Lighting question/coral problem.. Help

[Scott H.]

I have a "current" 36" fully programmable, full spectrum LED light that's about a year old. My tank is a 48" 75 gallon.

I never had any issues with anything I've had in there until Christmas. I bought a $100 dollar pagoda cup corral and after having it in there a few days all the polyps have gone inside and haven't came out.

I started checking parameters daily as my cal was low at the time (360) as well as salinity.. 1022, on purpose. For several weeks I kept my levels close to this:

RO water
Temp 78
Salinity 1025
Magnesium 1220-1320
Calcium 440-460
Kh 10-11
Ph 8.2
Ammonia nitrites 0
Phosphates is present but trace amounts
Nitrates run between 10-20 ppm
I've also bought a second brand of tests to verify accuracy. Salfert says nitrates almost 25.

I use reef crystals salt, and note I have an eel so I have an 1/8 in glass lid.
I started cleaning the lid and removing it during the day wondering if the glass was filtering nutrients. No change. I ran the light from 80% to 60% wondering if it was too intense on a shallow tank. No change. I tried moving the coral 2 times from top to middle to bottom, and with less water movement. No change. I feed oyster feast and phyto feast, 2 tablespoons twice per week. I haven't gone beyond that in the past because of my higher nitrates, and I'm not overstocked.

I had a 20 gallon wet dry filter which I believed didnt help my nitrate elevation. So I broke down and custom built a 50 gallon refugium, plumbed it though my floor to the basement, adding 35 gallons of new water. That's been fully functional for a week. It needs time to mature but I believe that will help with the elevated nitrates. I'm very particular about regular husbandry, monitoring levels, and cleaning the tank. And every time I go in to the lfs they try to sell me more junk.

Which leads me to lighting. Since I built my refugium I had the extra 20" alive led light with whites, blues, and reds. I added that over my pagoda cup for 3 days just to see, and maybe 10% polyps came out.

Hundreds of dollars later, tens of hours of Effort, I don't know what's left. Lighting? Do I need something different or am I doing something wrong? I'd like to do some hard corrals in the near future, but going through what I am I'm stumped. I've thought about changing to tropic Marin pro salt too, but I don't believe that's my problem.

I need some help from someone other then the fish store trying to sell me more stuff..

 

[BrianKC]

Hi Scott. Are you talking about this light? Current USA Orbit Marine Aquarium LED Light, 36 to 48-Inch https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GFTQDQK/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awd_xdsRwbE5HFQ9W

If so, that's not a very powerful light. I probably wouldn't be worried about it being too much light. I'd try moving the pagoda back up closer to the surface and turning your Current LED up to 90 or 100%. Watch for bleaching or other corals to react, but again, with that light on a 48" tank I think the risk of that is pretty low.

 

[mvallee_ma]

I run that light on my QT tank and only low light corals seem to grow, I throw my kenya trees and mushrooms in there and the kenya's on the bottom seem to struggle so I would say the same, my opinion, not strong enough of a light for SPS.

 

[Scott H.]

Yes I believe that is my light.

I can try that. Yesterday the lfs sold me a coral dip made by seachem, which I did. They also loaned my a light to put over that coral. I've been hesitant to move it too much in case of acclimation. I'm not sure how long I should leave it in the same spot before moving it in case it's trying to acclimate?

 

[bws]

a 36 inch orbit marine on a 48 inch tank is not enough light, even the pro version of that light in 48 inches would be not enough. i almost bought the orbit pro 48 inch until i went to a good lfs and talked to the owner and he showed me the difference of that light compared to other lights. you should look into the ai primes. 2 of them for 400 dollars would work great on the 75 gallon set up and you could grow sps if you ever wanted too..

have you tried any filter feeder food like oyster feast? that always opens everything up nice for me its a bit pricey but its good stuff

 

[Scott H.]

Does that apply even if they are under the light and closer? Just puzzled as most everything in there has noticeably grown in the last year. That's why I'm confused. If the lighting was sub par would the coral be open more to try to absorb what it could? And how long would it go unopened until it was dead?

