Is this enough light ?

Ethzd

New member
I’m not sure about the specs, but I’m just unsure if this lighting is okay as my corals don’t look happy. The Zoa looks strange to me and the coral at the bottom is going white. Please help!
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What lights are you using? The picture looks very blue. How old is the tank?
 
I’ve set it up recently, it’s a month old. I’ve been told everywhere that coral prefer blue light. Is this not true ? I can’t remember the light as I was gifted it but the corals just don’t look normal to me. If you have any recommendations for a light for a 20L tank I’d appreciate it
 
Okay, let’s step back. One month is a VERY new tank.

1. How long did you cycle the tank?
2. Have you been testing water parameters such as ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH, Alkalinity, etc?
3. What is your salinity?
4. Did you use live rock and/or live sand?
5. What water and salt mix are you using?
 
Okay, let’s step back. One month is a VERY new tank.

1. How long did you cycle the tank?
2. Have you been testing water parameters such as ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH, Alkalinity, etc?
3. What is your salinity?
4. Did you use live rock and/or live sand?
5. What water and salt mix are you using?
Cycled for 2 weeks, as I work in a petshop and got media, live rock etc with the tank, been testing the parameters weekly and they’re all fine, salinity is 1.026, and buy the salt water prepared in my workplace, I’m used to freshwater and wanted to try my hand at a reef tank as I love the look but corals just don’t seem to like the light
 
I’m curious about your water parameters. In my billion years 😂 in this hobby, if I had a dime for every time someone said they were fine…😉. Not saying your’s are not, but test kits expire, bad batches come out, etc.

Can you post your test kit readings?

Also curious about what light you’re using. Make and model would be nice to know.
 
I wouldn't go to light for the problem. While it could use some white in the mix, zoas could grow under a flashlight. I can't tell what the other coral is. A reading from your test kits would provide more info. Alk, cal, mag come to mind. Temp also.
 
Pretty much a sterile environment at the moment. 20L tank could easily have too much flow and/or too much light althought the zoos look like they're reaching. Need more info. Flow, filtration, lighting? plus everything else lol.
 
Pretty much a sterile environment at the moment. 20L tank could easily have too much flow and/or too much light althought the zoos look like they're reaching. Need more info. Flow, filtration, lighting? plus everything else lol.
One of the most knowledgeable reefers speaks😉
 
With a new system there is very little biological buffer. Things can get out of whack very easily. 20L is great, but little changes in chemistry are big changes, fast!

I will add to GRIS questions:
You said "media" what is that?
Can you describe your overall system?

Salinity - what are you using to check and how do we know it is correct (salinity is likely not the issue here, but worth asking).
Test kits - what are you testing for?
What brand kits and what are the results?

Please list the brand of light, hours per day.

Most importantly, HANG IN THERE and we will help you figure it out and move forward. This hobby is a learning process for you AND everybody else that helps you. We all learn from our shared mistakes and successes.

I think in the end, there is nothing drastically wrong with your setup. It is small and little problems quickly become big problems in a young system. With a bit of patience, I think you can get this headed in the right direction.
 
Yes, welcome to RC! While lighting is certainly adding to any issue, I’m thinking a lot of it is a lack of an established biological filtration.

To address your blue light question, and I apologize as I’m not 110% on this part, it is believed (based on a study, I think from Dana Riddle) that most photosynthesis in corals occurs in the blue spectrum. However, it is also believed, I believe from studies in the 90’s, that proper photosynthesis also requires some UV and Red spectrum as well. Most reefers look at PAR to determine if their lighting is sufficient and most tend to lean to the blue spectrum for the fluorescence of select coral proteins. Without know what light you specifically have, it would be hard to tell if it is sufficient however a 20 long is a fairly shallow tank where even a cheaper LED strip light would likely be sufficient for lower light corals like Zoas
 
As far as blue spectrum or more full spectrum depends on the coral. Shallow water corals are exposed to more full spectrum and even UV.
The deeper you go the more blue the light will get because greens, red etc are filtered out.

Most corals can adapt some.

The thing is corals are not plants they are animals but people seem to focus on spectrum that benefits chlorophyll that live in the zooxanthella. The thing is corals also have proteins and pigments that they can manipulate to change light or even shade themselves like sunscreen. These are what provide the pretty colors to the coral not the zooxanthella which are brown.

That said the main reason people like blue is because they like to see the corals fluoresce which has got a little extreme nowadays..

Is lighting a issue, sure it could be? What lighting are you using? It could be anything.

I will lean more to your system is to young and it is going to be hard to tell what the real problem is yet.
 
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