Should I go from 250w to 175w? Too much light?

[Veosk]

I have a 40 breeder with a 250 watt MH 8.5 inches from the water surface. It seems that some of the corals tend to bleach out. I just added a Jedi mind trick monti that is on the bottom of the tank under a rock ledge. I moved it out a little and now it looks like the flesh is coming off. Have a birds nest that is still bleached after 3months in the tank on the bottom. Sound I go back to the 175?

Light cycle is 10hrs pc's 6hrs mh

 

[Alex T.]

None of the corals you've mentioned need (or want) that much intensity. My birdsnest did best in the corner of my tank only inches from the bottom in a 150 gallon (27" height) setup with a 400 watt Radium over a foot away laterally.

 

[Veosk]

I have a few SPS and plan on adding more. It being 8 inches away is 250 too much. My flower pot lps is pink instead of red and polyp extension sucks.

Should I thoughts

 

[Purple Rocks]

Im interested in knowing what kind of reflector you are using? I think that light should be raised.

Your new 250w halide may only be 75w more, But the effeciency of a 250w is much better at converting energy to light meaning you r getting more lumens per watt with the 250 than the 175. I think you have underestimated the power of you light.

 

[Veosk]

I am using just a standard reflector. I think the 250 maybe too much being that close.mits seems corals pale or bleach out when put in my tank. Would shortening my light cycle to 3 hours and slowly going up from there be good

Toughts?

 

[MedRed]

can you raise the light?

 

[Veosk]

No in a hood

 

[stpatrick]

can you raise the light?

+1

 

[naterealbig]

It is not just the reflector, but the bulb and the ballast that is running it that will have an effect. If you can't raise the light, cut back on the photoperiod. If what you want is a longer photoperiod such that the corals can be viewed longer during the day, then yes, put a 175 or a 150 watt halide above the tank. 10 hours in most cases it too much for corals near the surface.

For example, I am running a 14kk 250w Phoenix DE bulb, in a Sunlight reflector, on a PFO ballast over my 40 frag tank. Because my ballast drives this bulb near 350 watts, and I feed the tank very little, I have to keep my photoperiod below 7 hours to maintain color in the coral. You know what to do, just do it .

Also, generally, it is poor practice to make any drastic changes to an aquarium. I would decrease the photoperiod 30 minutes a day unitl you hit 8 hours. Along with decreasing your MH photoperiod, also decrease t5 photoperiod. Shoot for around 6-8 hours for MH's, and and extra hour before and after for the t5's. When your down to 8 hours, give the coral 2 weeks (maybe more) to adjust to the lighting, and mark the results. Adjust as necessary.

 

[Veosk]

My 250 is on for 5.5 hours and the actinic 65watt are on for 10hrs. The ballast is a coral vue electronic ballast.

So is cutting back the the halide and the actinic the anwser? I'd rather keep the 250 then go back to the 175.

I would think the 65 watt pc's on the 10hrs would not cause such a problem.

Thoughts

 

[naterealbig]

I'm sorry, I thought I had read a 10hr photoperiod for the MH. 5 hours doesn't seem like a whole lot...should be pretty good in fact, again, this is my experience. The photperiod may not be the answer considering it is not as long as I thought.

There are many things that affect the corals color hues and intensity. Are the corals colorful, but with pastel or light colors? Or are they simply brown and bleached? What bulb are you running (brand, double/single ended)? What brand/type sheilded/unshielded reflector are you using? What fish do you have in the tank, is it bare bottom, and what are your NO3 & PO4 readings? What chemical filtration do you use? Can you post a picture of your aquarium?

 

[Veosk]

Naterealbig thanks for your help. It's a bare bottom 40 breeder. The bottom is painted white. Running a spider light reflector. No3 and po4 are 0 on a Salfert kit. Mag. 1410, 1.025 CA 410, Alk 8.5/9, and Temp is a steady 79/80. Tank has lots of flow. Fish only 2 chromis and 1 clown for now. Feed 3 times a day. Dose vodka.

The Jedi mind trick monti looks as if the tissue I'd peeling off and losing the green. It was under a rock ledge I move it out and 1 day later it looked horrible. The red flower pot never opens or has horrible polyp extension and it went from a nice radish orange to a light pink. The greens birds nest I placed on the bottom of the tank 3 months ago and it turned total white. I will tank pics tonight. I have a wild frag that is stn-ing

 

[Chris Lakies]

I have my 250 watt pendant 15" from the water surface of my 40 breeder. Using either phoenix or radium i fry stuff anything over 6 hours. Ive been thinking about dropping a 175 watt xm 20k in it. Fyi i have a lumenmax 2 pendant.

