Max Growth?

[AdamNC]

I've seen so much info on max growth and best color that my head is kinda spinning. Using LEDs where have all of you found the best growth for SPS. At the moment my max daylight settings are at 65 white / 80 blue. Color looks outstanding but getting next to no growth on SPS I've had for more then 2 months. I look at others and in a 4 month span they've gone from a 1-2 inch frag to almost a full colony.

Measurements as of this past Saturday

Temp - 79.7
SG - 1.026
PH - 8.2
NH3 - 0
No2 - 0
NO3 - 0
CA - 500 yes I know this is a little high
KH - 8
PO4 - 0.25

no mag test, I still need to get a test kit for it.

 

[AdamNC]

Forgot to add that I do use Seachem AquaVitro Fuel once a week and feed Reef Chili twice a week. 2 OC Clowns for the fish poop nutrients, 2 Cleaner Shrimp, about 6 Hermits, 2 Turbos, about 12 Nassarius Snails, 1 Nerite Snail and 1 RBTA that thankfully does not move from his spot.

 

[knukles55]

need that mag for us to help you though..... thats like all others is a crucial element

 

[est.922]

IMP po4 is a little big but I had almost the same results with my LEDs. I had a bad as$ diy Cree build, 130 3w diodes over my 120 gal and got very slow growth. They did grow and color was amazing but it was what I had under my metal halids. My $$$led build is in my shed and I now have 900 watts of mh over my 210...In the next month or so I'll start to add a few sps and will be posting some feedback

 

[Stackemdeep]

Adam, I run a Reefbreeder photon 48 and keep it 12" off the water running 70 blue and 35 white during the max period. I hung this fixture about 9 months ago. Took a couple of months to acclimate to full setting. I also added a bunch of new pieces. What I noticed was that everything still took several more months to take off. A couple of maricultured pieces did not, I ended up fragging them, now they are doing well. Some aquacultured pieces just went into base out mode and are now beginning to take off. Two browned out Blue Tenuis frags are now 8" and 6" colonies and I can literally see growth daily. They are completely out of control. The millis are way happy. The slimer grows daily along with the blue digi. Different corals seem to react differently to my LED. I think the best advice I was given was leave the settings alone so that is what I do. A fellow told me tweaking LED all the time is tempting but counter productive. I am interested in seeing what happens after Christmas. I haven't touched the settings in 6 months. Good Luck!

 

[AdamNC]

K thanks guys. So it sounds like with LEDs it just takes a long time to adjust by not adjusting the settings and of course get a Mag test. With where my Ca and Alk are at I can't imagine my Mag is too low, maybe too high?

 

[AdamNC]

I may have found my issue. Just picked up a Red Sea Magnesium Test Kit and my Magnesium is 960 ppm Also picked up some Seachem AquaVitro eight.four to help stabilize my PH some. I'll get some Seachem AquaVitro ion maybe next week.

 

[gbru316]

Also picked up some Seachem AquaVitro eight.four to help stabilize my PH some.

It's generally not a good idea to chase PH. 8.2 is perfect, you'd do best to leave well enough alone.

 

[Bpb]

+1 chasing ph will cause way more problems than it will fix. Lots of light and plenty of food with natural seawater or slightly elevated foundation parameters grow sps well. 2 month mark is also too soon for growth. I've had Acros and montipora take 6-8 months before the blow up with growth.

 

[AdamNC]

So even to help stabilize it isn't a good thing? It seems almost each time I test it, it seems to jump from 8.0 one time 8.2 another then back to 8.2. I was under the assumption that stabilization is the key to SPS growth.

 

[Bpb]

Stable alkalinity and salinity. Ph will naturally fluctuate through the day based on photosynthetic process. Even with a reverse photoperiod refugium you can expect to see a 0.3-0.4 or so swing in ph during a 24 hr period which is normal and not harmful. If you go dosing ph buffers to try and fight that you will end up raising and lowering other things (like alk) that are more important to stay stable.

 

[gbru316]

So even to help stabilize it isn't a good thing? It seems almost each time I test it, it seems to jump from 8.0 one time 8.2 another then back to 8.2. I was under the assumption that stabilization is the key to SPS growth.

PH will normally fluctuate from a minimum when your lights come on in the morning to a maximum when they go off. The respiration of the livestock in your tank drives this fluctuation. There is no major benefit to stabilizing a pH swing of 0.2.

You do, however, want to keep your salinity, alkalinity, and calcium stable. Keeping PH in the appropriate range will aid in sustaining all and ca, an ATO will keep salinity stable.

 

[Eric Boerner]

I see a couple things going against you.

Your Calc is high vs. a low dKH. vs. a very low Magnesium. Try to dial those three in if you can. SLOWLY.... Consume the Calcium by increasing your dKH. Mag just needs to get up into the 1400's to fix that part.

Your LEDs... Are missing some vital wavelengths. You need the green and violet diodes to get truly good growth rates. Since your forced into using the white LEDs to mash all those wavelengths into those diodes, you should be inverse of what you're running. 100% white, 70% Blue. It won't look good to 'you', but your corals are going to respond positively.