I need basic help with lighting please

[DirtinLa]

I crossed posted this to lighting and never received a single response and I would really like to know the answer... sorry I am being so long.

I am new to salt...

I have a Nuvo 16 with a skkye 24 LED light system and a skimmer

the tank has been setup appox 8 weeks and I stocked it about
a week ago after carefully doing everything correctly.

Currently I have 1 velvet damsel 2 emperor crabs 4 snails 2 hermit crabs

1 have a pod of Zoe's 2 devil's fingers and 2 mushrooms

My devil's fingers are shriveling away and are turning white and look dead now.

I have only lost 1 or 2 snails and everything else is healthy and vibrant!

The skkye 24 has 3 sets of LED lights and a zoomed timed light strip;

the skkye has a non-adjustable moonlght that just plugs in a socket

it has a dimmable blue light that plugs in seperately

and a dimmable white light that plugs in seperately

HERE IS MY QUESTION:

When do I turn the lights on and off (each one) including he moonlight (or do I)

Do I run the white and blue simutaneously?

Should I plug them into the zoomed timed strip to turn on and off automatically?

My LFS told me not to blast the Zoe's with the led's as they might bleach out... How much is too much???

For now I basically turn the blue and white on in the morning and kind of intensify it to about 3/4 full before I leave for the office and slowly turn it down in the evening...

I keep the lunar(moon phase) on 24/7...

I do not know right from wrong please help!

Thanks in advance

-=Fred=-

 

[Sk8r]

I don't know how to advise you on the LEDs: I have never used them on a marine tank: I use metal halides and actinic fluorescent and run both concurrent, with the fluorescent coming on first and staying on last, for an 8 hour bright light and hour before and after on only blues. I do know a 16 is far too small for a blue velvet damsel..they take a 100 gallon tank, and the fish will not thrive long. I don't know the crab species, but there are very few 'safe' crabs in the hobby: most we use are micro hermits.
Re zoas, they're generally fairly low light compared to stony. Most 'soft' corals are. I've tried looking up your lights, and there's nothing I can find about what corals they're intended for, but a 16 gallon is going to put those lights fairly near corals that prefer lower light than stony coral likes. I absolutely cannot advise you on that, except that I'd immediately set all corals down on the bottom and move them up slowly, stopping if they show distress. I keep my corals, even the light loving ones, about 9" below the lights.

I hope someone with LED expertise will chime in here. I'm suspecting that light might be a bit much. Also, are you checking your alkalinity? That should be pretty close to what I have in my sig line, certainly not hugely off from it.

 

[E46Twist]

Did you light acclimate the corals or just throw them under the full light?

 

[DirtinLa]

The LFS said to float them for 20 to 30 minutes and put em in...

the zoes are doing great... so are the mush rooms...

to answer your question... NO I have not been blasting them with a ton of light.

-=Fred=-

 

[Uncle Salty 05]

LEDs should be programmable to come on slowly and increase in intensity.
50-60% at mid-day is usually sufficient depending on the fixture.

 

[DirtinLa]

BTW these LED's are non-programmable just manual