 

[naterealbig]

What bulb are you running (brand, double/single ended)?

Bare bottom tanks can be tough ( I know, because I run them) and it takes a good balance between nutrients (not po4 or no3, but food for the coral) and light to get things looking good.

If the flesh is in-fact sloughing off the corals, it is likely the vodka or a faulty bulb ( assuming there are no chemicals or heavy metals) causing the necrosis.

Assuming the bulb is in good shape, and there is not a chemical causing the necrosis, I would start by feeding the tank more, specifically the corals. A good way to do this is to put a frozen cube of prime reef, cyclops, mysis, or anything very nutritious in a blender and liquify it. Feed it at night, after lights off. You could also do this by feeding the fish more, but the tank is more easily polluted by the decay of what doesn't get eaten. By feeding the blended food, it is easily skimmed out of the water, and most wont settle or build up in the live rock.

Do this for 2 weeks and see what happens. Try to avoid doing a bunch of stuff at once, as you will not find out what the specific cause of the problem was. Also, as an afterthought, I have read that you want to keep the Alkalinity 7 or low 8's when dosing vodka. People have noted problems with "burning" the growth tips on sps, especially their Montiporas ( like your jedi). I don't dose vodka though.....I am able to keep nutrients in check with good flow and a properly sized skimmer. Here is a video of my bare bottom with 400 watt XM halides. Only skimmer, filter sock, and live rock for filtration. No chemicals, gfo, carbon, vodka, pellets or anything else. Just heavy fish feedings.

<iframe width="480" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/XfVmYnGCaFE?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[Veosk]

The bulb is 6 months old. I am having a little bit of cloudiness so I cut back on the vodka.

 

[Veosk]

Been thinking about getting this food called Azox was told is amazing stuff.

Think I might feed with that and switch out the light.

Would the white bottom be an issue thought about going black. Is the white too reflective?

 

[Veosk]

Been thinking about getting this food called Azox was told is amazing stuff.

Think I might feed with that and switch out the light.

Would the white bottom be an issue thought about going black. Is the white too reflective?

 

[Veosk]

Pics

 

[naterealbig]

The bulb is 6 months old. I am having a little bit of cloudiness so I cut back on the vodka.

I don't really care how old the bulb is, the question was, what kind of bulb? I ask, because if it's a cheap ebay, it could be causing you problems. How do I know? Because I tried them. In one of my tanks I had corals that were dying, and tried everything to fix it and nothing worked. As a desperate last resort I switched the bulb to a Phoenix and immediately the corals came back to life.

Been thinking about getting this food called Azox was told is amazing stuff.

Check the ingredients in the food. I find that most coral food's main ingredients are phytoplankton, which in my experience does nothing to help the corals. You want a zoo plankton mix, with a minimal amount of phyto. Also keep in mind, that many zoo plankton mixes are a good size for LPS and softies, but are simply too large to be utilized by SPS.

Would the white bottom be an issue thought about going black. Is the white too reflective?

No, the white is fine, although you are correct; it is more reflective than the black. I ran black for a while for a different look. I am currently running a white bottom on the same tank.

Pics

The white edges on your Monitpora is almost certainly due to the vodka. Again, the basis behind barebottom methodology is using high flow and a powerful skimmer to maintain low po4 and no3 without having to use ancillary methods (pellets, vodka, refugium, dsb, etc). If you are doing the bb thing right, you shouldn't be using vodka.

Because the tank is very clean this way, LPS and softies often do poorly. In order to get them looking better, it's simple - you have to provide them with more food. The easiest way to do this is blend some stuff up, or feed with a packaged supplement (like the one you mentioned). 6 or 7 drops of amino acids may help as well. Something else that will help (and is another method I utilize on my frag tank) is spot feeding the LPS in the evening.

Again, I can not stress enough to make the changes slowly. Once you find the right balance of nutrient addition and export, things will be a breeze. Start dumping ton of food, and you will end up with a different set of problems.

 

[naterealbig]

To summarize what your plan of attack should be:

1) If the bulb is a no-name, switch it out with a quality bulb.

2) Feed the tank more, and spot feed the LPS if possible, until they start to look better. Remember, your goal is not higher po4 or no3, it's more food. If your nutrient levels start to rise, skim wetter, and make sure there are no spots where detritus is building up. Do this for 2 weeks and see what the results are...things should start to look better.

3) Maintain your lower dose of vodka for now. If two weeks pass with the heavier feedings, and you don't see a substantial improvement, stop the vodka dosing and continue with the heavier feedings. Again, keep an eye on your po4 and no3 levels.