Confounded

chrisjj625 · Jun 2, 2023

GARRIGA said:
Added light to reduce shading what is do too but were the other lights reduced to not overcompensate due to the new light added? PAR letter easiest but I’d think knowing how much additional wattage added vs running prior might help. I have a wattage meter and can test different light options and see the amount of wattage being used. Can’t afford a PAR meter at the moment but it’s interesting to see how off my eyes are estimating how much more juice pulled as I play with various channels at different intensities on my XR15.

Having a tough time following, but yes it was reduced. Please see above for details.

GARRIGA · Jun 2, 2023

chrisjj625 said:
Having a tough time following, but yes it was reduced. Please see above for details.

Was typing too early without my reading glasses

Dburr1014 · Jun 2, 2023

Random mode on the mp10?
30 liters is about 8 gallons.
You must have a ton of flow in that tank.
I think.....
You should turn down the lights quite a bit.
Perhaps you are over saturating them with light. That's the only thing I can think of.

chrisjj625 · Jun 2, 2023

Dburr1014 said:
Random mode on the mp10?
30 liters is about 8 gallons.
You must have a ton of flow in that tank.
I think.....
You should turn down the lights quite a bit.
Perhaps you are over saturating them with light. That's the only thing I can think of.

30 gallons, it’s a 30 long. It’s on reef crest mode.

Dburr1014 · Jun 2, 2023

chrisjj625 said:
30 gallons, it’s a 30 long. It’s on reef crest mode.

Oh, have you thought about adding another powerhead to get random flow?
Coral use flow to get nutrients and expel waste.

chrisjj625 · Jun 2, 2023

Dburr1014 said:
Oh, have you thought about adding another powerhead to get random flow?
Coral use flow to get nutrients and expel waste.

Thought about it, yes, but I don’t think I need it. Everything was going great with the flow I had.

chrisjj625 · Jun 7, 2023

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
A few days and see what happens, IMO.

No changes after 6 days. Do I need to lower the lights more (I can't fathom it) or is there something else chemically that could be happening at a certain time in the light cycle?

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jun 7, 2023

chrisjj625 said:
No changes after 6 days. Do I need to lower the lights more (I can't fathom it) or is there something else chemically that could be happening at a certain time in the light cycle?

Some things change when lights are on (O2 rises, pH rises, ORP and CO2 fall) , but not typically to the detriment of corals.

chrisjj625 · Jun 28, 2023

First day in a long time nothing has closed up. Also, the first day in a long time that I have my windows close due to the Canada forest fires and pH is not as high as it typically is. Is it possible to drive pH too high. I have got it up to 8.3-8.4 with windows open all day.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jun 29, 2023

chrisjj625 said:
First day in a long time nothing has closed up. Also, the first day in a long time that I have my windows close due to the Canada forest fires and pH is not as high as it typically is. Is it possible to drive pH too high. I have got it up to 8.3-8.4 with windows open all day.

It is possible to drive pH too high if you are aggressive with CO2 removal, but pH is fine at 8.5, and the main drawback to going higher seems to be calcium carbonate precipitation, not coral issues, Hard corals may grow better at higher pH.

chrisjj625 · Jul 17, 2023

So this is still happening on a daily basis my lights are turned down to the point where I have lost lots of color in my corals and they are all taking on a mostly green look. I have slowly starting raising the lights back up 1% a week. I don't know what to do, everything is still closing up around 10 - 1230 and then everything looks fine. Makes no sense at all to me.

chrisjj625 · Jul 21, 2023

Ok, I give up. I will remove the second light and see what happens.

chrisjj625 · Aug 3, 2023

chrisjj625 · Aug 3, 2023

No change since removing the second light

Randy Holmes-Farley · Aug 3, 2023

I don't see anything particularly noteworthy in the ICP, but dosing a trace element mix may be worthwhile.

chrisjj625 · Aug 3, 2023

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
I don't see anything particularly noteworthy in the ICP, but dosing a trace element mix may be worthwhile.

I already use all for reef and do weekly 10% water changes. What additional trace element product do you think would be beneficial?

Randy Holmes-Farley · Aug 3, 2023

chrisjj625 said:
I already use all for reef and do weekly 10% water changes. What additional trace element product do you think would be beneficial?

Something like Tropic Marin A and K. Or maybe just iron, manganese, and iodine.

chrisjj625 · Sep 12, 2023

@Randy Holmes-Farley so I figured out that if I stir up the sand bed shortly after the lights come on, I can stop all the corals from closing up. Any thoughts on why this may be? Is there something chemically that this may be doing that I can replicate without the manual process?

Randy Holmes-Farley · Sep 12, 2023

chrisjj625 said:
@Randy Holmes-Farley so I figured out that if I stir up the sand bed shortly after the lights come on, I can stop all the corals from closing up. Any thoughts on why this may be? Is there something chemically that this may be doing that I can replicate without the manual process?

My guess is it's a feeding response to the detritus. I would not assume it is beneficial to try to keep them open when they may not want to otherwise be open.

Some people think iodine helps corals deal with oxidants produced by lighting. You might try an iodine-containing additive.

chrisjj625 · Sep 12, 2023

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
My guess is it's a feeding response to the detritus. I would not assume it is beneficial to try to keep them open when they may not want to otherwise be open.

Some people think iodine helps corals deal with oxidants produced by lighting. You might try an iodine-containing additive.

Does that mean that you disagree with the iodine theory?