This is one side of the 210 pic taken with my phone. Sps love light, they are usually in shallow water with the sun beaming down on them. With the exception of deepwater acros. In Australia when the tide goes out some are directly exposed to the sun. If it wasnt so hot i would probably use metal halides but i like all the cool stuff i can do with the radions
SPS ALIVE but not THRIVING
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It's interesting how much theory and research has gone into lighting intensity and spectrum in regards to growth. Many say keep par levels in the range of 300 while others say 500+ par. I hear a lot about photoinhibition and how it can cause coral death with high levels of light. I've seen corals thrive in both ends of the spectrum, I believe feeding corals plays a big part in growth as corals also require nitrogen as a source of nutrition. Not talking about a nitrate reading on a test kit but nitrogen source that corals can consume. I've also heard that feeding corals can compensate for the lack of light a coral is receiving.
haha thats crazy... i also think my tank isnt at that mature level to make my corals grow... as everything is just becoming stable. I have also read a lot about maintaining high Ph levels in order for corals to grow faster. my PH hovers around 7.89-7.91.
im thinking of vodka dosing while increasing my feeding,lighting, and alkalinity as people have mentioned. hopefully that will kick start my corals to start growing.
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IME, we need to keep water parameter solid rock before SPS will start growing. Not only big 3 element, lights and waveform will affect coral growth as well. Leave them alone, just monitor water parameter and dose accordingly. PE will be the first sign of hope. Without one, 99% they are not happy, or in the midst of adjusting themselves to your tank. I was wondering why my alk was not consumed a few months back, with very minimal growth. I started dripping alk and now they are growing, great PE even though my light is not that great (DIY).
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I've been monitoring my big 3 for months after adding a few SPS, and was surprised my alk never drop. I am dosing calcium chloride for Ca, Mg sulfate for Mg and sodium bicarbonate for alk, but alk stays constants for weeks but Ca is dropping and need to be dosed every 10 days. After few months I bought an IV dripper and start dripping alk. To my surprise it didn't rise after several days. SPS start encrusting which is a good sign. I do have good PE prior to this. I know it is quite abnormal, but that was the case for me.
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Here are my out of ordinary alk dripper 
Ahh maybe they needed that extra dosing to push them over that threshold? It's interesting that the numbers weren't changing probably because the corals were at that moment utilizing more. I wonder if your alkilinity levels will drop now if you were to stop the dosing.
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I haven't test my alk for weeks. Will do an alk test and stop dosing for a week for confirmation.
Interesting, let us know what you find out.
My current alk increased to 8.0 today, ph 7.85, mg still above 1600 despite water change and no dosing. I just ordered some copepods and phytoplankton to seed my refugium and display tank. Hopefully that can create a ecosystem that can provide food for these corals too which might stimulate more polyp extension throughout the day.
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SPS cannot eat copepods. They are too big. Phytoplankton, yes, but it won't thrive in our system. It has to be cultured in a controlled environment. I do have naturally occurring bacteria plankton, when lights out all corals with polyps are super hairy.
JTreef
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Your colors look good. Looks like healthy SPS!
I was having slowwwwww growth on my frags. I added a radion to the kessil. Extreme growth spurt and all towards the new light. I'm going to try T5's next. I've got a couple tanks. Switching lights out to see which work best.
I was having slowwwwww growth on my frags. I added a radion to the kessil. Extreme growth spurt and all towards the new light. I'm going to try T5's next. I've got a couple tanks. Switching lights out to see which work best.
JTreef
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Flame could be an issue with polyp ext. I have a cherub in my 93 cube reef. Only polyp extension at night.
Had a flame in my 56 mixed reef. Didn't hurt anything, but no polyp extension except for nightime either.
Had a flame in my 56 mixed reef. Didn't hurt anything, but no polyp extension except for nightime either.
Va_Reef
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The AI prime won't help much, its really meant for nano tanks. I would add a 4 bulb or two 2 bulb T5s. Some of my SPS likes 600 par, the only thing that likes anything less than 400 par (IME) are some of the higher end encrusting montis.
I know you said you don't see your flame angel pick, but you also don't watch your tank for 24/7, and I know some fish act differently when they think we aren't around.
I know you said you don't see your flame angel pick, but you also don't watch your tank for 24/7, and I know some fish act differently when they think we aren't around.
True, honestly i can't seem to find a t5 fixture that would work with my xr15. Is there special fixtures that allow to integrate them together. My ceiling is really high I'm not sure if there are any t5 fixtures with special holders that will fixate on the 525xl
