Light intensity/duration

[jimnrose]

I'm a 'newbie' so PLEASE be patient with me.
I have a 125g display the is 4 months 'young'. Fairly conventinal design (good flow rates, good water parameters) with the exception that my lighting is LED's (72, 3watters on 12 different circuits: water depth 16"). I added a few fish starting about 8 weeks ago and then added ricordea about 4 weeks ago & green polyps 2 weeks ago with great results. Now for my dilemma.I added a frog spawn and green star polyp. The green star polyp was good for the first week but the grog spawn reduced it's extensions less each day and then (3 days ago) didn't entend at all. So I
increased the light intensity about 30%,
increased the time duration from 5 hrs to 7 hr
S.G form1.024 to 1.025 and
increased the alkalinity fomr 8 to 10.5.
The fromg spawn has opened slightly (maybe 1/4") but now the green star polyp isn't showing at all.
I don't know I shouldn't have moved both the water parameters & light energy at the same time.

Finally I get to my question: should I change the light intensity or duration and if so which way? The good news about LED's is there are many variables but that is also the bad news if there is no guideline to go bye.

Thanks, Jim

 

[mfinn]

I'd go to the diy section and ask in some of the led diy threads about how you compare the led to other more common forms of lighting.
There are some people that have been using the leds for some time now.

 

[jimnrose]

mfinn, thanks for your input. I was trying to understand the corals behavior to light energy rather than analyze the light parameters. If I could understand what frequency (color), intensity (lumens), photo period (time interval) and how long to allow for the corals to respond to a set of conditions, then I could 'tune' the LED's to specific coral requirements.

As an example:I've read that corals perfer a mix of 70/30 (blue to white) frequencies. I've been told that some corals require days to respond to a change in conditions but others respond within a hour or so. I can adjust the current to each color set to change the color mix. I can also add optics to focus light to specific targets. scincrease or decrease this ratio. There are many other options if I understood what a specific coral preferred.

That's why I'm trying to address the task from the corals requriements or preferences because the LED's can be applied to may situations.

Take care, Jim :strange: