Maxspect razor too strong for sps?

[RoTTen2TheCore]

Hey all,
I have a 16k maxspect razor (3 led panel) on a 50 gallon mixed reef. I have it set to preset mode on preset 2. I noticed that other than my montiporas, the rest of my frags always slowly bleach out. They slowly die from the base up. The polyps look singed and never extend any more, even during feeding. Is it because the lights run too long on 100 percent?
I have had this problem for a long time and I've gone through at least 8 different kinds of frags, all die after a while. Water parameters have been a bit high, but within range.
Cal: 450
Alk: 10dkh
Mag 1600 (treating bryopsis)
Phos: 0.08 Hannah checker
No3 : 0.5 elos
Ph: 7.8

Any input? I have tried almost everything other than the lights. I even picked up a triton test to see if there is some other element I have too much or not enough of. I will be sending it next week, but someone suggested it was my lights and I wanted some more input.
Oh, the tank is 20 inches high and I have tried all sorts of highs, always with the same results.

 

[gone fishin]

My whites max out at 80%. It is easy enough to make your own lighting schedule to see if this is the issue.

 

[RoTTen2TheCore]

Yeah I changed my whites to max out at 60 and my blues at 90. I just wanted to see what others thought or if it is more likely something else.

 

[Jim.mer]

You can adjust those lights so they aren't so bright, I had the same light and I don't think that's the problem, Your Phosphate level is too high for sure. .06 is not low at all.003 would be a lot better for SPS. Yes the Mag is high, how high has it been that high? I would also look at your high kh and understand how that reflects the stress on your Corals

 

[top shelf]

+1 to everything mentioned above also how are you acclimating new corals? If there coming from a tank with less intense lighting bleaching would be very easy.

 

[acrohead500ppm]

+1 to everything mentioned above also how are you acclimating new corals? If there coming from a tank with less intense lighting bleaching would be very easy.

Exactly!

Also, other than comparing lighting setups, how about carbon use? Not many LFS run carbon very often or worry about polishing water/ light penetration.

The difference in light penetration can be pretty big.

 

[RoTTen2TheCore]

The corals I buy come from a shop that uses Radeon lights and I acclimate them by drip and then I pave them low in the tank and move up after a week or more.

 

[Jim.mer]

An sps tank is not an easy thing to achieve, your water peramiters should be very stable. I'm not a fan of LED lights. although I've tried them twice. it's certainly not the light.

 

[top shelf]

The corals I buy come from a shop that uses Radeon lights and I acclimate them by drip and then I pave them low in the tank and move up after a week or more.

There definitely being acclimated right, only thing that stands out as a culprit is your phosphate and nitrate.

 

[RoTTen2TheCore]

Hmmm well I do agree that an sps tank is very hard. Although my parameters ate slightly off, they stay very stable. Do you think it's all caused by my phosphate and high alk? I figured that the phos wasn't that high and they would just brown out rather than lose tissue and die.

 

[top shelf]

I agree stability is a big key factor and for a softy/lps tank those parameters would be completely acceptable but sps need "cleaner" water and like Jim.mer mentioned .03 would be a lot better along with 0 nitrate if you can get them there.

 

[Jim.mer]

A phosphorous meter is better at determining Phosphate, Hanna makes one. .003 is optimum, I never tested for Phosphate until 2009 or so, My 90 Shallow Reef crashed and I CHECKED THE pHOS on a friends requests. It was through the roof, that was the last time I used old sand for start ups. It is very, very important. I also put an ATS on every build.

 

[Bpb]

Lights of any kind can be too much for any sps if not properly acclimated. Most montipora and acropora can tolerate par in the 700-800 range. In the wild there are full acropora and montipora colonies the size of houses that are exposed to open air for hours a day in low tide. I'd venture to guess they're receiving par in the thousands. It's just about properly acclimating to your light levels.

In my experience, excess light doesn't cause base-up slow tissue necrosis. That's more often an alkality instability issue

 

[RoTTen2TheCore]

I guess I better jack up the carbon dosing. I was a bit nervous of starving my corals if the po4 and no3 got too low. But like top shelf said, my parameters aren't so bad that they would explain the loses I'm seeing.
I did suspect low strontium maybe, but I have no test for that.

 

[Jim.mer]

I agree

I agree

Lights of any kind can be too much for any sps if not properly acclimated. Most montipora and acropora can tolerate par in the 700-800 range. In the wild there are full acropora and montipora colonies the size of houses that are exposed to open air for hours a day in low tide. I'd venture to guess they're receiving par in the thousands. It's just about properly acclimating to your light levels.

In my experience, excess light doesn't cause base-up slow tissue necrosis. That's more often an alkality instability issue

I totally agree with you.

 

[RoTTen2TheCore]

Good point