no growth and pastel color

But you gotta remember I love my halides, if it weren't for the heat/electricity I would never change. Kessil has alot of different colors per se, just all in the same diode or whatever. I don't like automation at all, the idea of clouds and rain in my aquarium aren't my style. It took alot for me to break down and get a doser years ago, the newer kessil that is comming out is supposed to be more power and more options as far as color. I hate the look of the disco ball effect I see with most LEDs, though you taking the optics off really helped with that. I may change my mind on Nextwave, who knows.
 
Hmm...that's odd, I thought my leds looked more like the current mh when the optics were on...just less coverage. I would like them higher. As far as programming...I was referring to the color temp options as well as being able to individually dial in all the colors (white, blue, royal blue, green, and red). The storms and such are of no importance to me. It only seems cool if there are sounds and actual rain (for top off) to go along with it. I've only seen one tank like this on YouTube.

But for me the Radion is the best as far as getting full spectrum of light to the corals. I worry that the kessil will not provide that like your old mh lamps do. But the price is crazy...
 
I'm really leaning towards trying 2 of those Kessils and the 2 PARs that are already on there, still be cheaper than a radium. Summer is right around the corner and I need to get rid of some of these halides or the wife will do it for me. I don't worry much about the acros more about the clams on the bottom but only one way to find out right. Hell you should be proud of me for even considering converting to LEDs, still dont' think I'll ever have a t5 only tank.
 
Well tonight she actually looked at the tank for a while and informed me I won't be changing anything on the tank anytime soon so maybe when it warms up a little and those A350s are out. Par of 65 20" under the surface may not cut it for crocea.
 
I thought this was interesting.
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2012/1/aafeature

I can't find any info (solid info) on the a350...so it's hard to judge it. BUT...if it's consuming 350w of power then it kinda defeats the purpose of switching to led. And like you said...65 PAR at 20" (though I don't know how high off the water that is) does seem a little weak.

bottom line...we need a PAR meter for this town.
 
ok New test numbers.

Dec 27 2011
sal 1.030
ph 8.39
ca 460
alk 11
mag 1625
no3 5
po4 0

Maintained dosing (including feeding). no WC, and BP were off for about 3 days.

Jan 30 2012
sal 1.029
ph 8.43
ca 460
alk 11
mag 1625
no3 20
po4 0

15 GALLON WATER CHANGE AND STOPED ALL DOSING (BP back on)

Feb 1 2012
sal 1.028
ph 8.46
ca 440
alk 9
mag 1375
no3 15
po4 0

I'm glad that the MAG finally went down. But I'm worried that it never reduced while I was doing CA and ALK...and not MAG. So the corals never used it. Strange.

I still have no detectable PO4. The NO3 is too high for my tastes. And I'm also glad that the ALK is not so high as well. CA for my tastes is fine. The oddest part is that after the WC and no more dosing...the PH actually went up a little bit.

The only thing I decided to change today is that I raised the lights from 14" to 16" now. I might as well just mount it to the ceiling...haha.

anyways, that's the current updates on the tank.

till next time.
 
Just a shot in the dark guys...but who thinks I should lower the light and have MORE light for the corals? I'm just trying to think outside the tank here. The notion is criss crossing my mind.
 
how high is it right now? I'd move it down an inch a day or so. I'd drop the salinity a .001 a day on a slow drip if ya got a little airline you can tie a knot in it and drip it into a 5 gal bucket. Just let your ATO make up the difference with FW, if you want to do it slow. But a 5 gallon WC every other day with 1.023 would be all around better for the system, IMO. Oh and some more fish and some more cleanup crew<I"ll probably be ordering some snails and stuff soon if you are interested, I know a place where we can get quite a bit for a good price.
 
Whatever you choose, and however fast you do a change, don't expect to see results of that for a week at best, more likely few.

If you just moved your lights a few days ago and your corals are not brown, leave them. If your corals are brown, move them down 5-10cm and leave them another week and see what happens.
 
They have been looking worse, some browner, some whiter. I can usually tell in a day orbtwo if the corals are bleaching. It's very rapid and very fast in my tank for some reason. Always has been. I'm trying to get it back to NSW params. I'll keep the updates coming as I get them.
 
The biggest problem I have is that some corals are browning, and others are bleaching. But even among frags of the same coral, its going in opposite ways. Further from the light is bleaching...closer is browning. It's messed up... :(
 
If i were you i would get the salinity back on track before anything. Do not try and change to many variables at one time.

Sent from my LG-P999 using Tapatalk
 
Well, I hope this isn't too preemptive, but the lights being closer seems to be having a good result. Also I'm still slowly bringing the salinity down by one gallon of tank water exchanged for one of fresh RODI each day. The colors are slowly deepening...but now I'm trying to get my rainbow monti base to switch from brownish purple back to blue.

Slow process but I'm far from out of the woods.
 
your nitrate is two high and your phospate is two low
Recommended water parameters for accelerated coral growth
• Algae nutrient levels of 1 – 2 ppm nitrate and 0.1 ppm phosphate; to maintain a relatively high
population of Zooxanthellae that will provide enough energy to the corals for growth.
• Boosted and balanced levels of the Foundation Elements [Alkalinity 12.6dKH / 4.5meq/L, Ca
465ppm, Mg 1390ppm] to properly utilize all of the extra energy
• Availability of the minor and trace elements taken up by the corals during growth [I2
0.06ppm, K 410ppm, Fe 0.15ppm]

Recommended water parameters for enhanced colouration
• Algae nutrient levels of 0.25 ppm nitrate and 0.02 ppm phosphate; to maintain a reduced level
of Zooxanthellae, reducing the brownish tint of the corals and inducing the protection response of
enhanced coloration.
• Reduced levels of the Foundation Elements [Alkalinity 8.2dKH / 2.9meq/L, Ca 430ppm, Mg
1310ppm]to lower the energy demand from coral growth
• Availability of the minor and trace elements used in the soft tissue for increased
colouration [I2 0.06ppm, K 380ppm, Fe 0.15ppm]
 
If you can measure Fe at 0.15ppm you know something we don't... If you reference to that RS test kit for Fe I still set to see any luck using it. All posts say it's useless since Fe get bounded to organic in the tank in minutes.
 
He is definately referring to redsea program. Forget getting any accurate reading on fe or k. If u have any w/c schedule or trace dosing I doubt u have a deficiency in either. Unless u are using zeolite. I discussed this with other experts before.

It is fairly safe to dose fe for macro algae. I usually dose 1/2 recommended.

I'm doing some testing right now to see how higher nitrates and lower phos effects sps corals. So far 1ppm no3 and .03ppm po4 only causes browning. I'm only getting color at the tips. Alk is at 8.5 now. If I go higher I see a negative response from corals. Could be related to low phos. I'm slowly lowering nitrate but I'm Am also feeding max of dose reef energy.
 
In regards to the FE testing, its my understanding that you want to read 0.15 one hour after dosing iron as this should give a pretty accurate idea of what you've dosed before in binds out into your system.
 
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