From Radium to Reeflux 10k

[Robert Patterso]

I switched from Radiums to Reeflux 10k 400w. Had been running 9 hrs a day and now about 4 1/2 a day to acclimate. Corals don't seem to happy about it though. The switch was due to not getting much growth. Is this cut back on hours seem to be enough??????

 

[M007]

10k is not the silver bullet for growth and cutting your photo period by 50% won't help either. IMHO 10k is good for shallow reef type DT, or mixed in with T5. I would look for other causes for your growth issues, but if you really like the 10k's crank up the illumination time.

 

[NVfishman]

when i was chageing from 10k to 20k several guys said you need a short photo period or screen to offset the difference in brightness. I would wait for a few people that have done this to respond hopfully soon

 

[Robert Patterso]

I have pretty good color but the growth is just way to slow. One thing is I don't feed the corals other then fish poop and I'm thinking maybe that might be part of it. I have good skimming, run gfo, gac and a refugium with a algae turf scrubber so maybe the tank is a little to nutrient free. Other than a little turf algae on overflows I have little or no algae problems. The Radiums were a little over do for changing so that is why I decided to kick up the intensity some. I will wait a few more days before I lengthen the light cycle time. Probably need to feed corals I guess. Fish get fed once a day at most. Either flakes, pellets or frozen

 

[smalltime]

Definently acclimate corals to the new light. Bumb up the photo period a hour each week until you get where you want. Do you supplement any other type of lighting?

 

[rtbm]

More light is not always the answer. 400 watt radiums should deliver enough par for adequate growth. I'd say other factors are at work here. How old were the radiums? Do you have plenty of fish?

Do you keep your alk as stable as possible? How about a refugium?

 

[Robert Patterso]

the Radiums were 11 months old. I have a refugium, algae turf scrubber, which by the way is probably the best thing I hooked up to the tank. Xp 2000 cone skimmer, gfo and gac running 24/7. Circulation is lacking some.
2 MP40s will be in soon. Bi weekly water changes are done and daily dosing. Dose 2 part daily at lights out. All parameters are in good shape. Honestly think I need to start feeding corals some. Like I mentioned earlier color has been good growth has been slow.

 

[Robert Patterso]

Alk is pretty stable @ 8-9 dkh. Calcium 440 and Mg 1300

 

[Robert Patterso]

Only been 2 days since replacing bulbs and already some of the corals, sunset monti and monti caps are not to happy. This tank has given me more issues than any tank I have ever had.

 

[birdman1979]

Use window screening in layers in conjunction with raising the light up then slowly lowering it rather than decreasing your photo period. Your new 10K bulbs are blasting WAY more PAR than 11 month old 20K's. Makes sense the monti's are hit hardest... IMO they do not need nearly the amount of light as Acros.

 

[Robert Patterso]

Use window screening in layers in conjunction with raising the light up then slowly lowering it rather than decreasing your photo period. Your new 10K bulbs are blasting WAY more PAR than 11 month old 20K's. Makes sense the monti's are hit hardest... IMO they do not need nearly the amount of light as Acros.

I did raise them about 6". I'm sure the monti's will recover over time. Will be extending the photo period back up to about 7hrs over a period of 10 days or so. Don't use supplemental lighting, no canopy and using Lg. Lumenbrites so leaves little or no room for t5 tubes. Would like to figure a way to get some t5 tubes over tank without it lookin bad. Really giving thought to going to LED's