burned tips on sps caused from led?

[xxjdmcivicek9xx]

so i switched over from 2- 250w MH XM 15k bulbs that have been on my aquarium for 7 years (obviously the bulbs have been replaced every 9 months) to 2- Kessil A350 non wide angle LED's about 2 months ago. over the course of 2 months I've watched all my sps go from full of color to faded out and have lost 4 full colonies to date. 2 more colonies have burnt tips I've adjusted the lighting up and down with no change. today i finally put my MH back on to hopefully let the coral heal and maybe i will retry in a couple months. my question is do these pictures look like i burned the coral? i ran the a350's at about 60% to start then went to 80% after a couple weeks then 100% after a month. I'm sure the answer is probably yes but i want reassurance of what i did so i don't make the same mistake when i switch back.

 

[ajcanale]

Those pictures look like oil paintings... whats with that?!?

LED's can be intense. I'd say its more prone to bleaching all exposed tissue than just tips though. Maybe paired with high ALK and low nutrients?

 

[Reefa25]

Led are very intense. Do you run them 100%. i really watch my whites, hence Why I run them 3hrs in a 7 hour cycle

 

[jda]

There is too much red/yellow/green for most SPS in the white LEDs. They need to REALLY be turned down to keep the coral from getting blasted with this spectrum. Some shallower water SPS that are used to high levels from the sun might be OK (digi, poci, stylo, birdsnest), but deeper stuff can really suffer. I don't want to start an argument, but this always does... there are tons of threads on here with the arguments. However, you have seen it first hand.

If you are sure that the parameters have not changed, then yes... it is the lights. You can ramp them way down (say, 10-20%), and slowly bring them up to some higher level, but since you have used MH for so long, does this seem like something acceptable, or more of a work-around?

I am glad that you kept the MH. Sorry that the coral is suffering. They should heal up in time.

 

[xxjdmcivicek9xx]

Those pictures look like oil paintings... whats with that?!?

LED's can be intense. I'd say its more prone to bleaching all exposed tissue than just tips though. Maybe paired with high ALK and low nutrients?

sorry i took them with my iphone zoomed all the way in. i could probalby take better ones with my underwater camera but i figured these show what i need them to.My Params are Perfect. my aquarium is not new by any means and 90% of my coral are all established large colonies.

Led are very intense. Do you run them 100%. i really watch my whites, hence Why I run them 3hrs in a 7 hour cycle

i did run both whites and blues at 100% which lead me to believe that it has to be the lights. im planning on using the kessils again but i just want to get the best advice so i dont fry them again when i put them back on.

There is too much red/yellow/green for most SPS in the white LEDs. They need to REALLY be turned down to keep the coral from getting blasted with this spectrum. Some shallower water SPS that are used to high levels from the sun might be OK (digi, poci, stylo, birdsnest), but deeper stuff can really suffer. I don't want to start an argument, but this always does... there are tons of threads on here with the arguments. However, you have seen it first hand.

If you are sure that the parameters have not changed, then yes... it is the lights. You can ramp them way down (say, 10-20%), and slowly bring them up to some higher level, but since you have used MH for so long, does this seem like something acceptable, or more of a work-around?

I am glad that you kept the MH. Sorry that the coral is suffering. They should heal up in time.

yeah im glad i had the MH for a backup...before i put LED's back on im actually in the process of trading in my A350's for the A350 Wide angles in hopes that the light wont be quite as concentrated and then i will start at about 10% and raise the % each week until my coral are happy again lol...and if it fails then back to the MH's...

 

[xxjdmcivicek9xx]

Those pictures look like oil paintings... whats with that?!?

LED's can be intense. I'd say its more prone to bleaching all exposed tissue than just tips though. Maybe paired with high ALK and low nutrients?

sorry i took them with my iphone zoomed all the way in. i could probalby take better ones with my underwater camera but i figured these show what i need them to.My Params are Perfect. my aquarium is not new by any means and 90% of my coral are all established large colonies.

Led are very intense. Do you run them 100%. i really watch my whites, hence Why I run them 3hrs in a 7 hour cycle

i did run both whites and blues at 100% which lead me to believe that it has to be the lights. im planning on using the kessils again but i just want to get the best advice so i dont fry them again when i put them back on.

There is too much red/yellow/green for most SPS in the white LEDs. They need to REALLY be turned down to keep the coral from getting blasted with this spectrum. Some shallower water SPS that are used to high levels from the sun might be OK (digi, poci, stylo, birdsnest), but deeper stuff can really suffer. I don't want to start an argument, but this always does... there are tons of threads on here with the arguments. However, you have seen it first hand.

