Birdsnest tissue loss...help!

[Gdk414]

What lux do u suggest for me. ?Acro. Acan. 2 Bnest. Favia. Anemone. Gstar polyp. Digi. Frogspawn
Btw lights lower 2 days bnest looking better

 

[themcnertney]

But brought a water sample to petco to test last week when i was dealing with a cyano outbreak and he said my water was perfect all around.

They usually say it is.
You need good test kits. I am willing to bet your alkalinity is off

 

[Russ265]

So i downloaded the lux meter app. Pretty cool. At 100% my light pushed the lux meter to its mac 30000 and the way i have it set now is around 5000 at the water surface.
I had no idea thoes little leds were so powerful!
And im guessing that bright light combined with being blasted with too much flow that one night is what did the damage.
Still gonna test the water and see what the numbers are.
What do you guys recomend for lux at surface?

30k lux isnt powerful.
birdsnest can handle way more - barring nutrients arent 0.

this also leads to the understocking theory.

 

[Gdk414]

30k was all it went. I. Sure it was more. I will check the settings on the app. What is stocking?

 

[Russ265]

30k was all it went. I. Sure it was more. I will check the settings on the app. What is stocking?

fish stock.

saw like 2 fish in there lol.

so there are 2 sides of reefing you can go. the dirty grow-fast tank with lots of light and nutrient alk and calcium.

or the less hassle, less fish, less nuisance algae, less light, just.....less.

 

[mcarroll]

So i downloaded the lux meter app. Pretty cool. At 100% my light pushed the lux meter to its mac 30000 and the way i have it set now is around 5000 at the water surface.
I had no idea thoes little leds were so powerful!
And im guessing that bright light combined with being blasted with too much flow that one night is what did the damage.
Still gonna test the water and see what the numbers are.
What do you guys recomend for lux at surface?

5000 is really low, actually. 30,000 would be nice. Anything over 10,000 lux seems OK, in fact. Around 20,000-30,000 lux is better at least in some cases.

This is not a "more is better" thing, however....I've grows stony corals successfully down to 10,000 lux, and I haven't seen anything to indicate there's a benefit of light intensity beyond around 30,000-40,000 lux.

What lights do you have and how high are they mounted from the water line?

 

[Russ265]

5000 is really low, actually. 30,000 would be nice. Anything over 10,000 lux seems OK, in fact. Around 20,000-30,000 lux is better at least in some cases.

This is not a "more is better" thing, however....I've grows stony corals successfully down to 10,000 lux, and I haven't seen anything to indicate there's a benefit of light intensity beyond around 30,000-40,000 lux.

What lights do you have and how high are they mounted from the water line?

ill admit the $500 efflo will not grow under 800 par after surviving for 18 months under it.

battlecorals blue milli also struggles.
pealberry as a small frag struggles but i think will come around.

more isnt always better. i agree. but bomb it for 6 months and see if it doesnt tap out.(if you have nutrients)

a ton of millies love it though

 

[Gdk414]

On this tank i have a current orbit marine pro led mounted on the legs it came with...id say 4" above the water. I also have a glass cover on the tank which im sure isnt exactly recomened but i like it and am stubborn lol. There is 3 fish in there with 8 coral frags

 

[mcarroll]

I've even found indications that fast-growing corals aren't as healthy, or hardy, as the same coral growing slowly.

I think this makes more sense when you/I consider that corals are really deep-sea critters that are adapting to surface conditions by way of a nasty dinoflagellate infection!

I think "being photosynthetic" is pretty hard on them and requires quite a bit of compensation from the coral animal. So it may even be very true that in terms of light, less is actually more. (Of course not all corals are equal in their ability to compensate.)

 

[Gdk414]

I had it on the ramp timer setting with the lights on full pwr. I want to change the ramp timer light intensity hut i dont know how to program it. So i am keeping it on 75blue 25white from when i get up to when i go to bed

 

[mcarroll]

On this tank i have a current orbit marine pro led mounted on the legs it came with...id say 4" above the water. I also have a glass cover on the tank which im sure isnt exactly recomened but i like it and am stubborn lol. There is 3 fish in there with 8 coral frags

Decent light! Definitely turn it up and get into the sweet spot – above 10,000 lux. 20,000-30,000 might be ideal.

I would make the switch slowly, adding around 2000 lux per change....and making no more than one change every week or two.

BTW, the "light shock" in your case seems to have been "too little" light compared to what the coral had been acclimated to. Unusual, but it's known to be as rough on corals as having a switch to too much light.....either can kill.

Keep an eye on your nitrates and phosphates and make sure neither goes to zero....this is more important for phosphates IMO.

Be prepared to ditch that glass cover.....it's only acceptable to use at all if you keep it spotless-clean all the time. Even a little bit of haze – let along salt creep, algae growth, etc – will cut the light to your corals in a crucial way. Replace it with a mesh-plastic cover if you're afraid of your fish jumping out. (A legitimate worry.)

 

[mcarroll]

I had it on the ramp timer setting with the lights on full pwr. I want to change the ramp timer light intensity hut i dont know how to program it. So i am keeping it on 75blue 25white from when i get up to when i go to bed

So the lights were getting up to 100% during at least part of the day? That's different – and probably fine how it was then.

Definitely figure out how to program the light though! (@saltyfilmfolks any tricks beyond following the directions for getting the ramp-timer adjusted?)

BE CAREFUL ABOUT MAKING CHANGES TO LIGHTING ABRUPTLY.....THAT'S MOST LIKELY WHAT GOT YOUR CORAL INTO THIS BOAT.

 

[Gdk414]

Ok thank you for the info. I apreciate it. So i got the nest from a long time reefer who sells and trades locally. He uses cheap chinese leds on his frag tanks and has them kinda high [i think] so when i got it i blasted it w my decent light full power right off the bat. No aclimation at all. So wouldnt that have been too much light shock? Sorry like i said this is my first tank and there is soooo much to learn lol

 

[Gdk414]

I have to read the ramp timer instructions again. Last time i read them i got confused and frusterated so i let it as it was

 

[Russ265]

I've even found indications that fast-growing corals aren't as healthy, or hardy, as the same coral growing slowly.

I think this makes more sense when you/I consider that corals are really deep-sea critters that are adapting to surface conditions by way of a nasty dinoflagellate infection!

I think "being photosynthetic" is pretty hard on them and requires quite a bit of compensation from the coral animal. So it may even be very true that in terms of light, less is actually more. (Of course not all corals are equal in their ability to compensate.)

while this is a case for "some" coral, there are a ton of coral that are shallow and take 2000 par no problem.

 

[mcarroll]

Pics can be deceiving

 

[mcarroll]

while this is a case for "some" coral, there are a ton of coral that are shallow and take 2000 par no problem.

Was rushed.....looks can be deceiving.

I think you may be taking for granted quite a bit of what went into the making of that reef.

Unless you spoke to one of those corals personally, I'm going to keep on knowing that it was far from "no problem".

Something closer to "miraculous" is what I'm thinking.

 

[Gdk414]

What about mine? Too much?

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

What about mine? Too much?

just too fast.

 

[mcarroll]

Ok thank you for the info. I apreciate it. So i got the nest from a long time reefer who sells and trades locally. He uses cheap chinese leds on his frag tanks and has them kinda high [i think] so when i got it i blasted it w my decent light full power right off the bat. No aclimation at all. So wouldnt that have been too much light shock? Sorry like i said this is my first tank and there is soooo much to learn lol

If you can take your lux meter to his house (or get him to take a reading) and just get a reading from his tank to compare with, that would be ideal.