How slowly to increase lighting?

[jRatanak]

Hey all,

I've had my tank up for a little over half a year with no severe issues; however, I've started adding some sps and noticed that the overall lighting for them may not be high enough. They stay healthy-looking for around two weeks then they lose color and get some tissue loss and eventually die after another couple weeks. But my question is: if I were to increase the overall lighting on my tank, roughly how fast/slow would be a safe rate so as not to cause any issues with my lps and others? I was thinking maybe 3-5% a week but I don't want it to be so slow that my remaining sps is at risk. Thanks in advanced!

 

[Waters]

Hey all,

I've had my tank up for a little over half a year with no severe issues; however, I've started adding some sps and noticed that the overall lighting for them may not be high enough. They stay healthy-looking for around two weeks then they lose color and get some tissue loss and eventually die after another couple weeks. But my question is: if I were to increase the overall lighting on my tank, roughly how fast/slow would be a safe rate so as not to cause any issues with my lps and others? I was thinking maybe 3-5% a week but I don't want it to be so slow that my remaining sps is at risk. Thanks in advanced!

What kind of lighting do you have? When I was running strictly Radion Pros I was not able to increase by any more than 2% every 1 to 2 weeks without some of my colonies showing distress. You can increase T5 PAR much quicker than you can increase LED PAR in my experience. Welcome to R2R BTW !!

 

[jRatanak]

What kind of lighting do you have? When I was running strictly Radion Pros I was not able to increase by any more than 2% every 1 to 2 weeks without some of my colonies showing distress. You can increase T5 PAR much quicker than you can increase LED PAR in my experience. Welcome to R2R BTW !!

I have a ReefLED 90 with 4 T5s over an IM Fusion 40, they don't sit super high above the aquarium (6-7" maybe) and height adjustment for the T5s isn't much of an option due to restrictions with the mounting situation. The ReefLED is running around 50% or so during its max. Thanks for the welcome btw!

 

[Waters]

I have a ReefLED 90 with 4 T5s over an IM Fusion 40, they don't sit super high above the aquarium (6-7" maybe) and height adjustment for the T5s isn't much of an option due to restrictions with the mounting situation. The ReefLED is running around 50% or so during its max. Thanks for the welcome btw!

You are running a set similar to mine then. I have 4 T5s with 2 Radion Gen3 Pros with wide angle lenses. They max out around 35%. I would start with 2% a week and just watch the coral. As long as you don't see any issues, you might be able to increase the percentage or frequency.

 

[Daniel92481]

I have a ReefLED 90 with 4 T5s over an IM Fusion 40, they don't sit super high above the aquarium (6-7" maybe) and height adjustment for the T5s isn't much of an option due to restrictions with the mounting situation. The ReefLED is running around 50% or so during its max. Thanks for the welcome btw!

Another welcome for you! Do you have a pic to show your lighting setup? I have the same tank, and would love to see.

 

[The Aquatic Arsenal]

Welcome. Like mentioned above small increases slowly. Look for adverse effects on corals during the process. I would space it out over a period of two weeks.

 

[Nicholas Dushynsky]

Hi, what are your levels? Lighting may not be your issue. If fading colour then it could be a neutrients issue i.e. very low phosphates or nitrates. I believe people are having issues trying to keep levels too low, I lost all my sps due to 0 phosphates, they lost colour then stn or rtn then eventually died. I thought lighting originally, then found it was due to the 0 po4. Just a thought.

 

[jRatanak]

You are running a set similar to mine then. I have 4 T5s with 2 Radion Gen3 Pros with wide angle lenses. They max out around 35%. I would start with 2% a week and just watch the coral. As long as you don't see any issues, you might be able to increase the percentage or frequency.

Okay awesome thank you, I'll give it a try!

 

[jRatanak]

Another welcome for you! Do you have a pic to show your lighting setup? I have the same tank, and would love to see.

Of course! I have it sitting in the aquatic life hybrid fixture

 

[jRatanak]

Welcome. Like mentioned above small increases slowly. Look for adverse effects on corals during the process. I would space it out over a period of two weeks.

Thanks for the input and the welcome! I'll try weekly at first and see how it goes with smaller increments

 

[jRatanak]

Hi, what are your levels? Lighting may not be your issue. If fading colour then it could be a neutrients issue i.e. very low phosphates or nitrates. I believe people are having issues trying to keep levels too low, I lost all my sps due to 0 phosphates, they lost colour then stn or rtn then eventually died. I thought lighting originally, then found it was due to the 0 po4. Just a thought.

