Not enough light or too much light?

[Hugh Mann]

Picked up some Dragon's Breath macro earlier in the week. When I first brought it home it was a flat dark red, after a few days some of the tips are losing their colour, and others are turning bright orange/red. From what I've read about this macro, these are signs of not enough light and a good amount of light respectively. I know I don't have the proper light spectrum to facilitate optimal growth, but that light is on its way.

Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0.5
Nitrate 40
A bit high, but I added a bunch of new fish recently, so that could be why, it was much lower >10.

 

[Flippers4pups]

Picked up some Dragon's Breath macro earlier in the week. When I first brought it home it was a flat dark red, after a few days some of the tips are losing their colour, and others are turning bright orange/red. From what I've read about this macro, these are signs of not enough light and a good amount of light respectively. I know I don't have the proper light spectrum to facilitate optimal growth, but that light is on its way.

Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0.5
Nitrate 40
A bit high, but I added a bunch of new fish recently, so that could be why, it was much lower >10.

What kind of light is over it now?

 

[Hugh Mann]

What kind of light is over it now?

Two Mars aqua 165w lights. Only one directly shines on the algae as it's in a small HoB filter. I run it about half power 10 hours a day.

 

[Flippers4pups]

Could be too much light.

 

[Dan_P]

Picked up some Dragon's Breath macro earlier in the week. When I first brought it home it was a flat dark red, after a few days some of the tips are losing their colour, and others are turning bright orange/red. From what I've read about this macro, these are signs of not enough light and a good amount of light respectively. I know I don't have the proper light spectrum to facilitate optimal growth, but that light is on its way.

Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0.5
Nitrate 40
A bit high, but I added a bunch of new fish recently, so that could be why, it was much lower >10.

I have a totally unrelated red algae and what you describe happens when my red algae is dying back.

 

[Hugh Mann]

Could be too much light.

Too much as in too bright or too long?

 

[Flippers4pups]

Too much as in too bright or too long?

Most likely both. I tend to keep my reef lit around 8 hours. My refugium is reverse lit around the same amount of time. Edges turning could be a sign of too intense light.

 

[Hugh Mann]

Most likely both. I tend to keep my reef lit around 8 hours. My refugium is reverse lit around the same amount of time. Edges turning could be a sign of too intense light.

Thank you for the information. I had read that 12/12 was a decent schedule. I will cut it back and see what happens. Probably will help once I get the right light in, it's much lower power too.

What's the purpose of having the light reversed? I've heard it helps with nighttime Ph, but nobody ever says how.