Trouble with SPS encrusting...

musicreefer320 · May 12, 2019

I know this sounds like a dumb question, but I have a green slimer and forest fire digitata for about 6 weeks and haven’t had any encrusting. Corals are fine.... polyps extending, color is good... am I missing something?

Temp - 78
Salinity - 1.026
KH - 9.1
Ca - 475
Mg - 1440
NO3- 5 PPM
P04 - .08

It’s a 29 gallon bio cube with Kessil a160we

Hemmdog · May 12, 2019

musicreefer320 said:
I know this sounds like a dumb question, but I have a green slimer and forest fire digitata for about 6 weeks and haven’t had any encrusting. Corals are fine.... polyps extending, color is good... am I missing something?

Temp - 78
Salinity - 1.026
KH - 9.1
Ca - 475
Mg - 1440
NO3- 5 PPM
P04 - .08

It’s a 29 gallon bio cube with Kessil a160we

Yea just not enough light.

rkpetersen · May 12, 2019

If it's the Bali Green Slimer, it should definitely be encrusting soon. Assuming no tank problems like alk swings. Is it growing any new corallites?
My forest fire digitata has never encrusted, even though it has grown outward enthusiastically. I'm expecting it to some day break free of the ledge it's glued to.

SuncrestReef · May 12, 2019

My green slimer spent most of its time growing new branches and didn't have extensive encrusting for a few months. See photos here: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/green-slimer-growth-update.467489/

musicreefer320 · May 12, 2019

SuncrestReef said:
My green slimer spent most of its time growing new branches and didn't have extensive encrusting for a few months. See photos here: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/green-slimer-growth-update.467489/

What is your lighting?

musicreefer320 · May 12, 2019

rkpetersen said:
If it's the Bali Green Slimer, it should definitely be encrusting soon. Assuming no tank problems like alk swings. Is it growing any new corallites?
My forest fire digitata has never encrusted, even though it has grown outward enthusiastically. I'm expecting it to some day break free of the ledge it's glued to.

Its not growing much...but it looks very healthy.

musicreefer320 · May 12, 2019

Hemmdog said:
Yea just not enough light.

You have experience with the 160?

Hemmdog · May 12, 2019

SuncrestReef said:
My green slimer spent most of its time growing new branches and didn't have extensive encrusting for a few months. See photos here: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/green-slimer-growth-update.467489/

Yea you have radion 30 pros and have the coral 6 inches below the water. That’s like 5-6x more light than a A160 puts out.

Hemmdog · May 12, 2019

musicreefer320 said:
You have experience with the 160?

I have experience with the 360we and 360X, even those struggle to grow my green slimer.

Backreefing · May 12, 2019

6 weeks isn’t much time , but if you’re looking for something good for a 29 then try throwing some t5 lights on there . Just one or two will really help that led bring on the light
Amazon has lots to choose from. Here is a pic . get 1-2 of these and 10000k bulbs and Let there be light. IDK what $$ your working with but t5 lights have been proven winners for decades. A hybrid t5 / LED set up is awesome.

musicreefer320 · May 12, 2019

Backreefing said:
6 weeks isn’t much time , but if you’re looking for something good for a 29 then try throwing some t5 lights on there . Just one or two will really help that led bring on the light
Amazon has lots to choose from. Here is a pic . get 1-2 of these and 10000k bulbs and Let there be light. IDK what $$ your working with but t5 lights have been proven winners for decades. A hybrid t5 / LED set up is awesome.

Thank you for that picture! I have thought about throwing two T5’s on to help with par output and to help the stupid shadow effect. Are there any others you can recommend?

Crustaceon · May 12, 2019

Add another Kessil A160we and you’ll probably have plenty of light. The problem with kessils is that in order to get enough coverage without spot lighting your tank, you have to raise them up, which unfortunately reduces PAR levels. This is a major reason why t5’s are still relevant.

Backreefing · May 12, 2019

I have 2 of those . One on each side of a LEDs black box. Check out my Boomberry acropora thread to see the difference they made . I guess any brand will work so long as it has a good reflector.

SuncrestReef · May 12, 2019

musicreefer320 said:
What is your lighting?

Radion XR 30 Pro's. The green slimer gets 400 PAR for 8 hours daily.

Crustaceon · May 13, 2019

I think you guys would get a kick out of my lighting. I just finished a “high efficiency reef reboot” and will be creating a new topic soon once I get my birdsnest of wiring sorted out.

29bonsaireef · May 13, 2019

Almost all Biocubes need a serious retrofit for lighting if you plan to keep SPS long term. 6x24 T5 hits these tanks with perfect coverage, and you will never worry about lighting again.

musicreefer320 · May 13, 2019

29bonsaireef said:
Almost all Biocubes need a serious retrofit for lighting if you plan to keep SPS long term. 6x24 T5 hits these tanks with perfect coverage, and you will never worry about lighting again.

Which T5 light is this?

29bonsaireef · May 14, 2019

musicreefer320 said:
Which T5 light is this?

ATI 6x24w. Really can't go wrong with one of these, if you don't mind the look that is.

Jet915 · May 14, 2019

musicreefer320 said:
Thank you for that picture! I have thought about throwing two T5’s on to help with par output and to help the stupid shadow effect. Are there any others you can recommend?

I have 3 of these to help compensate my LEDs, they work great.