Ati sunpower may be too intense

skyshrimp

New member
Well for a while now I've been running my ati sunpower with all 6 bulbs. But for the last 3 days I've been running only 4 bulbs and it seem I have better pe on my sps corals and the pale and dieing war coral that I have is getting redder and redder with bight green centers day after day.

I run them 8 hrs a day with with good flow. Everything in my tank just looks happier now that its not gettin blasted with light. I have the sunpower 12" above the tank and the corals seem to respond better. I may lower it after some time to see how everything responds. My bulb combo is this:

Front to back
Blue plus
Aquablue
Fiji purple
Blue plus

Things just look better all around, with all 6 bulbs running acros would not extend all the way. Now all polyps are out on all sps, and lps are nice and fluffy. Just wanna know if anyone has had the same experience as I have and what were the long term results. Did corals grow better or are they just reaching for more light? I've heard of and seen tanks grow sps excellently under 4 bulbs and the sps weren't directly under the fixture. Anyone with some input I would be glad to hear from you.
 
I would cut the full photo period down to 4 hours, then add 1/2 hour each week so that your coral can acclimate to the lighting. This is what I do when I change bulbs out.
 
Alright thanks, I will try this. I see in you signature that you have a powermodule, how high from the water surface is yours.
 
Just an update on the light acclimation. So far everything looks fantastic the frogspawn I had is bigger than I thougnt it could get. Everything is expanding better and sps have faster growth now that I can notice. I didnt think that light acclimation could make so much of a difference but seems like it does.

One thing that makes it so crazy was that I had the fixture 12in above the tank but ever since I took solitude127 advice I lowered to about 6 in off the water and tried his way of light acclimation and WOW all seems well now even my green birdsnest is growing now and not bleaching. Thats for all your advice.
 
I currently only run them for 5hrs and thats with 2 blue plus running a hr before and after all bulbs are on. Never par checked my bulbs before.
 
Back
Top