Current Marine Orbit LED and SPS

[Michael_]

Hey guys!

My 75g finished cycling a few days ago. Water is clean and everything. I got a Current Orbit Marine LED light just to start off with - my LPS and softies have been doing well in the tank with the light.

My friend recently gave me a few SPS frags to put in the tank (2 acros and a birdnest) and I put them at the top of the tank last night before bed. When I woke up this morning, they all seemed to be doing quite well"¦ but I wondered if the light would be good long term.

Would this light be good long term for the new coral? If not, would it keep them alive for 4 months?

 

[DesertReefT4r]

Knowing the PAR where you placed the sps helps a lot. Which model do you have? The Marine IC LED will not support sps neither will the Marine LED. The IC Pro would be ok for low light sps but will not be ideal for high light sps like most acros. If you want to keep mostly sps I would suggest 3 Radion XR15s either the Pro or normal version. That will give great coverage over a 75g and will grow any coral you want. AI would be my next choice 2 Hydra 26s. Reefbreeders Photon V2 would be my budget choice.

 

[Michael_]

Knowing the PAR where you placed the sps helps a lot. Which model do you have? The Marine IC LED will not support sps neither will the Marine LED. The IC Pro would be ok for low light sps but will not be ideal for high light sps like most acros. If you want to keep mostly sps I would suggest 3 Radion XR15s either the Pro or normal version. That will give great coverage over a 75g and will grow any coral you want. AI would be my next choice 2 Hydra 26s. Reefbreeders Photon V2 would be my budget choice.

PAR around 150 at top of tank. Is this enough?

 

[DesertReefT4r]

Nope not for sps. Plus you are not keeping corals 1/2" under the water surface, normally most corals get mounted several inches down in the tank. Keep in mind that PAR drops off considerably the deeper you go in the tank. You want at least 250 PAR for most sps 250-350 is considered the ideal or min range for sps and some even like 400+.

 

[Michael_]

Fourth day with the sps in"¦ they are still doing great. Hopefully they can survive until I get new lights.

 

[DesertReefT4r]

Keep them up high directly under the light and run the light for at least 12 hours a day if not more. Can you increase the intensity any more?

 

[murphreef]

IF you have great water chemistry and flow sps can survive in 150 par

 

[Michael_]

Thanks a lot guys. I can not increase the intensity any more... They are at the top of the tank tho with high flow. They are still perfectly colored, not browning nor bleaching. If they can't keep alive because the lights aren't strong enough, I'll put the light from my old reef tank on top with the other.

 

[Michael_]

Day 8, corals doing great.

 

[DesertReefT4r]

It will take a while to start seeing issues from low lighting, several weeks. So keep that in mind. You can run the lights for longer 15-18 hours to offset the lower par some. Many fish stores and distributors do this due to business operating hours, they dont keep corals for long periods of time though.