Officially throwing in the towel

[gus6464]

SPS is not a coral that requires voodoo ocean magic to keep alive. You do not need to have a tank for 2 years before adding SPS like some will have you believe either. The "breaking-in" mentality of some people around here is absolutely bogus and cannot be proven with scientific fact.

Tests have shown that on the very top range an SPS coral does not need more than 300 PAR. You start photo-inhibition at anything past that. Unlike what some have you believe, MH is not a PAR monster and that is not the reason why they are so good at growing coral. Just like T5, the reason MH are so good is because they blanket an area with an even spread of light everywhere.

Take a look at the very impressive SPS tanks on here, one thing they have in common is they have a boatload of Radions or whatever else lighting the tank. It is not uncommon to see a an impressive 4ft tank with 3-4 radions on them. No matter what ecotech tells you one single XR30W is not enough for a 24x24" tank if you want good spread.

If you look at the BRS video of the spectrometer reading of an XR30 the spread is absolute garbage. One small area gets blasted with light and the rest is dark.

Why do people recommend T5 for a big tank? Because it is considerably cheaper to light a 48x24 tank with an 8 bulb ATI unit than it is with the proper amount of Radions required. I have done the math and buying 3x XR30 vs a 48x8 ATI using a 5 year life cycle the T5 unit is actually cheaper including new sets of bulbs every year.

 

[sixpackgarage]

I guarantee Kessils are not killing your SPS.

I think the high alk and high salinity killed them. RSCP is strong stuff. I use it, but I only change 10 gallons of total 75 per every week or 2. I've done larger water changes on a previous tank with RSCP and my corals hated life for a week or so..

 

[1MP3R1AL]

I'll chime in for what it's worth. I've had it all, done it all. MH, T5, LED, etc.
if you want a LED system to grow and color sps, you need a unit around every 16" of length of tank no matter what the manufacturer recommends. Anything less than that you will have dead coral underneath the coral where the light cannot reach. Even then that's not really a good guarentee. The light LEDs produce does not bend like MH or LED.

If you dont want your tank to look like a hot night at an 80's disco, don't get led. I'll leave that there.

Most led units are bought by newbies with a brand new 5 day old system that hasn't matured yet. And when they try to grow deep water corals from who knows where, they don't understand and think it's their lighting. After much trial and error newbies will begin tinkering with the light settings because people from reef central tell them what their lights are set at, and they try to duplicate. Eventually burning the coral up, and giving up.

I believe LEDs should be the last piece of the puzzle to owning a thriving reef. Once you understand how to keep a steady ALK cal mag, and have a good nutrient import export regimen, and if you want to step to something else just like how people dive into an ULNS setup including zeo, then give LEDs a try.

LEDs are good for flourecense. Get a nice t5 setup and incorporate LEDs into it for sunrise and sunset. They can also add a little more blue or white if your not satisfied with the current t5 color combination.

 

[RobTheReefer]

...The light LEDs produce does not bend like MH...

I won't offer my opinion on anything except for this. I don't know where people are reading this stuff, but it's just flat out incorrect. All photons of the same wavelength are identical. It doesn't matter where they come from. Anything above absolute zero (everything in the universe) emits photons. None are special. Even the photons you are emitting right now are not special.

 

[mfaso24]

I won't offer my opinion on anything except for this. I don't know where people are reading this stuff, but it's just flat out incorrect. All photons of the same wavelength are identical. It doesn't matter where they come from. Anything above absolute zero (everything in the universe) emits photons. None are special. Even the photons you are emitting right now are not special.

Lol +1!!!

 

[1MP3R1AL]

It's not reading, it's what I personally have seen for myself.

#1. If you took 24 watts of LEDs (whatever color your heart desires), and a 24" 24 watt T5 bulb, (let's say a coral plus) and put them the same distance over a tank, which one do you think would have more par deeper in said tank?

#2. Take a 6 bulb 24" T5 unit (144 watts) and compare it to a single point of source led system of 144 watts. Again, place over said tank. Which one would you think produces a more broader even spread of light?

 

[mfaso24]

It's not reading, it's what I personally have seen for myself.

#1. If you took 24 watts of LEDs (whatever color your heart desires), and a 24" 24 watt T5 bulb, (let's say a coral plus) and put them the same distance over a tank, which one do you think would have more par deeper in said tank?

#2. Take a 6 bulb 24" T5 unit (144 watts) and compare it to a single point of source led system of 144 watts. Again, place over said tank. Which one would you think produces a more broader even spread of light?

That has to do with spread, not "light bending". Yes, t5 and MH have a history of much better spread than leds.

 

[rags111875]

I had a similar issue keeping acro's. For me, it was due to a temperature swing of +/- 3 degrees daily. When i checked temp, it was always at the same time of the day (in my case, when halides were on) when i returned home from work. One weekend, i woke up early and saw the temp was 3 degrees lower than i expected. Once i got a Ranco temp controller, i never lost another acro. Seems your temp readings are consistent and you're not dealing with halide heat, but worth mentioning...just in case.

 

[IndyMatt]

Okay I couldn't keep my mouth shut about the lighting and I was trying. Every light source has a plus or minus to it. Halides create a huge amount of heat that needs to be factored in, T5 to "MY" eyes just look like a more blue version of garage lighting (probably due to their spread which is a strength). I have used MH and LED's and will never go back to MH, due to heat and energy costs. I would consider T5's but again I don't like the flat look of the light (again my opinion, I like shimmer). This leaves it to what I used which is LEDs, LEDs are lights they are not magic or horrendous and light is light. Spread is a factor with clustered LEDs more than LEDs that are spread across the fixture. Here is the problem with LEDs, adjustability, I think sometimes people tinker with the lights so much that the corals can never settle in or they simply guess and think it is good and wither cook or slowly kill their corals. DO NOT REINVENT the wheel here, look at what intensity a successful reefer or better yet several successful reefers are using and stick with it. Individuality is a curse and copying is greatly encouraged! In short I think your light is fine.

Next up, I would try to keep your ALK closer to 8, CA around 400-450, and your Mag around 1350. However whatever you keep it at, keep it absolutely stable, I mean rock solid stable. I would caution against RSCP, it is very high in ALK and my tank hated it. High ALK with lower nitrates and phosphates can be a disaster. Again I would take everything else like the ROWA offline and run simple for awhile. Then take a tester SPS AFTER running stable and see how it goes.

IMO, stability is the key to success. It isn't this light or that, this skimmer or that, stability. You stop chasing numbers and stick with one and I promise that you will start to have success. Then later you worry about better coloration and other things.