Thanks for the reply, I haven't tested nitrates in a while, but my phosphates are hovering around 0.1 or so. Higher than I want, but nothing that I'm concerned about for now. They definitely wouldn't be too low though

 

[Daniel92481]

Sw

Of course! I have it sitting in the aquatic life hybrid fixture

Nice setup! I’m running Kessil X, no T5’s. Maybe one day!

 

[Nicholas Dushynsky]

Thanks for the reply, I haven't tested nitrates in a while, but my phosphates are hovering around 0.1 or so. Higher than I want, but nothing that I'm concerned about for now. They definitely wouldn't be too low though

Well it's not phosphates then. The only time I lost mine was once when my water change water was too cold and poured in next to 1 coral and the rest was the phosphates issue. Just a thought, how was your tank set up? As in all dry rock & sand, or live rock live sand, dry rock live sand. Because if all dry starting that could be an issue with such a young tank. Do you have sponges growing on the rocks? All I know is if starting with all dry, the tank struggles to support sps (not that it cant). Do you have a full a full tank shot and a list of all the readings of parameters that you test for? This could help try and figure it out.

 

[jRatanak]

Well it's not phosphates then. The only time I lost mine was once when my water change water was too cold and poured in next to 1 coral and the rest was the phosphates issue. Just a thought, how was your tank set up? As in all dry rock & sand, or live rock live sand, dry rock live sand. Because if all dry starting that could be an issue with such a young tank. Do you have sponges growing on the rocks? All I know is if starting with all dry, the tank struggles to support sps (not that it cant). Do you have a full a full tank shot and a list of all the readings of parameters that you test for? This could help try and figure it out.

I attached a picture here, I've been dealing with some algae as well lately; its been under control and slowly receding. And excuse the right side glass, my dumb butt put the tank in a corner so my mag cleaner won't fit over there.

My cal and mag hit the around the upper end of the Salifert scale (500 and 1500, respectively). Looked into that and found that even though that's not ideal, it shouldn't inhibit anything while getting them back to normal ranges. Alk is 9.5, and PO4 is around 0.1 as I mentioned (I'll be retesting Alk/PO4 later today though, so I'll update if they are drastically different). I don't have a nitrate kit currently, but hoping to order a replacement soon.

 

[Nicholas Dushynsky]

I attached a picture here, I've been dealing with some algae as well lately; its been under control and slowly receding. And excuse the right side glass, my dumb *** put the tank in a corner so my mag cleaner won't fit over there.

My cal and mag hit the around the upper end of the Salifert scale (500 and 1500, respectively). Looked into that and found that even though that's not ideal, it shouldn't inhibit anything while getting them back to normal ranges. Alk is 9.5, and PO4 is around 0.1 as I mentioned (I'll be retesting Alk/PO4 later today though, so I'll update if they are drastically different). I don't have a nitrate kit currently, but hoping to order a replacement soon.

I know my soft coral dont like high mag, other than high alk and mag I'm not too sure. Do you first put the sps in that high position if so that might be your issue, you could start with them lower down and to see if that helps mine is a 90 litre tank and I'm running a black box led over it for nearly 3 yrs now, currently the light is 35 blue and 3 white and my sps is growing less that half way up about 20 inches from the light.

 

[jRatanak]

I know my soft coral dont like high mag, other than high alk and mag I'm not too sure. Do you first put the sps in that high position if so that might be your issue, you could start with them lower down and to see if that helps mine is a 90 litre tank and I'm running a black box led over it for nearly 3 yrs now, currently the light is 35 blue and 3 white and my sps is growing less that half way up about 20 inches from the light.

Some I started high, and some started at the bottom, didn't seem to make much of a difference though :/ I didn't think 9.5 was high, considering some run their systems even higher. What do you like to keep yours at? Love the look of your tank btw!

 

[Nicholas Dushynsky]

Some I started high, and some started at the bottom, didn't seem to make much of a difference though :/ I didn't think 9.5 was high, considering some run their systems even higher. What do you like to keep yours at? Love the look of your tank btw!

Thanks.
I use natural sea water, that tests at about 7.7 but I run it around 8 -8.3 and all I use at the moment is kalkwasser in my ato to keep levels. When I had alot of the digitata growing I was doing 2 part on a doser. When it died the doser was too much hastle tuning as nothing was consuming it. Kalk seems to work for me, it's how I started before dosing.