LED Lighting Adjustments

[Jmack30]

Hi,

I'm new to this forum and fairly new to owning a reef tank set up. I have a Red Sea 350 Reefer set up with the open top display. In total it's about 95 gal. It's been up and running now for about 6 month, the cycling has all been completed and for the most part, my fish and about half my corals are doing very well. But as I get further into this hobby and studying how to best help add new corals, I have come to learn now that it is best to do a light acclimation, much like you would for adding new livestock. Water parameters are all good and at the levels they need to be at. I have the lights set at about 10-12" above the surface and the lights are fairly low percentage wise in the colors but I feel perhaps the intensity of those lights is still too much for these corals. I've lost one brain coral already and have a new one currently that I have placed in a sheltered and fairly shaded area of my tank which seems to be helping it. For this reason it has led me to believe that perhaps the intensity of the lighting is too much even at this time. I have no idea what to do from here or how to best keep things going with the corals despite having good water parameters? Please help a new hobbyist learn some tricks of the trade. Thanks!

 

[twilliard]

A person needs to know the lighting requirements for each coral.
This is where it gets a little harder to do with a mixed tank.
With proper acclimation to lighting over many weeks a person can judge where it needs to be placed.
When I acclimate a coral to lighting I move it up only 1" a week from the bottom.

 

[twilliard]

And welcome to the R2R community!

 

[mcarroll]

but I feel perhaps the intensity of those lights is still too much for these corals.

Use A Light Meter
Get a $free lux meter and measure the lights - no more need to guess or feel our way through the process!

A free app ("Galactica luxmetere" for IOS, for one example) for your smartphone can emulate a lux meter well enough to get you started.

I would also suggest finding an LX-1010B handheld lux meter (or similar) or eBay/amazon/etc...only $15 delivered. Gives better results. Much safer to use around saltwater!

Coral Needs
Corals don't need a lot of light to meet their needs and thrive....probably in general 10,000 lux to 20,000 lux. (Their compensation point seems to be around 5,000-10,000m lux.) Clams require more like 30,000+ lux. For reference, maximum daylight on the ocean surface would be around 100,000 lux.

Are your corals mostly frags, or some colonies too? Brains seem to be a little sensitive to change....any chance of taking a lux meter reading or two where your corals came from so you can bring home the readings and match your lights?

2¢

P.S. I'm glad you posted in those words by the way. I know it's only coincidence, but it's honest and it makes clear what most people go through.....using their feelings and eyeballs to set up their lights. Not a great recipe for success.