Too much or not enough light?

[Reefkeepers Archive]

For some context, I'm planning an LPS dominant system for my 4 ft 120, I have the first few corals in and a shipment arriving in a few weeks, since the majority of the species I'm keeping are lower light (Platygyra, leprastrea, favia, goniastrea, blastomoussa ect) I am very cautious in having the right amount of light so these corals won't bleach, but enough for species like euphyllia once my tank establishes, I'm running two reefLED 90's and no supplement lighting, they're mounted on a canopy about 16" above the surface, the tank is 24 in deep, I cannot afford a par reader so I'm resorting to fellow hobbyists best judgement, below is my light spectrum (running 70% blue at max and 65% white max 11 hour day) and what that looks like on my tank, thanks for taking your time to help me out

(I am using an android phone, camera quality is bad, it has much more white and is brighter in person, sorry for inconvenience)

 

[blaxsun]

The only way to tell for certain is with a PAR meter.

 

[slogan315]

Agree with the par meter as results will surprise you. I can give you my anecdotal results though. I have a kessil 360x and t5 hybrid about 6” above the water in a 60g cube (24” depth). My Leptastrea is growing fast and fluffy (when my urchin isn’t ticking it off). The colors are great too. My par is around 200 at that spot with the kessil at 80%. The t5s add about 100 par everywhere. So we can reasonably guess it’s getting 100 par at the bottom center edge. 50 par at the corners.

With your lights 16” off the bottom it may be a lot less. I’m not familiar at all with the reef leds, their lenses or anything, so take all this with a grain of salt.

Also, decide for yourself how much you trust BRS results on a scale of science to salesman, but they provide par maps at different depths for a 24x24x24 tank for the reefLed 90 here: https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/cont...his-is-the-red-sea-reefled-brstv-investigates

 

[Reefkeepers Archive]

The only way to tell for certain is with a PAR meter.

Agree with the par meter as results will surprise you. I can give you my anecdotal results though. I have a kessil 360x and t5 hybrid about 6” above the water in a 60g cube (24” depth). My Leptastrea is growing fast and fluffy (when my urchin isn’t ticking it off). The colors are great too. My par is around 200 at that spot with the kessil at 80%. The t5s add about 100 par everywhere. So we can reasonably guess it’s getting 100 par at the bottom center edge. 50 par at the corners.

With your lights 16” off the bottom it may be a lot less. I’m not familiar at all with the reef leds, their lenses or anything, so take all this with a grain of salt.

Also, decide for yourself how much you trust BRS results on a scale of science to salesman, but they provide par maps at different depths for a 24x24x24 tank for the reefLed 90 here: https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/cont...his-is-the-red-sea-reefled-brstv-investigates

Have any good and affordable PAR meter recommendations, I'll check if my LFS has one for rent but if not I'll look into it.

Also @slogan315 I've been having some trouble with my leptastrea, I've turned down the light because I was worried about the intensity, my last thread has more details. Do you have any advice?

 

[blaxsun]

I rented mine from my LFS (they're kind of expensive).

 

[slogan315]

i borrowed a nice one from my local club. I’d recommend trying to borrow or rent a nice one vs buying a cheap one. Some cheaper ones don’t capture full spectrum well, and underestimate par from what I’ve heard.

I am fairly new myself and by no means an expert. I will say mine struggled for a few months until I put it in a lower flow area with more light. It also had a bacterial infection that flaked off when I did an iodine dip. That was a big turn around for it. I’ve also read they take a very long time to heal from a cut. I had no growth for the longest time, and now doubled in size in maybe 3 months. I’ll try to find some pictures.

 

[SaltyTwigs]

BRS will allow you to return after use. I think you get like 60 days or more to return for a restocking fee of $80. Check out their site for details on it. Otherwise, I have the USB version Apogee, and I would go that route for sure if you have a Windows or Mac Laptop. Much cheaper (half the cost) and works awesome.

 

[slogan315]

i borrowed a nice one from my local club. I’d recommend trying to borrow or rent a nice one vs buying a cheap one. Some cheaper ones don’t capture full spectrum well, and underestimate par from what I’ve heard.

I am fairly new myself and by no means an expert. I will say mine struggled for a few months until I put it in a lower flow area with more light. It also had a bacterial infection that flaked off when I did an iodine dip. That was a big turn around for it. I’ve also read they take a very long time to heal from a cut. I had no growth for the longest time, and now doubled in size in maybe 3 months. I’ll try to find some pictures.

Found pics. End of march -> now. It is dome shaped and fluffy unless some inverts tick it off. Took a sunken in picture because it shows the growth from original nugget frag to now. First pics are start of bacterial infection -> right before dipping in iodine -> a few days later.

 

[Reefkeepers Archive]

Found pics. End of march -> now. It is dome shaped and fluffy unless some inverts tick it off. Took a sunken in picture because it shows the growth from original nugget frag to now. First pics are start of bacterial infection -> right before dipping in iodine -> a few days later.

This is mine right now, only 2 weeks in the new tank, got it as a full-sized colony

Was a bit concerned by exposed skeleton, I think it's just damage from maintenance but I'll keep an eye on it, don't want it to bleach from too much light so I turned them down, either way I'm keeping a close eye on it, also yours is definitely happy, how long did it take for it to grow that much?

 

[slogan315]

This is mine right now, only 2 weeks in the new tank, got it as a full-sized colony

Was a bit concerned by exposed skeleton, I think it's just damage from maintenance but I'll keep an eye on it, don't want it to bleach from too much light so I turned them down, either way I'm keeping a close eye on it, also yours is definitely happy, how long did it take for it to grow that much?

