lighting question

[luv4qt1004]

i have a 120g tank. 4x2x2 and my lighting is 6x54w t5 retrofit with 2 icecap 660 ballasts overdriving them. is this enough light?

i am just trying to figure out my problem in my tank and not getting growth and having my sps bleaching/dying.

my tank is 120g 4x2x2
6x54w t5 retrofit with 2 icecap 660
2 tunze 6105, 1 tunze 6055 on tunze 7095
custom made skimmer from a fellow reefer (hybrid of swc cone and bubble king)
shuran pico stream calcium reactor

my parameters:
alk: 8 (elos)
cal: 450 (elos)
mag: 1250 (elos)
salinity: 1.025-1.026 (refractometer)
phosphate (hanna): .05

i was vodka dosing/mb7 but stopped because my sps were losing its color. when i was dosing vodka my tank was super clean. i stopped dosing vodka and now have a little case of red slime algae. some of the sps that were losing color has gained its color back but some sps has died. I do water changes once every 2 weeks using oceanpure pro salt with a 4 stage ro/di unit that the tds reads .05

i cant keep any type of birdsnest which is odd. but orange digis is growing strong, purple valida, purple pocci, red planet, monticaps, raspberry milli, green milli, all doing well. but random sps will die.

 

[M007]

6 x 54W is a bit lite for a 120. The red slime indicates a bit of a bacteria imbalance or lack of water circulation. Flipping from vodka dosing won't help the situation much either. Your basic perams look to be ok, so I would look to improving your lighting and maybe doing 10% water changes weekly. If you are lacking colors stay off the vodka.

 

[jgatmaitan]

I think the amount of light you have is fine. I have a 125 tank with 6 bulbs of 5 feet T5s(rated 80w but runs over 100w overdriven) running on 2 IceCap 660s. Our tank dimensions are not the same as yours is taller by 4 inches. When I tested my tank with a PAR meter, the top part of the tank was around 600 and the bottom at 200 which is plenty or may even be overkill. I think the 4 feet bulbs you have are driven to 80 watts if I remember correctly. I am getting good growth so to answer your question, you have enough light.

 

[BuckeyeTodd]

depending on how long you are running lights, you may have too much light

 

[Dog boy Dave]

Its not your light m8, its your water quality. Fix that, dont waste your time or effort fretting about your lights.

 

[luv4qt1004]

cool thanks guys. ill try to fix my water quality....

i know its not flow since i have 2 tunze 6105 and 6055, stability is probably my killer