SPS finally showing decent rates of growth!

[BoomCorals]

My problem is that I can't seem to find the right spot and percentage for my lights. I am so unsure! How do you guys gauge this?

If you don't have a PAR meter then you want to get a few corals that are known to work under certain lighting. Then place those corals and see what they do. For example, Miyagi Tort will get green in lower lighting, but will get purple/pink in higher lighting. Cliffs Acro is another that gets more green in lower light, more purple in higher light. You can use these as "canaries" essentially. Remember this will take a week or two to see the results, so the changes you make will be slow.

 

[2una]

My problem is that I can't seem to find the right spot and percentage for my lights. I am so unsure! How do you guys gauge this?

I spent awhile with a t5/led mix (sunpower & radions) & when i was upping one & downing the other i found that watching that my PH didn't go shooting into some new daily high area helped as a guide. Also helped if i wasn't going to achieve the normal daily high so it meant i was under where i needed to be. I guess its a photosynthesis guide. I'm now on full led & just kind of got the radions tuned to the similar PH level i was getting from my T5's. Stopped me from frying anything at least.

 

[OceanL0ver]

Black boxes will absolutely grow sps and very well.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/a-little-over-2-months-growth.325289/

What brand of black box are using and what settings. Also photoperiod please?

 

[Tiggy13]

Believe it or not it can take a whole year for an SPS system to fully mature and LEDs have a steep learning curve. People are to uncertain about their settings and always changing them thinking it will improve growth. It's actually completely opposite. Each time a change is made you are basically hitting the reset button. T5s are on off, hard to mess it up.

All LED owners should know, set them up and forget it. Don't touch them, EVER! Lol.

 

[OceanL0ver]

I get your point. Although, I'd like to think there's a sweet spot for spectrum and par. Of course the top will have more par and the bottom have less, but within those zones what are the par and spectrum values? A lot of the guess work would be solved with the simple par meter which a lot of us fail to use.Yes corals can adapt and survive under a variety of lighting, but I think all of us are striving for best growth.

 

[happyhourhero]

What brand of black box are using and what settings. Also photoperiod please?

SB Reef Lights. Blues come on at 1030 at 70% and run until 9:00. The whites come on at 1230 at 50% and turn off at 830.

 

[ReefBeta]

Black box [emoji847]

;Facepalm might as well replace them all and run T5 only.

 

[OceanL0ver]

;Facepalm might as well replace them all and run T5 only.

I like the shimmer, color, controllability and efficiency of my black box. Adding 2 T5's reduced shadowing, and broadened spectrum imo. I feel like I have the best of both worlds. Total investment for my 109 gallon tank 620$. I would have spent 3x that atleast on top of the line LEDs. Yes I could have done all T5's, but I would have to change so many bulbs every year and the amount of energy used is quite a bit more not to mention the heat they put off.

 

[ReefBeta]

I like the shimmer, color, controllability and efficiency of my black box. Adding 2 T5's reduced shadowing, and broadened spectrum imo. I feel like I have the best of both worlds. Total investment for my 109 gallon tank 620$. I would have spent 3x that atleast on top of the line LEDs. Yes I could have done all T5's, but I would have to change so many bulbs every year and the amount of energy used is quite a bit more not to mention the heat they put off.

Kudos for the well thought out plan. What bulb are you using? When I was adding TO supplement, I tried coral+, purple+, and blue+, none of them mix well with the led, and I ended up running super actinic, because it's so dim to the eye.

 

[OceanL0ver]

@bif24701 so would it be advantageous to set my LEDS on/off? Skipping my 2-3hr sunrise and sunset?

If you like the way it looks then keep it.

 

[OceanL0ver]

Kudos for the well thought out plan. What bulb are you using? When I was adding TO supplement, I tried coral+, purple+, and blue+, none of them mix well with the led, and I ended up running super actinic, because it's so dim to the eye.

I'm using blue plus and aqua blue special. I like the way it looks but I'm not that picky [emoji847]

 

[bif24701]

I get your point. Although, I'd like to think there's a sweet spot for spectrum and par. Of course the top will have more par and the bottom have less, but within those zones what are the par and spectrum values? A lot of the guess work would be solved with the simple par meter which a lot of us fail to use.Yes corals can adapt and survive under a variety of lighting, but I think all of us are striving for best growth.

Well I have Kessil lights and two T5 tubes with ATI Blue Plus bulbs so I don't have to worry about spectrum. I just set the intensity based on the nutrient levels my system seems best at. Right now with best color and growth being at 10ppm NO3 I have 300+ PAR at the sand and 400-500 for most of the acros.

I would look to EchoTech Coral Labs for all other fixtures and try your best to copy what they are doing there. Find a PAR meter to set a starting point for intensity or just start low, really low and slowly bring it up until you find the growth and color.

http://ecotechmarine.com/corallab

 

[RONBATTLE]

I HAVE FLIRTED WITH SPS FOR A COUPLE OF YEARS, USING A RADION XR15PRO ON A 45 GAL CUBE...WELL, I AINT THE BRIGHTEST LIGHT ON THE TREE BUT I COULD NOT FIND THE BEST SETTING TO MAINTAIN SPS FOR MORE THAN A FEW WEEKS, AFTER ADDING A 4 BULB T5HO I WAS ABLE TO KEEP A COUPLE ALIVE, FOR MONTHS...SO...I AGREE THAT T5'S ARE BETTER, AND LEDS WORK FOR SOME, NOT ALWAYS ALONE FOR OTHERS..ESPECIALLY THIS RUSTY OL DUDE, BUT..I HAD TO FIGURE OUT WHAT WORKED FOR ME,FOR WHAT EVER IT WAS I THOUGHT I WAS TRYING TO DO...I DO LOVE MY T5'S...8 BULB ATI IS A BEAST LIGHT

 

[rosshamsandwich]

chri9

 

[Petr_Patter]

I think that if you are having problems keeping coral alive it probably is water parameters and not lights. I personally have never lost a coral because of lighting. Corals have been unhappy because they wanted more or less light but this is when it comes back to what @BoomCorals said. Start with a coral that you know what it looks like in low and in high light and work from there.

 

[waxhawreefer]

I had a 36 gallon with maxspect razor, every thing was healthy no great growth, then 4 bulb T5 on it, things grew better, when I upgraded to a 55, two kessil360 and 2 t5's everything exploded, now my 88 with the two Kessils and 4-t5's no great growth again and tank is 9 months old, every tank is different I guess, but the new aquatic life fixture which hold four t5's and most leds will be a game changer when it comes out!!

 

[OceanL0ver]

Any suggestions on what led to put on my 10 gallon Nano to support sps. I was told kessil a 160, radion, AI prime. But is there anything less expensive

 

[OceanL0ver]

Well I bought a kessil a160 tuna blue off of the classifieds here on R2R. It should be here Tuesday. [emoji16]