PAR map of my 375 gallon with 3 Photon 32s (AKA how I fried some corals)

[dmStewy]

I have had this tank up and running for about two years so about 4 months ago I decided it was about time to add some corals. So I added a few small frags of Acans, and a few softies. The Acans shriveled up within 3 days and were gone. The softies withered quite a bit and have never looked anywhere close to what they looked like at the store. So I knew that there were issues, I thought it had to be either flow or light related. I cut the flow back as much as I could (two closed loops each with a wave line 1200 running at the lowest setting) after cutting the flow back I did not notice any improvement with the softies.

The tank is 96”x36”x25” (U.S.). The lights consist of three Photon 32s running down the middle, all of the LEDs have 90° lenses on them. The lights are fifteen inches above the top of tank (about forty inches from the bottom). The Photons were set to ramp up to 90% blue 45% white once they were ramped up they would stay there for two hours and then would ramp back down.

So to make a long story short, today I got my hands on a PAR meter and had a buddy help me par map my aquarium. During the peak period when the lights were at 90% blue 45% white the PAR on the bottom of the tank was around 200 to 300 depending on the location. At the top of the rock structures the PAR was around 400 to 500.

So I played with the lights a little bit and came up with 70% blue 25% white. The following is a PAR map of the tank during the new peak photo period (70% blue 25% white). Basically this resulted in about 100 on the bottom of the tank and around 300 at the top of the rock structures.

From the right side viewable panel



Front of the right island



Middle island



Left Island



So here are my questions:

1. Is this still too much PAR for softies and LPS? In the bottom half of the tank.
2. How long should the peak photo period run for, 1 hour, 2 hours, etc?
3. How many steps should there be in the ramp up process.
4. How long should the lights on/on to the point that they are putting out light beyond what is needed to see into the tank.

Note: There is somewhat of a spotlight effect in the tank. So due to the positioning of the lights there are some parts of the rock structure are higher but get less PAR than lower areas that are more under the light.

Thanks in advance for ant thoughts or sugestions, and thanks for taking the time to read this.

 

[Mr. Brooks]

I would start the LPS and softies in the 100 range. Save the 300 to 500 range for SPS.

Is it possible to raise the lights higher for more even spread?

 

[lynchmob3000]

With radions I've seen my best results with ramping up and holding for 7 to 8 hours then ramp down. Very similar settings to what your running.

 

[hart24601]

Just FYI here is a PAR map of my 120. I run the tank for 8hr with the 2nd number - the 20k value. Plenty of lps and zoas in here. With high par need lots of flow though. This tank runs gyre, and 2 mp40s all constant at 80%.

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[Johnic]

What are good par numbers to shot for from top of tank to bottom?

 

[dmStewy]

Is it possible to raise the lights higher for more even spread?

Short answer, yes, the light can be raised higher.

Long answer, it would be very difficult do to where the lights are positioned. There is 12-20 inches above the lights. But if I raised them any higher they would be very difficult to reach/adjust/program.

There is no way to get to the lights at all from the front.



Right above the back of the tank there is a beam that runs the length of the room the lights are tucked up between that beam and the wall that goes up from the front of the tank.







As is it now it is very difficult to reach the controller, or even see the display on the lights. If they were moved any higher it would be almost impossible. Increased spread would be nice and would most likely take care of the low PAR area at the top back of the rock structure.

 

[dmStewy]

Round Two

Round Two

So after tuning the lights down to 70% blue 25% white I gave it a few weeks and decided to try and add a few frags again. This time I tried just one acan frag and on small monti cap frag. The results were the same as last time everything looked good for a day and then started to bleach/recede very quickly.


So I turned the lights down even more. The lights now peak at 30% blue 20% white the following photos are a PAR map with the new settings. At this point I am wondering if it would not be best to remove the lenses on the Photons, to soften up the light a bit. Even though the fixtures are turned way down they still seem to be emitting some very focused/intense light. Anyone else out there have issues with 90° lenses on Reef Breeder Photons?









I moved the acans under a cave as soon as the tissue started to recede. They are slowly coming back around.





Thanks

 

[Skim]

Looks good. Looks like you have are fair bit of time invested in it.
I hope you got a good interest rate on the second Mortgage. LOL

 

[ADVRESOURCE]

Acans and lps thrive around 100 to 50 par. They don't like high light. Sps on top

 

[surferarnie]

I have the same problem. I am running 2 16's with 90 degree optics on my 110. I bought a par meter and try to keep everythig under 200. It doesnt seam to matter. I keep bleaching corals. i have a small coral grave yard from the last 2 local swap meets.
The only corals i can keep from bleaching are on the sand.i max out at 30 on the white and 25 on the blue for 2 hours. Down side to this is the color is bad. Everything looses color. Most acros that survive brown out my monti looses color too, it actually looks grey.millis dont seem to like these at all and i cant keep those alive.i do have 1 porcilipora that is done well. It is also on the bed. Par on that is around 80.
This is after both led boards were replaced under waranty by reef breeders at the begining of this year. The blues actually melted the lenses. They looked black,if you look at them with the lights off.That killed avery thing in my tank but ricordia and some shrooms. I was loosing my mind trying to figure that out. I lost a 200 to 300 head candy cane i had for 15 years. I only found out after 1 of the 16's blues quit completly and i emailed reef breders.
To water parms are spot on and the only thing i can think of that is causing this is the reef breeders.
I am ready to throw in the towel on these and get a t5 fixture.

 

[lynchmob3000]

Go t5. Set it and forget it! Are you running carbon in a reactor or passively?

 

[lynchmob3000]

I see your running bare bottom and possibly clossed loop. Maybe a flow issue with lps.