Do I Need More Light?

[IndyReef78]

Hi! I think this is my first post, so a little background: we have a year old 120 gallon 4 foot long, 30 in deep reef tank. Fish and invertebrates are growing great and have been for some time. Corals are a challenge. We currently have two Kessil A360 We lights that are set to around 80% intensity. If we go any higher, they start to flicker, which is a whole other issue...

We have several types of mushrooms, ricordias a Kenya tree, a couple leathers, some zoas, a frogspawn, an octospawn, some greenstar polyps and a torch. The torch is doing fantastic, the ricordias are good and the zoas are fine. Some of the mushrooms are good too...everything else is iffy and nothing really seems to be growing. We spot feed with Reef Roids and add Phytoplankton and Zooplankton. We have a refugium with chaeto and a protein skimmer running. We do routine water changes of 10-15 %. We just can't figure out why our corals don't seem to live or thrive. Could it be the lighting? Any other thoughts? Any help would be much appreciated!

 

[Big G]

Welcome to R2R! Glad to have you with us

Have you seen Dana Riddle's MACNA presentation of PAR & corals? If not, might help you decide on what to do about your lighting needs. It's kinds long but hang in there till around minute 22-24.

https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/vide...light-water-motion-by-dana-riddle-macna-2016/

 

[IndyReef78]

Welcome to R2R! Glad to have you with us

Have you seen Dana Riddle's MACNA presentation of PAR & corals? If not, might help you decide on what to do about your lighting needs. It's kinds long but hang in there till around minute 22-24.

https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/vide...light-water-motion-by-dana-riddle-macna-2016/

I have not yet. I will look into that. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[Justfebreezeit]

Sounds like it. 30" deep is pretty significant. If you like kessil, maybe add a 3rd and possibly a fourth.

You could also add a fixture like this to supplement with t5. (incase you haven't seen them yet)
https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/48-h...re-with-led-mounting-system-aquatic-life.html

 

[ikolbaba06]

Kessils are awesome lights but the 360we doesn’t have much punch so you may need to beef up the amount or add t5. Turning them up to 100% may help but you may need to replace the ones that flicker. I have 360we and ap700 on different tanks and the 360’s are definitely lower intensity via mq510 apogee par meter. You could add more of the narrow angle or the newer 360x have a little more punch and spread. But 30” is a lot to push through for most led.

 

[IndyReef78]

Sounds like it. 30" deep is pretty significant. If you like kessil, maybe add a 3rd and possibly a fourth.

You could also add a fixture like this to supplement with t5. (incase you haven't seen them yet)
https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/48-h...re-with-led-mounting-system-aquatic-life.html

Thanks for the suggestion. There is so much to learn in this hobby! The depth is posing some challenges, I think.

 

[IndyReef78]

Kessils are awesome lights but the 360we doesn’t have much punch so you may need to beef up the amount or add t5. Turning them up to 100% may help but you may need to replace the ones that flicker. I have 360we and ap700 on different tanks and the 360’s are definitely lower intensity via mq510 apogee par meter. You could add more of the narrow angle or the newer 360x have a little more punch and spread. But 30” is a lot to push through for most led.

This info is really helpful. Thank you for the suggestions. It helps to have a direction to start my research!

 

[jda]

What you are seeing is very typical. The stuff that is doing well does not need a lot of light. If you want more, then you need more light. Those 360s are not made to handle that kind of area - they are underpowered. You will see people using 4, 5 or more to penetrate that deep over a 4' tank.