights and their frag tanks...

[partimereefer]

I have a few LFS in my area where I buy coral, mostly monti's, millepora, acropora etc. All in general look pretty good as far as color, growth, encrusting and polyp extension. Some shops have had the same corals for months too and they always look good. I am recently trying to dial in lighting on my tank so I have started paying more attention to their lighting setups and is it just me or do shops keep their corals at really low PAR?

Case in point, here is the set up at one of the tanks in my LFS:
18" tall tank
Frags of SPS and montis on eggcrate in very bottom center of tank
Single Kessil A360WE run on heavy blues...I've been in there all times of the day, its heavy blues
Light is at least 8" off the water

Watching the BRS videos that loosely (work with me here, I know this is not exact) correlates to between 130-ish to 60-ish PAR.

Any of you guys having success keeping monti's and acro's in that PAR range? What am I missing!?

 

[EMeyer]

I have had the same observation. At least two shops in my area are using what appears to be no more than 50 PAR, and almost entirely blue. It puzzles me too.

 

[bubbasguppies]

Blues are what corals mainly focus on for their photosynthesis as the blue spectrum is what penetrates further in the water as compared to the other colors. Plus it makes the corals "Pop" their colors when looking at them. We use white to make it more "pleasing" to the eyes to view them. But I know down the road when we do our final move down to Florida once I set up my frag system i'll be listing the PAR values which would be helpful for us in placement when we buy them.

 

[ReefLab]

My LFS runs Hydra 26's well above the tank. at least 18 inches and their frags all look really healthy. Not sure what else they do to keep them looking so good with that set up.

 

[bubbasguppies]

My LFS runs Hydra 26's well above the tank. at least 18 inches and their frags all look really healthy. Not sure what else they do to keep them looking so good with that set up.

So does mine. Mainly HD26's with a few XR30's and Orpheks

 

[EMeyer]

Blues are what corals mainly focus on for their photosynthesis as the blue spectrum is what penetrates further in the water as compared to the other colors. Plus it makes the corals "Pop" their colors when looking at them. We use white to make it more "pleasing" to the eyes to view them. But I know down the road when we do our final move down to Florida once I set up my frag system i'll be listing the PAR values which would be helpful for us in placement when we buy them.

Sorry, I was unclear. I get the reasons for including a lot of blue. But I dont know any hobbyists that either (a) run all blue, all day long or (b) run their SPS tanks at low light levels of 50-80 PAR. I only see this in LFS. Yet their corals are doing great...

 

[bubbasguppies]

I see what your saying now.

 

[trido]

Sorry, I was unclear. I get the reasons for including a lot of blue. But I dont know any hobbyists that either (a) run all blue, all day long or (b) run their SPS tanks at low light levels of 50-80 PAR. I only see this in LFS. Yet their corals are doing great...

Their corals may be doing great, for a while, but SPS that sit in a LFS stock tank for too long usually end up not being so amazing. I grow for several LFS and use a lot of white light to increase growth rates. When some of my corals sit in the LFS under blues they actually start to look better for the first few weeks and then work their way right onto drab and brown. The LFS do not have enough light or flow in their stock tanks for long term health of most SPS from what I've seen. They count on moving the product and hope to not sit on any one coral for more than a month or two.

 

[partimereefer]

I just wonder how the LFS does it. Their corals are in what I believe most consider low PAR and they are doing really good. They have had some of the same corals on display for months at a time too, so its not like they are moving the corals every few weeks. They have thriving colonies running at what most would consider low to really low light.

Really I'm just complaining because it makes my job harder...I bring the corals home and do the whole dip, acclimate and move up to the "right" PAR thing then I lose the color and polyp extension .

 

[X-37B]

All radions at lsf that has 2000 gallon total frag system hooked to the main display, 500 gallons, and one stand alone frag tank.
Some frags will look different depending on which system they are in.
I believe it has to do with each tank having different varing types of flow.
All in all the corals look great in every tank.
Here is a pic of the surf and turf in the main 500 gallon display. This one is huge and was grown from a small frag.

 

[bubbasguppies]

I just wonder how the LFS does it. Their corals are in what I believe most consider low PAR and they are doing really good. They have had some of the same corals on display for months at a time too, so its not like they are moving the corals every few weeks. They have thriving colonies running at what most would consider low to really low light.

Really I'm just complaining because it makes my job harder...I bring the corals home and do the whole dip, acclimate and move up to the "right" PAR thing then I lose the color and polyp extension .

Ahhh..i see what you're meaning now...yeah i'm in the same boat in the moment as well with my fungia.....think i may have lost it already but am hoping not.