If you are sure that the parameters have not changed, then yes... it is the lights. You can ramp them way down (say, 10-20%), and slowly bring them up to some higher level, but since you have used MH for so long, does this seem like something acceptable, or more of a work-around?

I am glad that you kept the MH. Sorry that the coral is suffering. They should heal up in time.

yeah im glad i had the MH for a backup...before i put LED's back on im actually in the process of trading in my A350's for the A350 Wide angles in hopes that the light wont be quite as concentrated and then i will start at about 10% and raise the % each week until my coral are happy again lol...and if it fails then back to the MH's...

also here is a pic of my aquarium...the two colonies that got burned are on the far right and left. and lost my main colony of efflo that was midway in the aquarium and another table acro that was also midway in the aquarium my red dragon that is at the top right next to one of the burned corals is perfect and hasnt been effected which is kinda odd. all my montipora have lost a ton of color too. the LPS are all doing really good though hmmm.

 

[trueblackpercula]

Maybe this will help
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?p=22075437#post22075437

 

[BrentH]

I just picked up some aqua illumination vega was going to use them along with mh my tanks 4 feet wide so the back parts don't get much light after reading this ill start them on low %

 

[xxjdmcivicek9xx]

Maybe this will help
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?p=22075437#post22075437

Thanks for the link! And while they are using radions it still makes sense that even though my aquarium seems darker with LEDs I need to realize that they are a lot more powerful than my metal halides...hopefully after my aquarium heals I can get the a350w's dialed in correctly this time around. Btw I can already see a difference since switching back to the metal halides as far as I have much much better polyp extension. Hopefully my aquarium recovers quicker than I'm thinking.

 

[trueblackpercula]

sorry i took them with my iphone zoomed all the way in. i could probalby take better ones with my underwater camera but i figured these show what i need them to.My Params are Perfect. my aquarium is not new by any means and 90% of my coral are all established large colonies.



i did run both whites and blues at 100% which lead me to believe that it has to be the lights. im planning on using the kessils again but i just want to get the best advice so i dont fry them again when i put them back on.



yeah im glad i had the MH for a backup...before i put LED's back on im actually in the process of trading in my A350's for the A350 Wide angles in hopes that the light wont be quite as concentrated and then i will start at about 10% and raise the % each week until my coral are happy again lol...and if it fails then back to the MH's...

also here is a pic of my aquarium...the two colonies that got burned are on the far right and left. and lost my main colony of efflo that was midway in the aquarium and another table acro that was also midway in the aquarium my red dragon that is at the top right next to one of the burned corals is perfect and hasnt been effected which is kinda odd. all my montipora have lost a ton of color too. the LPS are all doing really good though hmmm.

That tank looks amazing but most import is that clam what a prize.

 

[tdb320reef]

I have seen this with high ALK and intense lighting- Dont know factually but read it is something to do with oxidation build up causing the tips to burst.. I have been running LEDS for the last three years and have never burned the tips of the corals as I keep my ALK 7.5 to 8.5 but will say bleached the crap out of them.

For example I got a frag pack from watchguy123 (MH&T5 guy) about a month ago and all of the frags bleached in less than 100 LeD par. They are just now starting to color up. If I had them in say 300 (where I keep most of my acclimated corals) they'd be smoked.

 

[xxjdmcivicek9xx]

That tank looks amazing but most import is that clam what a prize.

Thank you! It started from the size of a 50 cent piece and is now the size of a softball if not bigger!!
It's been growing for about 2 years

I have seen this with high ALK and intense lighting- Dont know factually but read it is something to do with oxidation build up causing the tips to burst.. I have been running LEDS for the last three years and have never burned the tips of the corals as I keep my ALK 7.5 to 8.5 but will say bleached the crap out of them.

For example I got a frag pack from watchguy123 (MH&T5 guy) about a month ago and all of the frags bleached in less than 100 LeD par. They are just now starting to color up. If I had them in say 300 (where I keep most of my acclimated corals) they'd be smoked.

I keep my alk at 9-10dkh and calcium at 440 it's been that way for 6+ years and was still the same when I tested my water last night. Only thing that I changed in that many years was my lights...and that was 2 months ago when I switched to the kessils. Once my corals heal I will try it again but just take more time acclimating them.