 

[bws]

i would put it quite high in the aquarium if you can half way or above, try some of that filter feeder food such as oyster feast or anything for lps corals but that oyster feast covers almost everything or so it says on the bottle.. and dont put it in direct current i just read they like medium current. sounds actually like you need some food in there for it to filter feed on and make those polyps open up maybe

 

[bws]

i guess as far as that light goes i would be most concerned over it not covering the full tank. it seems you would have dark edges on each side.. those ai primes really are nice little lights though at a decent price.. i think the 48 inch orbit pro is 300 something isnt it? you could do primes for not much more money and get way more bang for the buck.

if you are doing soft corals and mushrooms and stuff like that it would probably be fine as it is

 

[Scott H.]

I was wondering that too. I can upgrade the light, I'm just not sure exactly what I need.

Here is a picture of the coral the day, or day after I got it. When it quit opening up as much I moved it think the current up there was too high. The second pic is where it is now. Out of direct light and less water movement. I'm not sure if this matters, but the tank it was in at the store had all blue lighting. Which originally why I thought mine to be more intense up top and moved it. But you can see even in the corner it still gets light.

 

[Percula9]

I would do some water changes to lower the nitrate level.Maybe add an extra blue actinic light.Give the coral time to acclimate.

 

[Indymann99]

I had the Current Marine LED - 48" for my FOWLR. It was fine and worked well while I fought a GHA "takeover" (lack of husbandry and old T5 bulbs).... I wanted to get another Nem after getting the tank back in shape. I picked up 2x AI Hydra 26's (less $$ now that the HD version is out). All I can say is WHAT a difference... I had no idea how dim the Current Marine fixture was... literally like NIGHT and DAY....

I will see if I can dig up some before and after pictures...

 

[Scott H.]

Are those lights good enough for sps? I'm confused as I thought modern led was as good as t5. How do you know what you really need?

 

[zachts]

Pagoda and Flower Pot corals, two types I've never had any luck with. Everything else grows like weeds for me.

I've seen them in other peoples tanks doing well under very high and very low light levels so the Light is probably not the immediate issue. Possibly light shock if they were used to very low light and are now under a "Hot Spot" of focused albiet low power LEDs. Could be getting more light of a spectrum they are not acclimated to. I might try shading the colony before giving it more light.

Normally not enough light would cause it to stretch out before starting to decline, water flow may be an issue, but then I've never been able to keep them alive for more than a month and consider most Pagoda corals to be an expert coral. Many people report them growing like weeds, same with Flower Pots but I've never been that lucky.

 

[Scott H.]

That's pretty much where I'm at. It's disappointing because I feel like I understand the chemistry to create a "perfect" environment, and can quickly manipulate the levels as needed. After a week of putting up the refugium the nitrates coming out of my return pump area are less then 5 ppm so it's only a matter of time. Which leaves me with lighting. It also makes me wonder if I should buy another coral if it's used to being strictly under blue lights. Several days.. Weeks under high lights and low light, no change. I'm going to set my sights on lighting so in the future it's not a question. I just don't know what's expensive unnecessary fluff and what's needed. After all if something doesn't do well in the tank there has to be a specific reason for it.

 

[Scott H.]

Turns out my whole problem was my 200W back up Heater this whole time. It was leaking anywhere between 7 and 22 V of loose current in the tank that I never felt with my hand. I wrapped a piece of copper wire to a copper pipe and dropped it in my sump immediately drops the current to less than 3. When I unplug my heater it's at zero. I wish I would've figured that out a few thousand dollars ago..

 

[shifty51008]

Turns out my whole problem was my 200W back up Heater this whole time. It was leaking anywhere between 7 and 22 V of loose current in the tank that I never felt with my hand. I wrapped a piece of copper wire to a copper pipe and dropped it in my sump immediately drops the current to less than 3. When I unplug my heater it's at zero. I wish I would've figured that out a few thousand dollars ago..

do not put copper in your tank, you will kill off all your corals and inverts

 

[Scott H.]

Good call. I didn't think about solid copper releasing in saltwater. Just temporary until I get a grounding probe. But I swapped it for a metal coathanger