Tank Lighting

[newbreefr]

How the heck does lighting work? I buy my corals from LFS but they don’t look the same as in their displays. I understand colors and spectrum are reasons but how do I go about setting those colors. I’ve had zoa and shroom for one month and toadstool for 2 weeks. Toadstool has not extended its polyps since I got it.

Light settings:
Tank: Innovative Marine 15 gallon AIO

Light: Kessil a360xe mounted at 8”

Corals: Toadstool, zoa, mushroom

Lights run for 12 hours 9am-9pm

9-INT:1 COL: V: R: G:

11-INT:20 COL:10 V:10 R: G:

12-INT:30 COL:20 V:30 R:5 G:5

3-INT:30 COL:20 V:30 R:5 G:5

6-INT:30 COL:20 V:30 R:5 G:5

6:30-INT:15 COL:10 V:8 R: G:

7- INT:12 COL:3 V:8 R: G:

9- INT:0 COL:0 V: R: G:
Am I even doing the colors and spectrum correctly? How would I know without a PAR Meter? Are Violet, Red, Green percentages of 100 overall or a percentage of my intensity(30% at peak)

 

[Science/G]

Kessil A360XE settings: Recommended color settings seems wild!

I'm running a pair of Kessil A360XE's with the following settings at peak: Intensity: 40 (with this pair, I get about 300 PAR up top and around 75 PAR on the bottom) Color: 100 Violet: 20 Red: 0 Green: 0 I prefer more natural colors (I used to run 6500k 400W MH's with 110W VHO actinics and...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[TX_REEF]

That's too much light for those corals. The A360 is extremely powerful for a tank that size. I'd tune down the power significantly. For comparison, I have a kessil ap9x (which is basically 2 a360s in a dual fixture) on my frag tank which is 12 inches deep, and it is mounted 24" above the surface and peaks at 15% power. I grow SPS in this tank, and LPS/soft corals on the edges where lighting is much less intense.

 

[Science/G]

Kessil 360x settings

Finally got my 360x mounted with the a series mount on the new tank. Currently have 2 of them about 4-5 inches from the surface of the water on a 3 foot tank. Only a small frag of a hammer in there now and am trying to come up with a good schedule. I've read a lot about the red LEDs but almost...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[newbreefr]

That's too much light for those corals. The A360 is extremely powerful for a tank that size. I'd tune down the power significantly. For comparison, I have a kessil ap9x (which is basically 2 a360s in a dual fixture) on my frag tank which is 12 inches deep, and it is mounted 24" above the surface and peaks at 15% power. I grow SPS in this tank, and LPS/soft corals on the edges where lighting is much less intense.

Just increased intensity today from 25%-30%. Previously my zoas have been reaching for light and LFS owner suggested an increase then see how they do. So far mushroom is looking good and zoas are fine but still reaching so not entirely sure how to navigate this
Any information you can give or recommendations?

 

[mboley]

Just increased intensity today from 25%-30%. Previously my zoas have been reaching for light and LFS owner suggested an increase then see how they do. So far mushroom is looking good and zoas are fine but still reaching so not entirely sure how to navigate this
Any information you can give or recommendations?

Hey guy, to repeat what someone else said, it's too much light for your tiny tank and for those corals. Let's see your definition of reaching.

 

[Tamberav]

I have a Kessil 360x over a 25g lagoon frag tank and didn’t bother with the app, just put the spectrum to a white/blue balance I like then run it at 100 percent. I have several frag racks maybe 2 inch below the water.

No problems with sps, LPS, clams, lol or softies.

XE is a bit more powerful and 15g is smaller though probably not any shallower than a lagoon.

Pretty sure you can blast a toadstool and it won’t care. Mine is trying to grow out of the water.

That being said what does the mushroom look like? Too little light and they stretch to absorb more and too much they shrink up.

I would expect the toad to open with too little or too much light regardless. How is flow? They need good flow to shed properly.

What is the no3 and po4? Those corals like some nutrients and sometimes new tanks run too low.

 

[newbreefr]

Hey guy, to repeat what someone else said, it's too much light for your tiny tank and for those corals. Let's see your definition of reaching.

If there’s a way to figure it out without par meter, how should I go about it? What do you think a better intensity would be?

 

[newbreefr]

I have a Kessil 360x over a 25g lagoon frag tank and didn’t bother with the app, just put the spectrum to a white/blue balance I like then run it at 100 percent. I have several frag racks maybe 2 inch below the water.

No problems with sps, LPS, clams, lol or softies.

XE is a bit more powerful and 15g is smaller though probably not any shallower than a lagoon.

Pretty sure you can blast a toadstool and it won’t care. Mine is trying to grow out of the water.

That being said what does the mushroom look like? Too little light and they stretch to absorb more and too much they shrink up.

I would expect the toad to open with too little or too much light regardless. How is flow? They need good flow to shed properly.

What is the no3 and po4? Those corals like some nutrients and sometimes new tanks run too low.

Mushroom looking fluffy, folded a bit around edges.
Toadstool typically looks full and stiff for a few hours then shrinks up and repeats. Opens a bit but polyps never fully extend.
For flow I upgraded the return to a Sicce Syncra 1.5 and have a Hygger mini wavemaker set to lowest level
Recent tests- Sunday: no3 1.6 po4 0.07
Tested today before water change: no3 31.5 (had 2 snails die so I’m guessing high from this) po4 0.13
Did a 10% water change on 15 gallon

 

[KandAReefs]

The one thing I would caution you on is making to big of changes to fast. Don't do big jumps in intensity give your corals time to ajust to the light.