I have a 90g tank, SPS dominated (though with some LPS). In terms of lighting, I have a bit of a mixture - 4x54W Tek, 2x54W marineland (with Tek 2 reflector), 2 Reefbrite LED strips (one white, one blue). I figure this should be plenty of light. But lately some of my SPS is turning cream-colour with only coloured tips. I doubt the problem is nutritional - I vodka dose and my nutrients are non-detectable. I also feed heavily and dose amino acids. So I assume the issue is lighting. How do I know if the problem is too much, or too little?
is the problem too much light, or too little?
- Thread starter jeremy K
- Start date
Allmost
New member
it really cant be too much lighting, as they would bleach or fade in color if that was the case.
I used to run 6 T5 HO on my 65G and had the same Issue, added 2 more T5HO, and dont anymore, but alot has changed since then, my nutritions have lowered as well by alot. so cant say its 100% the 2 bulbs I added .
is ca, alk, mg in order ?
another thing could be water clearity, if the carbon is used up or yellowing due to vodka dosing.
I used to run 6 T5 HO on my 65G and had the same Issue, added 2 more T5HO, and dont anymore, but alot has changed since then, my nutritions have lowered as well by alot. so cant say its 100% the 2 bulbs I added .
is ca, alk, mg in order ?
another thing could be water clearity, if the carbon is used up or yellowing due to vodka dosing.
I don't think it is my parameters. Nitrates undetectable (API), Phosphates 0.00 (Hanna), pH 8.0 (swings 7.8-8.1), temp constant at 78 F, calcium 420, magnesium 1400, alkalinity 7.5 (dosing BRS 2-part). I run 2 phosban reactors, one with GFO, on with GAC, plus I have a fuge with chaeto and vodka dose + MB7. So my nutrients are pretty low, I would say. I feed heavily and dose the tank regularly with food for my corals.
That leaves me with lighting. My corals have not bleached, they have just lost colour. Not as intense as they were when I bought them. I run the following lights, front to back:
Reefbrite 48" blue
Geisseman aquablue
UVL actinic white
Reefbrite 48" white
KZ fiji purple
UVL superactinic
KZ superblue
KZ superblue
To me, this seems like more than adequate lighting for a 90g, especially since the reefbrites apparently have 2X the PAR of an ATI blue plus bulb. So I apparently have the equivalent of 10 T5 bulbs over my tank (and yes, they are all under 7 months old). Is this too much? Could it possibly be too little?
That leaves me with lighting. My corals have not bleached, they have just lost colour. Not as intense as they were when I bought them. I run the following lights, front to back:
Reefbrite 48" blue
Geisseman aquablue
UVL actinic white
Reefbrite 48" white
KZ fiji purple
UVL superactinic
KZ superblue
KZ superblue
To me, this seems like more than adequate lighting for a 90g, especially since the reefbrites apparently have 2X the PAR of an ATI blue plus bulb. So I apparently have the equivalent of 10 T5 bulbs over my tank (and yes, they are all under 7 months old). Is this too much? Could it possibly be too little?
Allmost
New member
hmm interesting ! just a couple things,
API shows lowest value of lower than 5 PPM, so if your no3 is at 4.5 you get zero. salifert shows down to 0.2 PPM.
someone tested KZ bulbs with others, and found KZ had the highest par readings, I will find the thread o Zeovit forums and link it.
how is the growth ?
I too dont think its ure water parameters.
my corals faded when I went with Zeo and added too much nutritin lowering products ! Pohls Xtra gave all the colors back.
I also had corals fade in color when I dosed too much PCS (it polishes water to make it EXTRA clear, so perhaps shock of too much sudden light increase)
just a couple things I thought u may find interesting to re check.
good luck .
rtparty
Raise The Reef!
The only potential problem I see with the lighting is you don't have enough blue. Counting the reef brite you have 3 blue bulbs out of 8. I would be running at least 5 blues with 8 bulbs.
Your order is also all out of whack IMO. The Superblues need to be moved forward and not at the back of the tank. I would also change out the Actinic for an ATI Blue Plus bulb.
I would try re arranging things first. Move a Superblue and the Fiji Purple up in to the Marineland fixture.
That is what I would try. I would also be inclined to move the Tek to where the Marineland is and then move that back. Heck I may take the Marineland completely off line and run 4 T5 with 2 LED strips.
It's interesting - I used to have 2 blue plus bulbs at the front. But the Reefbrite LED blue is so bright and overpowering that if I put more blue at the front it actually looks too blue and dim! That's why I moved the white bulbs to the marineland fixture. But I may play with the order a bit and move a blue into the middle of the whites. I figured I would keep the marineland fixture (especially since I got a Tek 2 reflector for it) since having 2 extra bulbs could only help, right?
I notice a lot of people colour up their SPS under 20K lighting - this would be the rough equivalent of running all blue bulbs, or perhaps all but one blue. Would this really change my colours? At present, my growth is great, but colours are not.
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