LED Light Spectrum? (Pic)

[Kinghugo5]

Hi All!

I’ve tried to research this and have formed an educated guess on what to set my Fluval Marine 3.0 to but wanted to gather some opinions.

The setting is as follows:
Blue: 100%
Purple 90%
Cyan 80%
Cold white 70%
Red 20%

I’m having a bit of green hair algae and noticed my red was at 40% so changed it today after reading. I plan to eventually have some LPS.

Any thoughts? A pic doesn’t do it justice but the light is decently blue in color. I’m wanting the best spectrum for some lower light corals. Thanks in advance!

Nate

 

[Flippers4pups]

A couple things first. How old is your tank?

What's your water pramameters?

Spectrum is a little subjective to some degree. Your light settings are okay for easier corals, but your intensity is also needed. Intesnity measured in PAR is most common. Using a PAR meter is the best way to see how much radiation from the light source is reaching the corals. Most corals will do relatively well under 200-300 PAR.

PAR meters can be expensive. There is other ways of measuring light intensity. One way is to use a LUX meter and do a conversation to PAR.

Heres a article explaining this:

https://www.advancedaquarist.com/2013/2/equipment

Lux meters are cheap. The sensor end can be wrapped in clear plastic to protect it from water.

 

[Kinghugo5]

The tank is 2 weeks old. Coral wouldn’t be for a while but wanted to make sure I have lighting down well in advance.

I’m reading zeros across the board except for some trace phosphates. A piece of my live rock came with some GHA so I’m guessing that’s the culprit, but it’s not out of hand. The snails are keeping up so far.

I’ve read mixed reviews that this light isn’t the best for corals so I will probably only have mushrooms and zoas until I make a switch to a different light. Although, my live rock also came with 4 mushrooms and they are getting bigger each day... They are about 10” deep. (72g bow)

Thanks!

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

It’s actually not. A bad light. I’ve def seen some pretty good sucess with it here on R2r.
It’s not a big name or one folks know well and had a rep from before Led so....

Those settings are pretty good.

If corals look like they are struggling on the sand , move them up.
You could also add a second one as well if the tank allows and grow most stuff save clams on the sand unless it’s a shallow tank.

 

[Kinghugo5]

It’s actually not. A bad light. I’ve def seen some pretty good sucess with it here on R2r.
It’s not a big name or one folks know well and had a rep from before Led so....

Those settings are pretty good.

If corals look like they are struggling on the sand , move them up.
You could also add a second one as well if the tank allows and grow most stuff save clams on the sand unless it’s a shallow tank.

Thanks! The tank could definitely have another light, I would probably just lower intensity at that point. By the time I’m ready to add something from the LFS, I’ll have some decent observations of the mushrooms already existing. The rock is a pyramid and the mushrooms are on the lower rock so if they are doing ok, I may also try some LPS.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Thanks! The tank could definitely have another light, I would probably just lower intensity at that point. By the time I’m ready to add something from the LFS, I’ll have some decent observations of the mushrooms already existing. The rock is a pyramid and the mushrooms are on the lower rock so if they are doing ok, I may also try some LPS.

If you acclimate the tank to the second light and get to the same settings in both you can grow just about anything.
Jus sayin.

 

[Ron Reefman]

With a tank that is only 2 weeks old, even if you have successfully finished the nitrogen cycle, you have more hurdles to jump. After the cycle tanks take anywhere from a few months to a year to really mature and stabilize. You MAY have a bloom of diatoms, or hair algae or bacteria like cyanobacteria before things settle down. Don't rush it. You can still add fish, that's pretty easy. And the right fish can eat some or all of the algae. Be more careful adding corals. The blooms all want to cling onto stuff, like the glass tank, the sand, the rocks and yes, the new corals.

I wouldn't worry about the new light for at least 3 to 6 months. In the mean time, find somebody who has a PAR meter (a fellow reefer, an LFS, a rental online outfit) and do some testing. Or find somebody online who has the exact same light you have and see if they have PAR readings. The last resort is to do the 'Canary in a Coalmine' approach. Get a small frag of a red cap monti (or any inexpensive plating coral) and set it in your tank higher than all the other corals. When you raise the light intensity too high, the red cap will start to bleach before any other corals. At that point, dial the power back a bit (5% to 10%) and you should be good to go.

 

[AbnormalReefer]

They grow corals, but not as fast as you’d like. I had easier SPS like hydnophora and montipora and they’ve done ok. However, stuff like birds nest coral and acropora just won’t survive (they’ll brown rapidly due to not enough light). After I moved my SPS to my 180 with AI Hydras though, I immediately saw the difference. Hydnophora and montiporas are taking off. Acroporas and birds nest are doing great too.