Yea just keep an eye on it but don’t worry too much. Mine was unhappy for a long time then started growing quickly (along with my other corals) once I fixed some general issues with the tank like lack of available nutrients. Also, when the polyps are sunken in, there can be some spots that look like bare skeleton.

2-3 months of growth probably. But it sat as a sad nugget for about 4 months before that.

 

[Reefkeepers Archive]

Yea just keep an eye on it but don’t worry too much. Mine was unhappy for a long time then started growing quickly (along with my other corals) once I fixed some general issues with the tank like lack of available nutrients. Also, when the polyps are sunken in, there can be some spots that look like bare skeleton.

2-3 months of growth probably. But it sat as a sad nugget for about 4 months before that.

Sort of expecting that, all of the colonies that I'm keeping are wild caught so they may take some time adjusting, apart from the duncan colony, which is already growing new polyps, and the sinulairia, some things are taking awhile to get situated, the leather was closed for two and a half weeks before it started opening, which it did today, though I do think the spots are bare skeleton because they are bright white in color, but again I think that's just damage from maintenance, also what was the par at where the leptastrea was and which nutrients did you need to fix?

 

[slogan315]

Sort of expecting that, all of the colonies that I'm keeping are wild caught so they may take some time adjusting, apart from the duncan colony, which is already growing new polyps, and the sinulairia, some things are taking awhile to get situated, the leather was closed for two and a half weeks before it started opening, which it did today, though I do think the spots are bare skeleton because they are bright white in color, but again I think that's just damage from maintenance, also what was the par at where the leptastrea was and which nutrients did you need to fix?

Ah yea I have no experience with wild caught colonies. Good luck with that!

My Duncan is the hardiest colony in my tank. Keep in mind leathers are softies so don’t have a skeleton. Leathers do “shed” often, especially when a tank is trying to stabilize.

The par meter read about 200 at my lighting peak.

I had a big algae problem which led to not being able to keep nitrates or phosphates above 0 without dosing. Dosing helped keep them high enough to keep corals from starving, but the algae still took most of the available nutrients. One I removed most of the algae, my coral growth really started to improve. Still having to dose some nutrients now though. At the beginning, all you hear about is people warning of too much nutrients. All about water changes to remove nutrients and protein skimming to remove organic before they can break down to nutrients. So I didn’t even realize 0 nutrients was a possible problem

 

[HudsonReefer2.0]

Hi. I didn’t have a Par meter. Just ran both channels at 100% w 10 hour photo period. Was 2x redsea 90s. This was
A top down mixed reef. Lps did well. Was happy w them but have diff lights now which also fit my needs.

 

[Reefkeepers Archive]

Ah yea I have no experience with wild caught colonies. Good luck with that!

My Duncan is the hardiest colony in my tank. Keep in mind leathers are softies so don’t have a skeleton. Leathers do “shed” often, especially when a tank is trying to stabilize.

The par meter read about 200 at my lighting peak.

I had a big algae problem which led to not being able to keep nitrates or phosphates above 0 without dosing. Dosing helped keep them high enough to keep corals from starving, but the algae still took most of the available nutrients. One I removed most of the algae, my coral growth really started to improve. Still having to dose some nutrients now though. At the beginning, all you hear about is people warning of too much nutrients. All about water changes to remove nutrients and protein skimming to remove organic before they can break down to nutrients. So I didn’t even realize 0 nutrients was a possible problem

I always knew about leathers shedding but had no idea of the scale they shed at, I swear over the two week course he shed at least 5 separate times, not opening once in between sheds, later I found out this was due to him "shading himself out" with his branches, this is my first time dealing with large colonies as previously I started with frags. And also I see at least 10 new budding polyps on the Duncan. Its been two weeks, I had no idea they grew this fast. Thank you for the advice.

 

[Reefkeepers Archive]

Hi. I didn’t have a Par meter. Just ran both channels at 100% w 10 hour photo period. Was 2x redsea 90s. This was
A top down mixed reef. Lps did well. Was happy w them but have diff lights now which also fit my needs.

First of all that tank looks amazing, second, how high are they mounted?

 

[HudsonReefer2.0]

First of all that tank looks amazing, second, how high are they mounted?

Stock mounts

 

[HudsonReefer2.0]

Ty. Yes has filled in some.

 

[Reefkeepers Archive]

Stock mounts

Hmm, do you know how many inches above the water surface, also do you know what the PAR is in the middle/bottom of the tank and the intensity of the lights?
By the way thanks for the help

 

[Reefkeepers Archive]

Ty. Yes has filled in some.

Ah yea I have no experience with wild caught colonies. Good luck with that!

My Duncan is the hardiest colony in my tank. Keep in mind leathers are softies so don’t have a skeleton. Leathers do “shed” often, especially when a tank is trying to stabilize.

The par meter read about 200 at my lighting peak.

I had a big algae problem which led to not being able to keep nitrates or phosphates above 0 without dosing. Dosing helped keep them high enough to keep corals from starving, but the algae still took most of the available nutrients. One I removed most of the algae, my coral growth really started to improve. Still having to dose some nutrients now though. At the beginning, all you hear about is people warning of too much nutrients. All about water changes to remove nutrients and protein skimming to remove organic before they can break down to nutrients. So I didn’t even realize 0 nutrients was a possible problem

Also, how long are you guys running your lights for?

 

[FrugalReefer]

gotta get yourself one of these