Lighting — Need some help!

[Aussiemarine]

Hey everyone

So I am struggling with mycorals at the moment, and it may not be the lighting but I am pretty sure it is.

My tank is 5x3x2 so it’s very deep - when I was setting up the tank I got two Orphex V1s (about 8 years old) which I thought would be good supplementary lights for my Kessil a360s to penetrate the water to get a good par level at the sandbed.
I am running a 13 hour lighting schedule (running full for about 7 hours) and ramping up / down with an hour each side for blues only. I took some PAR readings and I am getting around 450-500 at the top and around 180 on the sandbed so quite a bit of light. My SPS are getting between 250-300.

My question is - should I continue running with these lights and altering the schedule if so what are people’s recommendations. Or should I sell it all and go with radions instead - if so what’s the best makeup of a tank this size, how many?

My SPS do great in quarantine for months with a radion XR15 then once they are in the tank they justdie off. Some have RTN some bleach some go brown... but I have tested all my levels and they seem pretty good even though my nutirents are lower than I’d like. I use the same water from the display as my QT so if it was a water issue I would see see the same thing in my QT which I don’t.

Levels:
Salinity 1.026
PH 8.3-8.5
Temp 26 (Celsius)
Calc 480
Mag 1400
DKH 8.3
Phos 0.1
Nitrate 5-10ppm

I did have Dino’s which I got rid of pretty quickly with UV andeverything seems to have gone down hill since then. I am at a bit of a loss as to why I just can’t seem to get all my corals happy again - some are really happy and others just aren’t.... but they were all great during quarantine. And the recent SPS were in my quarantine tank during the Dino’s and only added after and they have pretty much not done well since adding them here.

Any help would be great - any suggestions ?

Photos are below when corals we’re doing well but seem to have dropped off quite a bit recently.

Running a BM filter roller, carbon reactor, ATS, refugium, skimmer and UV Ster

I

 

[Ron Reefman]

You are getting very good PAR levels with what you have. Why in the world would you dump them and spend a bunch of money on new leds that will do the same thing?

Do the Q-tank and DT have similar spectrum given they have different fixtures?

Did you coral issues start with the dino and UV?

 

[Bpb]

I would be quicker to blame chemistry than lighting to be honest. The measurables you posted all look fine so it isn’t that. Next question would be what sort of chemical filtration do you regularly use, what supplementing method are you using, and what is your water change schedule looking like?

 

[jda]

I would stop with organic carbon in a reef tank. I find that they remove too much available N and P and the corals suffer - especially N in the form of ammonia and ammonium. Remember that SPS cannot use nitrate to get nitrogen and they must get it from ammonia and ammonium and the bacteria that organic carbon creates will outcompete the corals.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Orphek one is a great light. I noticed they tend to run bright. Try whites at 18% and see if it looks balanced

 

[Aussiemarine]

You are getting very good PAR levels with what you have. Why in the world would you dump them and spend a bunch of money on new leds that will do the same thing?

Do the Q-tank and DT have similar spectrum given they have different fixtures?

Did you coral issues start with the dino and UV?

Yeah my thoughts too but I have no idea if these orpheks are just not putting out the right type of light despite the PAR levels being good?

Yes - very similar but the radion is more powerful so I am running it less intensity as it’s a shallow QT tank.

Yes they seem to have all started around this same period of Dino’s. I ran 2 blackout periods and a week at reduced lighting. But the new SPS were added after all of this and Dino’s had gone (I specially waited until everything was done before adding them) but have since pretty much died. The Dallas I have actually colored up nicely since being in this tank but is slowly dieing I think.

I would be quicker to blame chemistry than lighting to be honest. The measurables you posted all look fine so it isn’t that. Next question would be what sort of chemical filtration do you regularly use, what supplementing method are you using, and what is your water change schedule looking like?

Yeah that’s my other thought but tests are all OK - maybe there is something untoward that I can’t test for and maybe a triton test would be beneficial. I have confirmed my RO is 0 TDS

I usually do approx 20% change per month so roughly 200litres. Mechanical filtration is as above I have the filter roller, skimmer, 75w UV, carbon reactor, algae turf scrubber.

I dose alk, calc (both seachem brand) and amino acids.

I would stop with organic carbon in a reef tank. I find that they remove too much available N and P and the corals suffer - especially N in the form of ammonia and ammonium. Remember that SPS cannot use nitrate to get nitrogen and they must get it from ammonia and ammonium and the bacteria that organic carbon creates will outcompete the corals.

I have always run carbon and never had any issues using it with corals but you think I should give it a go and remove it for a little while and see if that jmproves

Orphek one is a great light. I noticed they tend to run bright. Try whites at 18% and see if it looks balanced

I am running 30% whites are the moment with 100% blues, 100% whites and 30% red at the peak for 6-7 hours and it ramps up and down for two hours on either side

Kessils running around 50% colour and 70% intensity at peak and ramping up and down either side

 

[Ron Reefman]

Yeah my thoughts too but I have no idea if these orpheks are just not putting out the right type of light despite the PAR levels being good?

Yes - very similar but the radion is more powerful so I am running it less intensity as it’s a shallow QT tank.

Do you not have control of the spectrum for the Orphek fixture? I don't understand what you mean by,"these orpheks are just not putting out the right type of light "

What does that mean? The right type of light???

 

[Aussiemarine]

Do you not have control of the spectrum for the Orphek fixture? I don't understand what you mean by,"these orpheks are just not putting out the right type of light "

What does that mean? The right type of light???

No I can control the spectrum but being 10 years old I am not sure if LEDs in general omit the exact same light all the time or if they somewhat fade over time

 

[jda]

Nobody really knows how long they spectrum holds for a reef situation. The emitting life of other types of lighting is many times more than the effective life over a reef and the lifetime hours is not appropriate for us. Phosphors degrade and so does output with anything.

 

[Aussiemarine]

Nobody really knows how long they spectrum holds for a reef situation. The emitting life of other types of lighting is many times more than the effective life over a reef and the lifetime hours is not appropriate for us. Phosphors degrade and so does output with anything.

Okay so I guess just stick with them then ?