can you have 2 much light

[killafornia]

i have a light that pumps out 500 watts in a 30 gallion tank and my coral is dieing

 

[addicted2reefin]

too much light probably. what kind of light. its call photoinhibition, where the light is actually hindering photosynthesis. for a 30 gallon i would go around 120-150 wattst5, 250 halide tops.

 

[Toddrtrex]

While I think 500 watts (( though would like to know what type of light )) over a 30 is overkill, it could be done. HOWEVER you would need to acclimate the corals to that amount of light very very slowly.

I have 250 MH over my 33 cube, and everything is doing great, but have to acclimate any corals/anemone to that amount of light.

 

[killafornia]

i have a Coralife 48 Inch Aqualight Pro, 2x150W HQI MH Lamp + 2x96W PC + 3x1W Lunar LED


http://www.petstore.com/Coralife_Aq...alide_Fixtures_(HQI)_for_Aquariums-Coralife-ES53502-AQLIFUMH-vi.html

 

[Toddrtrex]

Does your lights hang off the sides of your tank? Just never head of a 48" long 30 gallon tank.

Anyways, that really shouldn't be too much light for that tank, but you will need to acclimate any new corals to it. I like to use window screening b/t the tank and the lights. I start with 3 layers and remove a layer each week.

But, what corals do you have, and how exactly are they dying? There could be other reasons --- water parameters.

 

[killafornia]

its not, its 36inch tank and its about 18 inchs lifted from the top, i tested my water and every thing is great with that... polups? i guess there called some frog spwnm, shrooms,a tree? and i was told there called frags( they look like lil hands opening and clousing)

 

[killafornia]

they r slowly depleating

 

[Toddrtrex]

Are they bleaching? Do you have the numbers for the water tests?

Most of those are lower light corals, they can handle higher light, but they need to be acclimated to the lights --- did you do that?

 

[sedor]

+1 on acclimating the lights. Todd gave some great advice there!

You also might want to cut your photo period down a bit as well. For instance if you are running your halide for 8 hours, try maybe 6 or even 4 instead.

With such a small water volume heat could also be a big issue. Are you measuring your temp? It could be that when the halide comes on your heat jumps up past 86 or so.

 

[killafornia]

no bleachin or i did not acclimate them to light!!! should i
ph-8.4
nitrates-40
nitrites-0
thats all my stick reads

 

[killafornia]

the temp is always 78

 

[Toddrtrex]

ryandlf --- thanks.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15493118#post15493118 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by killafornia
no bleachin or i did not acclimate them to light!!! should i
ph-8.4
nitrates-40
nitrites-0
thats all my stick reads

'Trates are higher then I would like them.

But, need to know your salinity, Cal, Alk, and Mag levels.

And yes, you really need to acclimate them to your lights. I would pick up some window screening tomorrow. I have used "egg create" to hold up the window screening.

Like this,

 

[killafornia]

IMG]http://i976

 

[killafornia]

 

[killafornia]

 

[killafornia]

what are these called

 

[killafornia]

well alkalinity is 300, salinity is 30 ppl

 

[mderise]

those look like Xenia
candy coral off to the right side
looks like an aptasia on the bottom left side (this is a type of anemone that is not desirable) I would get some Joe's Juiceor Aptasia X to get rid of it before it populates and get out of control.

 

[Toddrtrex]

Not sure about that alkalinity --- don't know what the unit of measure is, and haven't seen any numbers in the hundreds for it.

As for the salinity, I am guessing that you meant, 30 PPT, which would be low, it should be 35 PPT, or 1.026.

On a side note, that tang can get up to 2 feet in length and needs at least a 10 foot tank.

 

[mderise]

I test my alkalinity in DHK and maintain it at about 9.