Too much light maybe?

[Rikerbear]

So I posted this in the lighting forum but thought maybe should be here too.
I have a16 gal Innovative Marine Nuvo tank....pretty shallow.
I am running two 8 watt skyee lights which were stock with the tank purchase. My question is, is this perhaps to much light as none of my corals seem happy.
It has been running for over a month now......all my parameters are in good range but still my anthelia, xeno, and kenya tree (yes I am collecting weeds) all stay fairly closedup.
Should I raise the lights more? Only use on of the fixtures? Reduce to a shorter photo period?
Any ideas or suggestions?

 

[Orion120]

What kind of corals do you have? Can you take a picture of the tank?
Depending on the type of corals you are trying to keep, and where they are placed, that may not be enough light.

I believe innovative marine states that the 8w Skkye lights are only good for low-medium light corals.

 

[alberthiel]

What kind of corals do you have? Can you take a picture of the tank?
Depending on the type of corals you are trying to keep, and where they are placed, that may not be enough light.

I believe innovative marine states that the 8w Skkye lights are only good for low-medium light corals.

+1 indeed knowing what is in the tank would help Rikerbear ... that way as Orion120 says one can figure out whether it is too much or not enough ...

 

[Rikerbear]

Oh, thought I posted some of them in the original post......sorry still new to the forum
I have a couple Anthelia polyps - med light high flow
2 sm GSP colonies - one high - one low both with high flow
xenia frag - med light low flow
monti frag - high light - med flow
zoa frag - med light med flow
kenya tree - med light - med flow

 

[Orion120]

How about posting a picture of the whole tank for us?

 

[Orion120]

Also, how long are you leaving your lights on for now?

 

[Rikerbear]

Blues on 12 hrs
Whts on 9 hrs

Full tank pic

 

[Ike]

Did you cure your rock fully before setting up the tank? What are your parameters?

 

[Rikerbear]

Rock cured fully yes....
Parameters as of last evening
Temp: 80
Ammonia: 0
NO3: 0
NO4: 0
PO4: .03
Calcium: 500
Alk: 12
SG: 1.026
PH: 8.0

 

[Orion120]

Lets try reducing the photo period and see what happens after a week. Take the blues to 10 hrs, and keep the whites on for 8 hrs.

 

[joeyhatch11]

What about dropping your SG to 1.024 and getting your alk around 9?

Sent from my LG-C800 using Reef2Reef Aquarium Forum mobile app

 

[jedimasterben]

To be frank, those two lights over that tank is nowhere near enough for a lot of corals. You have all softies, so they should be ok, but those lights are dismal at best. I'd say they're more suited to a 3-4g tank than a 16g tank.

 

[Orion120]

To be frank, those two lights over that tank is nowhere near enough for a lot of corals. You have all softies, so they should be ok, but those lights are dismal at best. I'd say they're more suited to a 3-4g tank than a 16g tank.

Tell that to this R2R member. https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/showthread.php?t=98526

 

[Rikerbear]

To be frank, those two lights over that tank is nowhere near enough for a lot of corals. You have all softies, so they should be ok, but those lights are dismal at best. I'd say they're more suited to a 3-4g tank than a 16g tank.

What makes you say that? They are rated for their ability to grow soft, lps, AND sps. I have seen this very tank used for sps at my LFS (exclussive SW)

 

[Rikerbear]

What about dropping your SG to 1.024 and getting your alk around 9?

Sent from my LG-C800 using Reef2Reef Aquarium Forum mobile app

Hmmm....not sure what dropping the SG would do, and have been unable to get any info on how to drop alk. My local reef stor says alk is okay in not a bit high....they run theirs at 11

 

[jedimasterben]

Tell that to this R2R member. Innovative Marine Nuvo 16

You didn't happen to notice the Kessil over that tank, huh?

What makes you say that? They are rated for their ability to grow soft, lps, AND sps. I have seen this very tank used for sps at my LFS (exclussive SW)

Long term? I doubt that the tank would be considered thriving, surviving, maybe.

These lights have flat-out terrible output. I've got singular LEDs at half the wattage that put out more light. Over a 16g tank, I would recommend a minimum of nine name-brand LEDs (Cree, Philips, Bridgelux [not Aquastyle Bridgelux, I mean real bridgelux]) ran at 700ma or more.

LEDs are great tech, but they are not magical. If two of the 8w units could sustain a full SPS reef over that 16g tank, then why would people use high-wattage fixtures like the Radion or Maxspect R420R, and not just slap three or four of them over, say, a 24" cube tank?

 

[Rikerbear]

Thank you for your opinions Jedi, but I think I will go with what I have seen with my own eyes, and with what I have learned from my research of these lights and this tank prior to setting it up.

 

[jedimasterben]

Thank you for your opinions Jedi, but I think I will go with what I have seen with my own eyes, and with what I have learned from my research of these lights and this tank prior to setting it up.

Good luck. LEDs are great, but they're not magical, and they're certainly not all the same. If those units used had the same wattage but used brand LEDs instead of no-name generic chips, then it would be better, but as they are, they just do not have the output, it is simply not there.

 

[NanoNathan]

the leds in that tank are at best decent but i have a friend with this tank and he has 3 instead of 2 units. he has all types of coral frogspawn, torch, zoas, shrooms all lps and softies. They all looked great !!

 

[jedimasterben]

the leds in that tank are at best decent but i have a friend with this tank and he has 3 instead of 2 units. he has all types of coral frogspawn, torch, zoas, shrooms all lps and softies. They all looked great !!

That definitely doesn't cover 'all types of coral', though.