Radion XR15 G4 Pro Lighting Help

[Venator]

Hello, everyone! I am looking for some guidance in regards to intensity and spectrum for my 25 gallon (relatively) shallow mixed reef. I don't know what intensity is optimal for a tank with LPS and SPS; most of my LPS are euphyllia and I have a few acropora and montipora. I have other things like nems and zoas, but that's all I'm really concerned with. My SPS are about 3-4 inches under the surface, and my LPS are about 6 inches from the surface. The light is about 8 inches from the surface. The light is more or less centered directly over the SPS and the LPS portion of the tank is 5-10 inches from the center.

I am mainly wondering about the level of intensity given the corals' respective distances from the surface. Will the LPS be okay just a couple inches from the SPS (or vice versa)? Also, will I get better growth and coloration with like 100% blues and just 5-10% whites, or should I balance them out a little more? Finally, should I max out UV and violet and should red be more like 30%? Sorry if it's hard to answer these questions, but it seems incredibly unclear and subjective to me. I know that different reefs have different needs, but in such a new tank I am unsure of how to proceed. Thanks!

 

[Surfzone]

When you go to set it up in eco-smart live they have preloaded templates to use. I would start off with the Coral lab AB+ setting at 50 to 60% to start and just keep an eye on your corals to see how they react to the light and then rase the intensity about 5% per week until you notice the corals react poorly then back it off to the previous setting. Now after all that don't touch tour light settings once you have it diled in.

 

[John3]

Agreed with above. I run AB+ at 70% and have had good growth.

 

[Venator]

Would that be fine for LPS and softies at like 10 inches? (Guess shallow tanks aren’t as great for mixed reefs)

 

[Surfzone]

They should be fine

 

[Venator]

Huh, interesting. I’ve been running at 20% till now because I was scared of bleaching (worked fine in my smaller nem tank). Thanks guys

 

[John3]

Be careful with the white channel. The white channel is what will bleach your corals.

 

[Venator]

Yeah, I know how dangerous too much white can be. I lost a couple of frags nearly a year ago because of too much white, it just seems like a lot of SPS tanks have way more prevalent whites than what I considered safe.

 

[Joshua M Hall]

Yeah, I know how dangerous too much white can be. I lost a couple of frags nearly a year ago because of too much white, it just seems like a lot of SPS tanks have way more prevalent whites than what I considered safe.

I realize how late this post is but I have ran into a problem with my corals fading. I think it is from the intensity. Those recommending 60-70% seem to be really really high to me for the size of our tanks. My tank is fairly similar to yours. I have a IM20 with 2 XR15's. I started with 1 at 27%. Most things seem to be doing well with a few shading issues and one that didn't seem to be coloring up well. So I added a 2nd XR15 and kept it the same %. After a week everything seemed great so I bumped it up to 29%. Bad idea. I went away on a work trip for almost 3 weeks with my wife watching the tank. She is apparently color blind because every time I asked about it she said they looked the same. About a week before I came home we FaceTimed and I thought they looked faded. She said that she didn't think so, so I figured it was just the iPhone cam not showing the true colors. Once I got home I immediately noticed my corals had faded quit a bit and a favia had bleached white in the most direct areas. Its tissues are still intact and I think I caught it in time. Fingers crossed, only time will tell. Speaking of time, anyone know how long it takes for a faded coral to get their colors back? I know I have had browned corals take several months. Was hoping faded was not as long. Thanks OP and anyone else who can help.