Trying to narrow down what's fading some of my SPS.

[Mr. Roboto]

Totally a nutrient vs lighting issue. Happens a lot in SPS, too much light and not enough nutrients will always pale out colors. Too many nutrients and not enough lights and you will end up with a dark brown stick. Its always a balancing act. Good luck.

 

[leepink23]

Whenever I compared several seneye to my apogee, the seneye always read much higher than the apogee was showing. Considering I run most of my acros 350-550 on the apogee, I doubt it’s too much light. Flow is a big part of the equation as well, probably equally important to your lights. Keep feeding the fish, make sure you have a lot of flow, consider testing par with an apogee.

 

[jda]

I also do no think that that 375 on a seneye is even close to too much light. 375 on a LiCor or full-range Apogee is not too much. Waste product levels in that range for no3 and po4 are no issue either.

I have no experience with those lights, but my guess it that the spectrum might not be good enough for all corals. You see folks say stuff like "my corals have never looked better" but they don't know all different types from shineola... just like not all corals like higher waste product levels, not all corals like low quality lighting. Some don't care at all. If you continue to have problems see if you can add some T5s for some heavy lifting and turn the LEDs down - not because of too much PAR, but because of maybe too much poor spectrum.

 

[leepink23]

Also what size tank and how high are they mounted? I have a friend with these lights and we had to crank them much higher than you to get good par on apogee 510.

 

[findingsimple]

I too was also going to suggest spectrum. I had a constant battle until I switched from hydras to reef-fi (which have a axing spectrum) - PAR levels on their own I’ve kept consistent

 

[exnisstech]

Not sure if this helps but I'm running Noopsyche K7 v3 (6) over my 6x2x2ft 180g and while I don't have acros in that tank I keep other SPS including huge plating monti, large LPS and 2 clams and everything is thriving so I think the spectrum is good or at least with my settings it is judging by my coral and clam growth. They are cranked up pretty high so I get 300 par on the bottom where my derasa is. My settings are below.

 

[ninjamyst]

OP already said he found the issue and it's because of lack of nutrients / aminos. Water quality issue.

It's rarely a light issue. People have way over exaggerated corals' reaction to light. This is propaganda from vendors to sell you on PAR and spectrum. Corals, even acros, can adapt to a wide range of PAR and spectrum. Stop chasing lights...

 

[LgTas]

Thanks everyone for responding. Confirming I never ended up turning the lights down. Tank is a waterbox 220.6.

Very confident it was nutrients as almost everything is looking a lot better. My seriatopora has actually regrown over the stripped area, paletta pink tip acro and my A. spathulata have spread their bases significantly and my green goblin anacropora has new growth. The most obvious sign is the significant increase in my alk consumption since upping nutrients and dosing trace and amino.

I suspect my Hanna Checker is to blame. At one point i was getting a consistent 0.04 reading but i now think P04 had entirely bottomed out and tha hanna just wasnt registering zero. Ive ordered a calibration set from hanna to check this.

In terms of the Noopsyche lights. Ive been using these for years. My 3ft had a pair and I had no issues with sps. I also have them on my mini peninsula and frag tank. Go have a look @telegraham review of these and other budget lights and how these compare to big brand options. I am interested to check PAR with another meter. BRS didnt have a variance in levels between the seneye and apogee so seems its a mileage may vary situation.

Appreciate all the input.

 

[jda]

Local used Noopsyche for a while. They grew many acropora, but could not make ALL acropora thrive like he had in the past. He added T5s and they did a lot better. Switched out to Photon and the mad ones were good again. He changed nothing else. I have yet to see any tank in the world with Noopsyche be able to grow every single coral that the owner wanted to grow. This is not just a Noopsyche thing. This is not likely an issue to most people, but if you have one or two that just never do all that great, then don't worry about it since it might not be you... and there are other things to like about these lights.

 

[leepink23]

Thanks everyone for responding. Confirming I never ended up turning the lights down. Tank is a waterbox 220.6.

Very confident it was nutrients as almost everything is looking a lot better. My seriatopora has actually regrown over the stripped area, paletta pink tip acro and my A. spathulata have spread their bases significantly and my green goblin anacropora has new growth. The most obvious sign is the significant increase in my alk consumption since upping nutrients and dosing trace and amino.

I suspect my Hanna Checker is to blame. At one point i was getting a consistent 0.04 reading but i now think P04 had entirely bottomed out and tha hanna just wasnt registering zero. Ive ordered a calibration set from hanna to check this.

In terms of the Noopsyche lights. Ive been using these for years. My 3ft had a pair and I had no issues with sps. I also have them on my mini peninsula and frag tank. Go have a look @telegraham review of these and other budget lights and how these compare to big brand options. I am interested to check PAR with another meter. BRS didnt have a variance in levels between the seneye and apogee so seems its a mileage may vary situation.

Appreciate all the input.

I thought the same thing with seneye because of what BRS reported. But my friend got a seneye, and I tested 5 tanks who used seneye and it was the same on all. I borrowed a friends apogee to double check mine and it was spot on. Once the people adjusted their lights to the apogee all saw better coloration, faster growth and more alk consumption. Glad you figured out your issue!!

 

[telegraham]

Thanks everyone for responding. Confirming I never ended up turning the lights down. Tank is a waterbox 220.6.

Very confident it was nutrients as almost everything is looking a lot better. My seriatopora has actually regrown over the stripped area, paletta pink tip acro and my A. spathulata have spread their bases significantly and my green goblin anacropora has new growth. The most obvious sign is the significant increase in my alk consumption since upping nutrients and dosing trace and amino.

I suspect my Hanna Checker is to blame. At one point i was getting a consistent 0.04 reading but i now think P04 had entirely bottomed out and tha hanna just wasnt registering zero. Ive ordered a calibration set from hanna to check this.

In terms of the Noopsyche lights. Ive been using these for years. My 3ft had a pair and I had no issues with sps. I also have them on my mini peninsula and frag tank. Go have a look @telegraham review of these and other budget lights and how these compare to big brand options. I am interested to check PAR with another meter. BRS didnt have a variance in levels between the seneye and apogee so seems its a mileage may vary situation.

Appreciate all the input.

Try the VBR. It's within a couple percent of an Apogee MQ-510. Buy it, use it, keep it, share it, or return it. Amazon will refund 100% of your money compared to BRS' not 100%. https://a.co/d/9V1Ja5t

 

[LgTas]

Try the VBR. It's within a couple percent of an Apogee MQ-510. Buy it, use it, keep it, share it, or return it. Amazon will refund 100% of your money compared to BRS' not 100%. https://a.co/d/9V1Ja5t

Cheers for the reply! In Aus an Apogee is 1100 AUD so I'll check this one out.

 

[LgTas]

Seneye v VBR coming up

 

[LgTas]

Ok first reading is miles apart
110 par - VBR
300 par - seneye

Thats directly below the light.

 

[LgTas]

VBR Aqua vs Seneye

Right so I've been using a seneye as a par meter for the last few years. Recently received a few suggestions that it was pretty off. On the recommendation of @telegraham I purchased a VBR Aqua. Now here is the variation as measured at spots around the tank: Mid point left corner S - 305, VBR...

www.reef2reef.com

Started a new thread for the light comparison