Is 2 x Kessil A360we good enough for acro

[Jekyl]

BRS said alk is best around 8.3 I think. It's all in their 52 weeks of reefing videos on youtube. Par readings on your lights I'm not sure on. However I'd use what you have before spending more money. Lower the alk around 8 and relocate the sps under a light higher in the tank. If you plan on doing mainly sps then more ligniting will be needed. T5s do have the best coverage but hybrid combo of both seems to be best overall.

 

[AspiringReefer]

We've been trying to grow SPS frags for about a year. We started with higher Alk and low nutrients (like yours) and killed all of our frags within 6 weeks. We were advised on R2R to lower Alk or raise nutrients. We lowered Alk to 8.5 and allowed PO4 to go to .06 and we've had more success, but SPS is still a struggle for us, especially in a mixed reef tank with a moderate bio load.

We have a 125g system with 4 Kessil 360WE's. About 8 weeks ago, we borrowed a PAR meter for the first time and realized that our 50-60% peak intensity was WAY lower PAR than the SPS needed. We've ramped up to 95% intensity and all of our corals seem much happier. Our light are about 5 inches over the water. It's easy to understand why so many reefers run LED / T5 combo.

Interesting I think I should lower my alk then it’s been a week since I checked and it is now down to 9.6 I’ve been trying to lower it slowly to 9 anyhow but maybe I’ll have to go down to 8-8.5 I just can’t seem to get any nitrates in my system .. maybe I will have to take some of the Chaeto out. I use phosphate stuff from BRS and just changed that out so maybe that wasn’t such a good idea. Maybe I’ll unplug that reactor? I just don’t like changing things all at once. One thing at a time to see if it effects anything. Maybe my nitrates will be up to 5 miraculously. I’ll over feed even more than I have been and see if that helps as well.

 

[madweazl]

By "phosphate stuff" do you mean GFO? If you have low/no phosphate and you have a refugium, you shouldnt be running GFO.

 

[AspiringReefer]

By "phosphate stuff" do you mean GFO? If you have low/no phosphate and you have a refugium, you shouldnt be running GFO.

Well I did have phosphates when I first started as I inherited the tank and my phosphates registered off the charts 3 months ago as well as nitrates were at 160plus did 3 x water changes at 50 percent and still tested that high ... asked the previous owner how often they did water changes and they said I haven’t in 17 years. Needless to say I had to change horrid water to clean incrementally to not kill the 17 year old clownfish. So you think I should just be running carbon then? I like the gfo for the fact that it keeps it low then got a small amount of Chaeto as well maybe 5 gallons of a refuge in with it in there. My test kits bottom at .25 so it never tests positive hard to tell what it’s actually at.

 

[madweazl]

If you still have measurable phosphates with the GFO and they're manageable, continue to run it.

 

[Salt1972]

Mind sharing your par readings?

Happy to share. At the 'top' rock work (approx 3-4" under the surface), we see 280. Middle is ~180. Bottom is 80-90. This is with 4 Kessil 360WE's spaced evenly over a 6' 125g. 85% Intensity / 25% Color (2PM). Our schedule is below. I think we've bumped the intensity to a peak 90 or 95% as of 2 weeks ago.

Intensity Color
1:00A 0 0
2:00A 0 0
3:00A 0 0
4:00A 0 0
5:00A 0 0
6:00A 0 0
7:00A 0 0
8:00A 0 0
9:00A 20% 0%
10:00A 45% 10%
11:00A 70% 20%
12:00P 79% 22%
1:00P 82% 23%
2:00P 85% 25%
3:00P 83% 30%
4:00P 81% 35%
5:00P 79% 40%
6:00P 75% 45%
7:00P 65% 40%
8:00P 45% 15%
9:00P 20% 0%
10:00P 0% 0%
11:00P 0% 0%
12:00A 0% 0%

 

[AspiringReefer]

Thank you everyone for your keen insight I’m down to 9.3 since Sunday on DKH and am thinking by next week I should be near that 8 mark. Much appreciated! I am also working on saving up for that hybrid option on the lighting solution hopefully I don’t burn the corals once I got those as well! I’ll take it slow by using the fluorescents and slowly ramping up the kessils .. hopefully the light change doesn’t affect the corals too much once I get the lights.

 

[AspiringReefer]

Grab the aquatic life hybrid. I started with 2 360we’s as well. The growth wasn’t there. Things are better with the hybrid. I’m toying with the idea of puting a160’s on the far edges of the hybrid as well.

Ok so I pulled the trigger I’m lighting the back ones and hopefully in a week I’ll start the front ones. Just hoping to not burn my corals! Thanks for the advice!

 

[Hemmdog]

Nice!!

Ok so I pulled the trigger I’m lighting the back ones and hopefully in a week I’ll start the front ones. Just hoping to not burn my corals! Thanks for the advice!