Unhappy with my tank, need some advice.

[Crustaceon]

Isn’t a concern too much light rather than too little light?

I’m not seeing any real signs of that here. You should see my tank. It’s blindingly bright in there.

 

[Crustaceon]

I keep going back to this in my head... 90w LED x 3 @ .75 (75%) = 202w for five hours. My tank measures 48 x 13 x 21 and uses 54w t5ho x 6 = 324w for eight hours. No ramping, just full blast. Even with the kessils being more efficient, I don’t think they’re THAT much more efficient than t5, lol. I wonder just how much average PAR is being put out in those ten hours, especially with five hours of ramping.

 

[driftin]

I'm in the same camp as you, keep thinking about the lighting. I don't think there can be much PAR... it's from a different vendor, so maybe the data is skewed, but hidden in the AI website is this comparator tool:

PAR – AquaIllumination

www.aquaillumination.com

I noticed the Kessil model they have is a 360W and not a 360X, but the listed peak and average PAR are considerably lower than would be recommended for majority of SPS.

 

[laverda]

I agree with the others on your lighting. Get the 3rd Kessel going. I would probably increase the intensity of the other 2 a little as well. I do not feel Kessels put out enough light. I got rid of mine for that reason.

 

[Jakepen]

Hmm alright, I’ll run the K link and get the third one on the same schedule, wait some time and see how the coral reacts. Also noticed when looking closely at some acros, I can see lines running through the skin. Is that a sign of something?

 

[DHill6]

I’m not a fan of the zeovit method, however I will look into those threads thank you.

I don’t do full Zeovit, after trying many different methods, zeo additions worked for my tank. The world runs on bacteria, just made sense, but that’s my opinion. Everyone’s tank runs differently. Anyways, it’s a good read.

 

[Jakepen]

I don’t do full Zeovit, after trying many different methods, zeo additions worked for my tank. The world runs on bacteria, just made sense, but that’s my opinion. Everyone’s tank runs differently. Anyways, it’s a good read.

Oh okay, didn’t know that was an option honestly, thought it was all in or not at all. I’ll definitely check that out, thank you.

 

[Tamberav]

Looks like dino or such on the corals. Really noticeable on the green one.

Lighting is probably weak as well. Kessil's are not a powerhouse for Acro's unless you have enough of them.

 

[Tiki Reef Joshua]

I’m telling you man... I thought I was too high, running primes and T5 at recommended height... nope I was in the low 2 hundreds. I had to crank my AIs up A LOT to get to mid / upper 200s. But all that will be solved when my radions get mounted. My SPS are way way happier with the channels running hotter. But if you increase be sure to be patient and acclimate properly.

 

[Jakepen]

Well I appreciate all the input guys, will slowly be working the three 360s up to 100%. Might add in a fourth as well. I guess I kind of overlooked my lighting, I just assumed it was enough par (which until I get a par meter I shouldn’t assume anything I suppose).

 

[Jakepen]

Well it’s more than just lack of light. Overnight my alk went from being stable at 8 to 7.4, and I’m having a hard time raising it, what would be consuming alk like this, especially when coral is dying. I’m losing acros, skin is peeling off and looks like nubs are turning white or even dissolving.

 

[Tiki Reef Joshua]

Check your calcium ASAP. They can have an adverse effect on one another. Could be pump issues too.

 

[Jakepen]

Check your calcium ASAP. They can have an adverse effect on one another. Could be pump issues too.

Calcium has always ridden a bit high, but was higher than usual at 490ish. So I stopped dosing it for a few days and now it’s around 450. I dose 100ml of both alk and calcium daily. Also mag is 1350.

 

[brandon429]

you must reduce your lights, quickly. to lower than before.

When to lower light intensity as a reef tank CPR move

Team, you need to know that being able to revert back to cloudy day/low lighting is the #1 thing you do as tank CPR before any other action. Water charges come after Preventing light sunburn is #1 temperature insults cold and hot. chemical burns, overdoses. events where you think ammonia...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Jekyl]

How high do you have those kessil above the water? Seems high to me. Getting what you want may be as easy as lowering them some.

 

[Tiki Reef Joshua]

Have you double checked your salinity with an alternative method or instrument ?

 

[Jakepen]

you must reduce your lights, quickly. to lower than before.

When to lower light intensity as a reef tank CPR move

Team, you need to know that being able to revert back to cloudy day/low lighting is the #1 thing you do as tank CPR before any other action. Water charges come after Preventing light sunburn is #1 temperature insults cold and hot. chemical burns, overdoses. events where you think ammonia...

www.reef2reef.com

I’ll do this, thank you.

 

[Jakepen]

Have you double checked your salinity with an alternative method or instrument ?

No, I’ve just been using the milwaukee instrument, I’ll bust out the refractometer tomorrow.

 

[Jakepen]

Well salinity is in line at 1.026 however I just checked my no3 and po4 and both are reading zero!! No bueno, hopefully bringing home a few fish today. Also tested my alk and it’s down to 7. Not sure why my tank is consuming so much alk right now?

 

[Jekyl]

Take some water to your LFS and have them test to be sure