How long after lighting upgrade

[brad]

I just upgraded my lighting, 1 side 1 month ago, and the other side 1 week ago. I am running DIY LEDs, and have about 300 PAR on my Acropora. I've been changing lights dramatically over the past year, so PAR has varied, but never been this strong. I have some growth, nothing amazing, but color is not great. How soon until I start to see the results of my lighting upgrade? Should I consider even more PAR? How long should I wait before I do if I do?

 

[revaltion131]

Describe the 'not great' you mean. Has the coral declined or improved over the previous lighting and what was that previous light?

 

[brad]

Describe the 'not great' you mean.

Colors are both lighter and browner than most other people's tanks, including where the frags came from. Some of this could be from slower growth.

Has the coral declined or improved over the previous lighting and what was that previous light?

I have targetted 600 watts of DIY LEDs over my tank since before I restarted 1 year ago (power outage wiped out everything). Usual this involves 'future projects' that I haven't installed, and 'past projects' that didn't work as well as I planned. So I'd start with half the royal blues I want, then maybe no white lights on the right side of the tank one month, then half the royal blues go out, etc.

Now that I finally have everything the way I planned, I question whether or not I should have more.

 

[beadlocked450r]

IMO just led on an sps tank is quite enough. I tryed just led and had to add t5 supliment to help color and growth.this is just my testing and others might have different results

 

[brad]

IMO just led on an sps tank is quite enough. I tryed just led and had to add t5 supliment to help color and growth.this is just my testing and others might have different results

I certainly don't want to turn this into yet another "which is better, t5 vs LED vs MH vs combinations" thread. But that wasn't my question. I asked WHEN I should upgrade, not HOW.

 

[revaltion131]

Give it a good month or two with the same lighting. Be sure to allow for any acclimation period, too. What's your water quality like?

 

[jda]

How do you know that it is an upgrade? I know that this question sounds jerkish, but seriously, how is the system upgraded? PAR is no measure of the ability of a light to do anything but make the sensor on a meter happy. PAR is only important once you get the right spectrum. Too much of a bad spectrum is really bad - I am sure that you know this since you say that you might run without white LEDs.

What diodes are you using? What quantity? What intensity? What spread?

Generally speaking, if the lighting is truly an upgrade, you should see results in about 2 months, assuming that all other variables like water parameters, not pests, etc. are on the money.

 

[brad]

Give it a good month or two with the same lighting. Be sure to allow for any acclimation period, too. What's your water quality like?

Alkalinity and calcium were both too high, and alkalinity was a little too high relative to calcium. I tried to rebalance them and let them go down a little. Unfortunately, I don't have an alkalinity test that I trust right now.

Nitrates are 0, which for most people is good and for me is unusual. I still have algea growth, and am convinced phosphates are slightly elevated (but not into the range they can be reliably tested) because of the lack of nitrates. Typically, my tank has medium Nitrates and 0 phosphate and less algea and better growth.

What does this have to do with my light?

 

[brad]

How do you know that it is an upgrade? I know that this question sounds jerkish, but seriously, how is the system upgraded? PAR is no measure of the ability of a light to do anything but make the sensor on a meter happy. PAR is only important once you get the right spectrum.

A perfectly valid question, of which there are lots of other threads about - which is why I said I did not want to go down that road on this thread. I haven't found any other threads asking about how long to keep a lighting setup before deciding whether or not to change it. For me, this is SPS specific.

 

[fishguy597]

what is high alk and cal? Is it stable?