Lighting schedule length for LPS and softies

[Doobie65]

I will only be keeping LPS corals for a while as I gain knowledge for SPS. I have 2 AI prime 16 HD lights and I have them on a 9 hour schedule. My PEAK lighting is a 4 hour period but even then I have no lights over 50%. One- Is my lighting sufficient and two- should I lengthen, shorten or leave at 9 hours? Thanks for the help in advance!

 

[Ron Reefman]

Need to know more about tank depth to answer intelligently.

However, a 4 hour at peak setting MAY be a bit short. It depends on how much your setting fall off from peak either side (before and after). The zooxanthellae inside coral typically does photosynthesis from 5 to 8 hours. And part of that time is an hour it takes with enough light to get the photosynthesis process even started. Your coral will grow better and be healthier if you can maximize the amount of photosynthesis time which helps feed the coral.

 

[Doobie65]

Need to know more about tank depth to answer intelligently.

However, a 4 hour at peak setting MAY be a bit short. It depends on how much your setting fall off from peak either side (before and after). The zooxanthellae inside coral typically does photosynthesis from 5 to 8 hours. And part of that time is an hour it takes with enough light to get the photosynthesis process even started. Your coral will grow better and be healthier if you can maximize the amount of photosynthesis time which helps feed the coral.

Need to know more about tank depth to answer intelligently.

However, a 4 hour at peak setting MAY be a bit short. It depends on how much your setting fall off from peak either side (before and after). The zooxanthellae inside coral typically does photosynthesis from 5 to 8 hours. And part of that time is an hour it takes with enough light to get the photosynthesis process even started. Your coral will grow better and be healthier if you can maximize the amount of photosynthesis time which helps feed the coral.

Sorry , yea some specs would have helped lol. So the LEDs are 10 inches from the surface ( adjusted to get max coverage without spilling into the room) and the water surface to the sand surface is 17 inches.I have a DIY glass too but it is raised away from the water so not to get salt , stains, fogging etc and to allow for gas exchange as it is a new tank and going through diatom bloom as well. So in other words it stays clear and clean.

 

[Doobie65]

Sorry , yea some specs would have helped lol. So the LEDs are 10 inches from the surface ( adjusted to get max coverage without spilling into the room) and the water surface to the sand surface is 17 inches.I have a DIY glass too but it is raised away from the water so not to get salt , stains, fogging etc and to allow for gas exchange as it is a new tank and going through diatom bloom as well. So in other words it stays clear and clean. The ramp up time is 2 hours and ramp down is 3 hours. The last hour of ramping down is just one blue light at about 5%. Also , being that im going through the diatom stage, will it hurt to totally take out the red and green in my schedule? I hear from a lot of people that these 2 colors are algae magnets. Your take on that? Thank you.

 

[mike550]

@Doobie65 it would be great if you would get a sense of your light intensity with a PAR meter. I did that recently and was really surprised.

For what it’s worth, World Wide Corals suggests a 10-12 hours of total light with three hours of blue, 4 hours of white , and three of blue.

 

[Doobie65]

@Doobie65 it would be great if you would get a sense of your light intensity with a PAR meter. I did that recently and was really surprised.

For what it’s worth, World Wide Corals suggests a 10-12 hours of total light with three hours of blue, 4 hours of white , and three of blue.

Yes I want to get a par reading for sure. I think places actually rent meters out now.

 

[mike550]

Yes I want to get a par reading for sure. I think places actually rent meters out now.

Yep. I rented one from BRS a few weeks ago.

 

[Doobie65]

Yep. I rented one from BRS a few weeks ago.

So were you satisfied with where your corals were or did you have to move a bunch after the par readings?

 

[mike550]

So were you satisfied with where your corals were or did you have to move a bunch after the par readings?

So I learned two things. First, I was really surprised by my light levels. They were much lower than I thought they would be. Second, I wanted to adjust my lights to get 100PAR on the sand bed and then measure from there. Unfortunately, I maxed out around 80 but still mapped out my tank.

The only corals I had in the tank were GSP, Kenyan Tree, and frogspawn. So much more tolerant of light, and I didn’t move them. I did the measurements before I started investing in corals so Ive been able to place them much more thoughtfully. (Probably over thought it to be honest).

 

[Doobie65]

So I learned two things. First, I was really surprised by my light levels. They were much lower than I thought they would be. Second, I wanted to adjust my lights to get 100PAR on the sand bed and then measure from there. Unfortunately, I maxed out around 80 but still mapped out my tank.

The only corals I had in the tank were GSP, Kenyan Tree, and frogspawn. So much more tolerant of light, and I didn’t move them. I did the measurements before I started investing in corals so Ive been able to place them much more thoughtfully. (Probably over thought it to be honest).

Gotcha, I want to get a frogspawn myself as soon as tank stables a bit.