LED Lighting PAR Reading Advice

[Danesreef]

Good Evening

I have recently been wondering why my SPS Polyp extension is poor, and I have narrowed down a lot of things down to the below.

Water parameters are all as expected and within tolerance, Latest ICP had corrections for Iodine and manganese, only minor. Nitrates are at 2ppm.

1. Lighting - Not enough/too much
2. Flow
3. Angels (flame and potters)

Below is a screen shot of my system with the PAR results. Taken using a Apogee MQ 200, I have left flow on to take readings to be as true as possible, all readings fluctuated slightly due to this.

Lighting is 2 x Maxspect Ethereal, These readings lights are on 80% all channels.
Flow is by 2 x Maxspect XF250 controlled via ICV6 on the preset, max flow 60% alternating.

What are your thoughts on the below PAR Measurements, Would you push the lights up to 90% - 95% over couple of weeks to increase the lighting around the corals?

All corals showing good growth where positioned, just poor polyp extension.

Excuse the Wier, I never really noticed it until I added an urchin and now he's making his way though cleaning it all up!

 

[Crabs McJones]

Good Evening

I have recently been wondering why my SPS Polyp extension is poor, and I have narrowed down a lot of things down to the below.

Water parameters are all as expected and within tolerance, Latest ICP had corrections for Iodine and manganese, only minor. Nitrates are at 2ppm.

1. Lighting - Not enough/too much
2. Flow
3. Angels (flame and potters)

Below is a screen shot of my system with the PAR results. Taken using a Apogee MQ 200, I have left flow on to take readings to be as true as possible, all readings fluctuated slightly due to this.

Lighting is 2 x Maxspect Ethereal, These readings lights are on 80% all channels.
Flow is by 2 x Maxspect XF250 controlled via ICV6 on the preset, max flow 60% alternating.

What are your thoughts on the below PAR Measurements, Would you push the lights up to 90% - 95% over couple of weeks to increase the lighting around the corals?

All corals showing good growth where positioned, just poor polyp extension.

Excuse the Wier, I never really noticed it until I added an urchin and now he's making his way though cleaning it all up!

If you have good growth and good coloration I'd say stick with where you're at. Itd be a shame to turn the lights up and upset your corals and have them start to bleach.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

You could bump them up 50 to see if helps growth. But I don’t know what the photoperiod is.

I have seen no correlation with PE and Light. I’ve seen no correlation that PE zoa an indication of health overall.

I could be totally wrong , would love to see articles to the contrary.

A polyp is a mouth. I’d sooner equate it to feeding responses. Dissolved organics etc.

 

[paul barker]

If you have good growth and good coloration I'd say stick with where you're at. Itd be a shame to turn the lights up and upset your corals and have them start to bleach.

I was always told that 250per was ideal for sps I have YouTube it and found good information

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

I was always told that 250per was ideal for sps I have YouTube it and found good information

Depends on the species.

 

[paul barker]

Depends on the species.

True I had one Monte pour a that didn't do good in high light

 

[jda]

PE is not a sign of anything... either good or bad. PE in acropora is mostly for gas exchange. They will not risk getting a polyp eaten if they do not need the energy. More PE can be from higher nutrients and the dinos (zoox) multiplying and needing to breath more. Lots of PE could also mean that thre is not enough flow and the gases are not leaving/entering at a high enough rate. Low PE could mean that the coral is happy and that nothing else is needed.

I have very little PE except on Millepora, RR Wolverine and a few others that are known for having a lot of PE. If you have some of these and they have none, then I would worry a bit, but otherwise, just keep on reefing if everything has good color and is growing.

Trick of the trade: when you see vendors with shots will all kinds of PE, they have shut off the flow and most of the time, they are in a "photo box." The coral then extends the polyps to breathe. This is a trick just like black photo boxes, blue lights, etc. Frag tanks at frags shows are like this as well... very low flow for a lot of SPS dealers.

As for the lights, that is not a lot of PAR. If you want to turn them up, then there is room... but go slow and observe well.

 

[Danesreef]

Thank you all for the replies, I am reasonable new to SPS as been keeping LPS/Soft corals and decide to slowly change over to SPS!

Very interesting information, I have always been advised and of the belief that a healthy SPS will have good polyp extension, but given the above I may have this wrong and be expecting too much from my system.

Lighting period start at 8am with Blues coming up slowly, and whites starting at 10am reaching max by 12pm, then at 6pm they start ramping down and whites are off by 8pm with blue taking a little longer.

PE is not a sign of anything... either good or bad. PE in acropora is mostly for gas exchange. They will not risk getting a polyp eaten if they do not need the energy. More PE can be from higher nutrients and the dinos (zoox) multiplying and needing to breath more. Lots of PE could also mean that thre is not enough flow and the gases are not leaving/entering at a high enough rate. Low PE could mean that the coral is happy and that nothing else is needed.

I have very little PE except on Millepora, RR Wolverine and a few others that are known for having a lot of PE. If you have some of these and they have none, then I would worry a bit, but otherwise, just keep on reefing if everything has good color and is growing.

Trick of the trade: when you see vendors with shots will all kinds of PE, they have shut off the flow and most of the time, they are in a "photo box." The coral then extends the polyps to breathe. This is a trick just like black photo boxes, blue lights, etc. Frag tanks at frags shows are like this as well... very low flow for a lot of SPS dealers.

As for the lights, that is not a lot of PAR. If you want to turn them up, then there is room... but go slow and observe well.

Thank you for the reply. I have some corals with polyp extension and some that don't. Everything is growing and with the above in mind is happy. I have some reverse sunset montipora and you can see more green than polyps, where as the place I got this from you can see no coral base, only polyp's. I also have some Monti First forest fire, again you can see the polyps just not fully extended. (See pictures below taken 5 weeks ago when lighting was lower)