How Long Can SpS Survive without High/Quality PAR

[Cscultho]

My NICREW 3-light lamp took a dump after less than one year of using it on my 32-gallon mixed reef. Needless to say, I'm very disappointed with the poor quality of this light. I've purchased a new Radion xr15 that is scheduled to be here tomorrow, 9/6.

Question: My light went out yesterday, 9/4 and I've been using a plant grow light as an interim action, how long can sps coral live with the low par and light spectrum.

thanks.

 

[LARedstickreefer]

People regularly do multi day blackouts to combat dinos so I’d imagine that the corals are okay with that at least.

The real question is the par from the light you ordered. Those xr15 lights are wimpy…

 

[Cscultho]

People regularly do multi day blackouts to combat dinos so I’d imagine that the corals are okay with that at least.

The real question is the par from the light you ordered. Those xr15 lights are wimpy…

Thanks for your feedback. When you say "wimpy" what is your definition of this? Since my SpS sit at the top half of the tank I would assume I would get adequate PAR to meet their needs....300+

 

[Lavey29]

Correct XR 15 lights are very whimpy par lights. I have 2 and run them at 100% intensity. You can try natural light if near a window until your light gets delivered to.

 

[LARedstickreefer]

Thanks for your feedback. When you say "wimpy" what is your definition of this? Since my SpS sit at the top half of the tank I would assume I would get adequate PAR to meet their needs....300+

I don’t think you’ll see anywhere near 300 par with that light. You’ll need to have your corals directly under and inches from the water surface…Do you have a par meter?

 

[Cscultho]

I don’t think you’ll see anywhere near 300 par with that light. You’ll need to have your corals directly under and inches from the water surface…Do you have a par meter?

Unfortunately, i do not...ugh

 

[Cscultho]

ok, what is a suggested good light then?

 

[Gribbles]

ok, what is a suggested good light then?

Reefi Uno pro 2.1

Basically the same price as the xr15 but 5x the power (or more)

 

[LARedstickreefer]

ok, what is a suggested good light then?

Check out Reefi. Their lights are cheaper than the xr15 and wayyyyy more powerful. I have the uno 2.0 pro and it has more than enough par over my Red Sea reefer 170.

 

[Cscultho]

All right guys....I broke down and bought the Reefi and will return the XR15. Glad I got some advise....!!! Thanks.

 

[keithw283]

I agree with everybody that the gen 6 radions are weak (gen 4 was peak imo). With that being said, depending on dimensions of your tank and placement of the your sps the xr15 would have likely been fine.

 

[chip shop]

Grown sps coral with all radions up to current ones I’m using gen 5 no problem at all thought I do have t5 aswell you definitely won’t struggle to get 300 pal,and the coral will be fine for days may sulk but will come back normal

 

[LARedstickreefer]

All right guys....I broke down and bought the Reefi and will return the XR15. Glad I got some advise....!!! Thanks.

You’ll have more than enough par with that light. Enough to bleach so be careful and acclimate!

 

[Shawnd08]

Xr15 G6s need to be mounted closer to the water to put out higher par. On the RMS mount I found the par lower. I lowered the light to 7 inches from the water and the par significantly increased. the lower you could go the more par you would see. the wider lens closer to the water allows a lot more light to reflect off the glass, the higher up you are the less light that reflects. If you get it right the nice thing is the par is even across the tank.

 

[Cscultho]

How are the controls for the Reefi? Good, Bad, Neutral?