Looking for lighting advice.

[Saltygram]

I would like to get opinions on the optimal lighting parameters to promote coral growth. Our system has been up and running for a year now, and as many of you will remember, our tank crashed while we were on vacation the first week of January. We were very fortunate that we had minimal coral losses. After getting through that, we have also started a very rigorous dosing program and are keeping the following in place: KH-9, Mag-1350, Calcium-450.

Now I want to make sure we have our lighting set at optimal levels in order to promote growth. We have two AI 52 LED lights. Below is the Apex graph of our light parameters. We have them geared more towards the afternoon/evening so we can enjoy the tank during optimal lighting when we get home from work. My initial thoughts are that we don't have the lights on long enough during their peak output. Maybe we also don't have the proper Kelvin values.

All input is really appreciated.

 

[Aqua Man 07]

this has been working pretty good for me lately decent sps growth it would probably be better If my nitrate went so high

 

[Saltygram]

The APEX chart is really helpful.

If others could post their's I would really appreciate it.

 

[u4ick]

You lighting schedule is backwards from what I normally do.

I make long slow sunrises like you have, but make this the 16k to 20k look, and progress up to a peak of 12k and then back down to 16-20 with the last few hours I'm actually home being how I want the tank to look before going into a night mode.

The long lower intensity hours with a cooler color makes for good growth, while the higher full spectrum will help with color intensity.
The "mid day" can either be a sharp up, to a high intensity peak and then right back down, or a slightly lower intensity but for a flattened out longer plateau.
If your corals start to bleach shorten the spike, if they look tired and less full at the end of the plateau, then shorten the duration.

 

[Saltygram]

How long do you typically make the plateau?

 

[u4ick]

1 to 3 hrs
Start short and go from there

 

[oshanickreef]

Here is my graph.. I recently changed it up from a very simple graph that basically was just a peak of 7 hours... Lol

I had mine ramp up to a peak and it would stay peaked out for like 7 hours. My corals would grow like crazy but I think the ramp up - peak - ramp down is the best way to go. With my old lighting schedule my SPS looked really good but the color just wasn't there. The new growth is very visible because I have tips that range from .25 to 1 inch that are almost white with colored polyps. I think a lasting bright white is beneficial for growth but the coral will be healthier and have a healthier amount of zooxanthellae if you do a slow ramp up and then a 3ish hour peak and then ramp down to sunset.

Of course I would love to discuss this in more detail to get a better graph going.

 

[oshanickreef]

Based on reading the above I tweaked it a little.

 

[mpcart]

My profile:

14:00 ON - 100% - 20k

21:00 OFF - 0% - 0k

250W MH

[emoji2]

-Mike

 

[Schplitter]

What Mike said!

LED 6:00-11:00 1%-10% blue/uv/Royal blue
LED 10:00-14:00 1%-10% whites
LED 11:00-21:00 10% blue/uv/Royal blue
M.H.13:30-21:30 100% Dual 250W 20K MH
LED 14:00-21:00 10% whites
LED 21:00-23:00 10%-0% blue/uv/Royal blue
LED 21:00-22:00 10%-0% whites

The LED's are mostly there for morning and night for now. Slowly (VERY SLOWLY) I'll ramp them up.