Is my lighting to much for my sps?

Andyf30

Andyf30

Member
Hey guys, I have over 35 acros in my tank and a 6 bulb tek elite as my sig says. A lot of my colors are lighter than I'd like and new frags with great color always slowly lighten up. Dont have any pests and perams are always in check. Been fighting some PO4 issues, but even before that the colors were always not where I wanted them to be. Any ideas if 6 bulbs in 18 inches of water would be too much? If yes then what should I do, and if no, what other causes could there be?

Thanks,
Andy
 
I had a 6@39 watt light over my 46 bow and it was fine now I have a 250 watt m halide and 4@39 watt t- 5 s , should be fine . Do you have 39 watt or 54 watt T-5 s"?
 
I dose daily and alk is always around 8-9 calc is always around 435-450 and the mag i rarely test for because its kept up through water changes. Salifert test kits. 39 watt bulbs my tank is 36x18x18, with sps at many different levels. Some look great. with great colors, like my RR lemon in the sky and my red hyacinthus table, but most are much paler than what they initially were when I bought them.
 
You need to test for the rest of your parameters like po4 and no3 and others it sounds like you have low nutrients and theyre starving turning pale
 
I have a 250 watt halide over a 20 gallon aquarium. My guess is that your corals are starving for food. How many fish do you have and how often do you feed? I had a similar issue with pale coral. I added more fish and fed more often and th colors came in with force.
 
I'm having an algae bloom right now. Cyano and a little bit of GHA. No way I'm starving them of nutrients. That's my point is that this was an issue even before the algae bloom so it seems as if its a cause outside of the nutrient levels, as they have resulted in no change even when fluctuating. I have 3 fish. The Candy Stripe hog and the Melanurus are food hogs. They eat a ton and poop a ton. Maybe adding more fish would help but I'm not sure I can fit anymore size wise. The hog is around 3.5 inches and the melanurus is pushing 4. In a 50 gallon thats a lot of fish.
 
Andyf30 said:
I'm having an algae bloom right now. Cyano and a little bit of GHA. No way I'm starving them of nutrients. That's my point is that this was an issue even before the algae bloom so it seems as if its a cause outside of the nutrient levels, as they have resulted in no change even when fluctuating. I have 3 fish. The Candy Stripe hog and the Melanurus are food hogs. They eat a ton and poop a ton. Maybe adding more fish would help but I'm not sure I can fit anymore size wise. The hog is around 3.5 inches and the melanurus is pushing 4. In a 50 gallon thats a lot of fish.
Click to expand...

By "nutrients", he likely means dissolved organics, not nitrates and phosphates.

Is this a new light? If so, how did you acclimate?
 
@kevin
No this light has been on my tank the whole time (over 2 years). I always give the corals at least a day to recollect themselves on the sand bed. If they show polyp extension and no signs of stress I usually move them up to where I want them to be.

I don't run it 24/7 I have GFO passive in two media bags in the sump, and a BRS single media reactor with carbon that runs on a timer for a couple hours a day.
 
Agree with feeding. To clarify you can still be starving your corals even though your tank has algae issues. Corals need food, the right kind, to offset intense lighting. What is your lighting schedule? On just a standard TEK I had to drop full lighting, 8 bulbs, to 6 hours and run 4 bulbs for the 12 hr cycle. Your tank will need some time to be able to handle the added food your corals need and it will take time for the bacteria to populate to a level to process it. Ramp up the food import slowly and make sure your export is adequate via skimming and water changes .
Joe
 
I run 2 ATI blue plus in the morning for 4 hours, the full fixture (4 blue plus, one coral plus, one purple plus) for 6 hours if I remember right, and then 4 hours of blue plus at night as well.
 
Maybe try running the carbon 24/7 and not cutting it on and off it could be making hydrogen sulfide dont know just thowing it out there maybe someone with more experience will chime in
 
Maybe try running the carbon 24/7 and not cutting it on and off it could be making hydrogen sulfide dont know just thowing it out there maybe someone with more experience will chime in
 
If I am reading your lighting schedule correct that is 14 hours of lighting. That could be your problem. I would try cutting the lighting period back a lot and see if that helps.
 
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