SPS Assistance

[Glott3133]

After a rough summer of the loss of a lot of my acros, I've re-stabilized my system and have added new acros to the aquarium. I'm running Radion XR30 Gen5 Blues along with the XHO LED K30 add-on. I'm noticing that some of my acros that are higher up are losing some color, and during peak lighting some of the acros retract their polyps. My light intensity is set to 35% on a custom program. The program has a high level of UV, Royal, and Blue and a moderate amount of Violet. With the other colors running very low amounts. I don't have a par meter to know what my par levels are, and was hoping to avoid buying one. So with your experience, what are some of the steps I should take to make sure I don't lose any of my acros?

And LPS at the bottom of the aquarium are all doing very well. Acros have great polyp extension during non-peak hours of the day.

Thanks

 

[Timfish]

I'd advise a PAR meter, or at least a lux meter. A lux meter is looking at different spectra but can be used as an indicator of overall intensity so long as the specrum isn't shifted too much. If you wan tot try to tweek your setup without a meter document your current settings and overa ll apperance of systme and corals. Make a change of 10% to either the length of time or the intensity, not both, only one variable at a time. Wait a month and compare how it appears to notes taken before the change. Basded on observariotns make another 10% change to either intensity or duration and repeat.

 

[acesfull44]

No need to buy a PAR meter, just rent one! Most LFS have them, and its absolutely with the time, money and energy to know this ASAP.

 

[nothing_fancy]

Agree with the previous post if you can get your hands on a meter for a couple days its really a game changer. Otherwise go slow. If they're browning or losing color it could just be an acclimation issue and maybe they were started too high in the aquarium. Again hard to know without par measurement