 

[partimereefer]

Their corals may be doing great, for a while, but SPS that sit in a LFS stock tank for too long usually end up not being so amazing. I grow for several LFS and use a lot of white light to increase growth rates. When some of my corals sit in the LFS under blues they actually start to look better for the first few weeks and then work their way right onto drab and brown. The LFS do not have enough light or flow in their stock tanks for long term health of most SPS from what I've seen. They count on moving the product and hope to not sit on any one coral for more than a month or two.

trido...it's almost the opposite for me. I know there could be a dozen other things but for me its like 50/50 getting one of their corals through the "right" process and into the "right" light only for it to lose color and polyp extension then having to wait it out to get it to recover. Unless this is all normal for the sps stuff?

 

[DesertReefT4r]

Same story here. LFS runs bluer spectrum, lower par and lights mounted high. Most using Radion G4 and G4 Pro with some LFSs using Hydra 26s. Keep in mind these stores are open for up to 12 hours a day and the tanks need to be lit for customers to view. This long photo period lets them get away with much lower par numbers than most hobbiests shoot for in their home tanks. Also while most corals can be acclimated to higher par levels over time many even acros can do very well and have great color in under 100 par.

 

[Jake_the_reefer]

My lfs puts nems in their fish displays. So the only light they are getting are white LEDs

 

[blasterman]

LFS stores, at least the good ones in my area are transitioning to big shallow frag tanks and often lit with LEDs with the blue channel cranked ridiculous levels to show off unreal colors. You might be surprised how much PAR a Radion or clone puts out over a shallow tank running blue only LEDs. Might look dark to our eyes, but to corals this is their prime band for photosynthetic radiation. Most of us though don't want our tanks lit like a black light poster....at least I don't.

Consider this: their lights might be running at lower PAR / PPFD levels than our tanks but they often run a lot longer due to business hours. Already talked to one LFS owner about this and confirmed it. The high end end reef shops near me light their showcase SPS tanks, you know, the ones you can gawk over but they'll never frag with the same light levels as our home tanks. There's no magic here.

 

[partimereefer]

So I’m reading that running sps corals at lets say ~100 PAR on heavy blues for 10-12 hours is equivalent to Coral Lab AB+ 7 hours with 1 hour ramps at say ~250 PAR is equivalent as far as the corals are concerned?

 

[LARedstickreefer]

So I’m reading that running sps corals at lets say ~100 PAR on heavy blues for 10-12 hours is equivalent to Coral Lab AB+ 7 hours with 1 hour ramps at say ~250 PAR is equivalent as far as the corals are concerned?

Not quite. The all blue, low par, tanks probably aren’t meant to grow the frags much. Just sustain their colors until you buy them. I’ll bet that running lower par require the rest of your parameters to be spot on perfect.

 

[Backreefing]

My LFS has mostly blue LEDs I can’t remember which. But there corals do poor. I bought to acropora at different times. Both times they were bleached and even a little brown and after a month or two they color up and do well .

 

[oreo54]

So I’m reading that running sps corals at lets say ~100 PAR on heavy blues for 10-12 hours is equivalent to Coral Lab AB+ 7 hours with 1 hour ramps at say ~250 PAR is equivalent as far as the corals are concerned?

you are referring to DLI (Daily light Integral) and yes it has validity..

Ignoring ramping for the moment..250 "PAR" over 5 hours is = to 125 "Par" over 10 hours..

 

[Peach02]

I have a few LFS in my area where I buy coral, mostly monti's, millepora, acropora etc. All in general look pretty good as far as color, growth, encrusting and polyp extension. Some shops have had the same corals for months too and they always look good. I am recently trying to dial in lighting on my tank so I have started paying more attention to their lighting setups and is it just me or do shops keep their corals at really low PAR?

Case in point, here is the set up at one of the tanks in my LFS:
18" tall tank
Frags of SPS and montis on eggcrate in very bottom center of tank
Single Kessil A360WE run on heavy blues...I've been in there all times of the day, its heavy blues
Light is at least 8" off the water

Watching the BRS videos that loosely (work with me here, I know this is not exact) correlates to between 130-ish to 60-ish PAR.

Any of you guys having success keeping monti's and acro's in that PAR range? What am I missing!?

I work at my LFS so might be able to provide some insight

Context
We have four tanks that we keep coral in for sale and have a mixture of LED lights on them some radions and hydras and some other stuff I'm not too sure on

The reason we don't cater to sps light needs is because we keep so many types of coral in each tank we can't provide any one types ideal range. We also only have so much time for gradual light changes so we can't change light too rapidly ether to avoid shocking coral

Essentially we try to find a midpoint that allows all coral to live while also being able to turn the lights off if needed